The Well | The case against trigger warnings, in 8 minutes | Jonathan Haidt @The-Well | Uploaded April 2023 | Updated October 2024, 41 minutes ago.
How America became a fragile nation — and how it can get its resilience back.
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In 2013, social psychologist Johnathan Haidt and his co-author Greg Lukianoff started to notice a culture shift on university campuses across America. At these former havens of free speech and protest against restrictive university rules, students began looking for shelter from the world, in the form of trigger warnings, safe spaces, and walk-outs on guest speakers.
Fast forward to 2023: Rates of anxiety and depression are higher than ever. Are trigger warnings the cause, or the symptom? Haidt argues that trigger warnings are simply the wrong approach to our world, and that America’s mental health crisis is only going to get worse if we continue to cultivate a “danger mindset.” If cognitive behavioral therapy encourages exposure to uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, reducing their effect over time, trigger warnings to the opposite. And Haidt says it’s harming a generation.
Instead, Haidt believes that we should question our emotions, instead of instinctively believing them. There is no one right answer, but Haidt makes a case for confronting the often harsh realities of our world, as a means of self-strengthening and cultivating resilience. Transparent communication with others, open-mindedness, and perhaps learning some self-therapy, can help assuage the difficult feelings that come with being a human, and put the power back in our hands.
Read the full video transcript: bigthink.com/the-well/are-trigger-warnings-making-us-fragile
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Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.
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How is the power of science advancing understanding? How are philosophers and theologians tackling these fascinating questions?
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How America became a fragile nation — and how it can get its resilience back.
❍ Subscribe to The Well on YouTube: bit.ly/welcometothewell
❍ Up next: Antifragility explained by one of Harvard’s most popular teachers youtu.be/TZ11FWN8onw
In 2013, social psychologist Johnathan Haidt and his co-author Greg Lukianoff started to notice a culture shift on university campuses across America. At these former havens of free speech and protest against restrictive university rules, students began looking for shelter from the world, in the form of trigger warnings, safe spaces, and walk-outs on guest speakers.
Fast forward to 2023: Rates of anxiety and depression are higher than ever. Are trigger warnings the cause, or the symptom? Haidt argues that trigger warnings are simply the wrong approach to our world, and that America’s mental health crisis is only going to get worse if we continue to cultivate a “danger mindset.” If cognitive behavioral therapy encourages exposure to uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, reducing their effect over time, trigger warnings to the opposite. And Haidt says it’s harming a generation.
Instead, Haidt believes that we should question our emotions, instead of instinctively believing them. There is no one right answer, but Haidt makes a case for confronting the often harsh realities of our world, as a means of self-strengthening and cultivating resilience. Transparent communication with others, open-mindedness, and perhaps learning some self-therapy, can help assuage the difficult feelings that come with being a human, and put the power back in our hands.
Read the full video transcript: bigthink.com/the-well/are-trigger-warnings-making-us-fragile
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
❍ About The Well ❍
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.
So what do they think?
How is the power of science advancing understanding? How are philosophers and theologians tackling these fascinating questions?
Let’s dive into The Well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join The Well on your favorite platforms:
❍ Facebook: bit.ly/thewellFB
❍ Instagram: bit.ly/thewellIG
