• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

The Power Of Swearing: How Obscene Words Influence Your Mind, Body, And Relationships

October 25, 2022 by Deborah Bloomfield

The Conversation

Swearing was long dismissed as a topic of serious research because it was assumed to be simply a sign of aggression, weak language proficiency or even low intelligence. We now have quite a lot of evidence that challenges this view, prompting us to reconsider the nature – and power – of swearing.

Whether we are fans of swearing or not, many of us are likely to resort to it now and again. To estimate the power of swearing, and work out where it comes from, we recently carried out a review of more than 100 academic papers on the subject from different disciplines. The study, published in Lingua, shows that the use of of taboo words can deeply affect the way we think, act and relate to each other.

Advertisement

People often associate swearing with catharsis – the release of strong emotion. It is undeniably different from – and more powerful than – other forms of language use. Interestingly, for speakers of more than one language, the catharsis is nearly always greater when swearing in one’s first language than any languages learned subsequently.

Swearing arouses the emotions. This can be measured in autonomic responses such as increased sweating and sometimes increased heart rate. These changes suggest that swearing can trigger the “fight or flight” function.

Neuroscientific research suggests that swearing might be located in different parts of the brain from other speech regions. Specifically, it might activate parts of the “limbic system” (including features known as the basal ganglia and the amygdala). These deep structures are involved in aspects of memory and emotion processing which are instinctive and difficult to inhibit. This might explain why swearing can remain intact in people who have suffered brain damage and struggle to speak as a result.

Advertisement

Laboratory-based experiments also show cognitive effects. We know that swear words command more attention and are better remembered than other words. But they also interfere with the cognitive processing of other words/stimuli – so it seems swearing can sometimes get in the way of thinking, too.

This may, however, be worth it – at least sometimes. In experiments requiring people to submerse a hand in icy water, swearing produces pain relief. In these studies, vocalising a swear word leads to higher pain tolerance and higher pain threshold compared with neutral words. Other studies have found increased physical strength in people after swearing.

Image of an overfilled swear jar.
There may be costs and benefits to profanity. Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock

But swearing doesn’t just influence our physical and mental selves – it also affects our relationships with others. Research in communication and linguistics has shown an array of distinctive social purposes of swearing – from expressing aggression and causing offence to social bonding, humour and story-telling. Bad language can even help us manage our identities and display intimacy and trust as well as boosting attention and dominance over other people.

Digging deeper

Despite having such a noticeable effect on our lives, we currently know very little about where swearing gets its power. Interestingly, when we hear a swear word in an unfamiliar language, it seems just like any other word and will not produce any of these outcomes – there’s nothing particular about the sound of the word itself that is universally offensive.

So, the power does not come from the words themselves. Equally, it is not inherent in the word meanings or sounds: neither euphemisms nor similar sounding words have such a profound effect on us.

One explanation is that “aversive conditioning” – the use of punishment to prevent continued swearing – typically occurs during childhood. This may establish a visceral connection between language use and emotional response. While this hypothesis sounds correct, it is weakly evidenced by only a handful of studies that have investigated memories of childhood punishment for swearing. There are almost no empirical studies of links between such memories and adult responses to swearing.

Advertisement

To get to the bottom of why swearing has such a profound effect on us, we need to investigate the nature of people’s memories for swearing. What were their significant swearing incidents? Did swearing always bring about unpleasant consequences, such as punishment, or were there benefits too? What about people’s ongoing experiences of swearing throughout the lifespan? After all, our research shows that swearing can sometimes help people bond with one another.

We think it might be possible for swearing to show a similar memory pattern to that for music – we remember and like the songs best that we listened to during adolescence. That’s because, like music, swearing possibly takes on new meaning in adolescence. It becomes an important way to respond to the intense emotions we tend to have during this time, and an act that signals independence from parents and connection with friends. So, swear words and songs used during this time may become forever linked with important and highly memorable experiences.

Research also needs to examine whether there is a link between memories of swearing and the effects observed in experiments. This could show whether people with more positive memories respond differently to those with negative memories.

Advertisement

A final point to consider is whether swearing will start to lose its power if it becomes more socially acceptable and thus loses its offensiveness. For now, however, it certainly remains a faux-pas.The Conversation

Karyn Stapleton, Senior Lecturer in Interpersonal Communication, Ulster University; Catherine Loveday, Neuropsychologist, University of Westminster; Kristy Beers Fägersten, Professor, Södertörn University, and Richard Stephens, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Keele University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Panorama raises $60M in General Atlantic-led Series C to help schools better understand students
  2. French prosecutor confirms raid of Lagardere’s offices
  3. Boxing – Manny Pacquiao retires from boxing
  4. Watch Never-Before-Seen Footage Of Blue Crabs Ambushing Their Brethren

Source Link: The Power Of Swearing: How Obscene Words Influence Your Mind, Body, And Relationships

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Dzo: Hybrids Beasts That Are Perfectly Crafted For Life On Earth’s Highest Mountains
  • “Rarest Event Ever” Had A Half-Life 1 Trillion Times Longer Than The Age Of The Universe – How Did We See It?
  • Meet The Bille, A Self-Righting Tetrahedron That Nobody Was Sure Could Exist
  • Neurogenesis Confirmed: Adult Brains Really Do Make New Hippocampal Neurons
  • RFK Jr Suggested Letting Bird Flu Run Through Farms – Experts Still Think It’s A Bad Idea
  • “For Unknown Reasons”: Mystery Of The Oldest Human Remains Ever Found In Antarctica
  • Alaska’s Wilderness At Risk As Trump Opens “Up To 82 Percent” Of National Reserve To Drilling
  • “Life-Changing” Gene Therapy Restores Hearing In Deaf Patients Within Weeks After Just One Shot
  • Man Broke Down Wall In His Basement And Discovered An Ancient Underground City That Once Housed 20,000 People
  • Same-Sex Penguin Couple Adopt And Raise Chick – And They’ve All Got 10/10 Names
  • Dolphins May Not “See” With Echolocation, But Instead “Feel” With It
  • Confirmed! Comet 3I/ATLAS Is Indeed An Interstellar Visitor, Quite Different From Its Predecessors
  • At 192, Jonathan – The Oldest Living Land Animal – Has Lived Through 40 US Presidents
  • 300,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools “Made By Denisovans” Discovered In China
  • Why Do Cats Eyes Glow? For The Same Reason Great White Sharks’ Do, Silly
  • G-astronomical News: Michelin-Starred Meal To Be Served On The ISS
  • In 2032, Earth May Witness A Once-In-5,000-Year Event On The Moon
  • Brand New Microscope Designed For Underwater Reveals Stunning Details Of Corals
  • The Atlantic’s Major Circulation Current Is Showing Worrying Signs, But Is Collapse Near?
  • “The Rings Held The Answer”: How We Finally Figured Out Saturn’s Day Length In 2019
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version