What is it about?
This study explores how two increasingly common classroom practices—trigger warnings and safe space notifications—affect how college students perceive their instructors and the classroom environment. We found that safe space notifications made students feel more psychologically safe and more willing to discuss controversial topics. They also made instructors seem more caring—but also more liberal and ideologically biased. Trigger warnings, by contrast, had no consistent effect on student perceptions.
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Why is it important?
Debates about trigger warnings and safe spaces often focus on their potential emotional benefits or harms, but our findings highlight a different consequence: they also affect how students judge the values of their instructors and the classroom environment. Instructors may use these practices with the intent to support students, but they should also be aware of the social signals they send, both positive and negative. As colleges grapple with how to foster open, inclusive dialogue, understanding these interpersonal effects is critical.
Perspectives
I was struck by the high levels of support for trigger warnings and safe spaces across the ideological spectrum (trigger warning endorsement= 92% of liberals, 83% of conservatives; safe space endorsement= 78% of liberals, 75% of conservatives). Educators should be aware that most students view these practices positively. At the same time, they should be aware of the mounting body of research suggesting that, at least in the case of trigger warnings, providing a warning does not benefit students emotionally (Bridgland et al., 2024). I think our study provides new evidence that may explain why these practices have spread so rapidly and remain so popular. My hope is that this research will help educators and researchers alike develop informed opinions on the merits and drawbacks of these practices.
Samuel Pratt
University of California Los Angeles
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Sending signals: Trigger warnings and safe space notifications., Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied, July 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/xap0000541.
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