We Were F*&@ing Right – Swearing Is Good For You And Now We Know Why

When faced with a physical challenge, studies have found, swearing improves performance. New research offers an explanation of the mechanism, and why in a crisis swearing might be exactly what is necessary. 

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In emergencies people sometimes show strength or speed they would never have considered possible. There may be a price to pay afterwards in exhaustion, but as in the commonly told story of the parent who lifts a vehicle they normally could not budge off a child, that is often a minor consideration. Many people have sought a way to access this capacity at will, and some claim to have done it, but there is little proof.

Just uttering a few swear words won’t get you hysterical strength, but several studies have shown it can move things a little in that direction. Dr Richard Stephens of Keele University and co-authors set out to explain why.

There is plenty of evidence, some produced by Stephens, that swearing can improve pain tolerance, for example in how long people can leave their hands in icy water. “That is now a well replicated, reliable finding,” Stephens said in a statement. “But the question is – how is swearing helping us? What's the psychological mechanism?”

Stephens and co-authors’ hypothesis was that swearing is not merely a product of disinhibition, it also helps us shed expectations. “By swearing, we throw off social constraint and allow ourselves to push harder in different situations,” Stephens said.

To test this, the authors had 192 participants lift and hold themselves above a chair with their arms (a chair push-up), and either swear every two seconds or repeat a neutral word. Participants were invited to pick the profanity of their choice, so one can imagine some saying “damn” or “crap” while others used stronger language. Sadly, the word choice is not recorded.

Those who took part were then interviewed, with questions about whether they were distracted, confident and positive, and if they felt immersed in the task or if found the whole thing amusing.

In keeping with past results, swearing was associated with supporting their weight by arms alone for 10 percent longer. The swearers also reported being more distracted, self-confident, and in a state of “flow”, all of which are associated with disinhibition. The authors conclude that these reduced inhibitions accounted for the extra endurance, vindicating their expectations. The authors also found inconclusive evidence for the idea that swearing helps push out irrelevant thoughts that might undermine performance.

“In many situations, people hold themselves back – consciously or unconsciously – from using their full strength,” Stephens said. The paper points to many social situations where this is particularly common, but also notes the more relevant example of athletes returning from injury and struggling to overcome unconscious tentativeness. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and ‘go for it’ a little more.”

Stephens is quite the advocate for swearing, claiming, “These findings help explain why swearing is so commonplace. Swearing is literally a calorie neutral, drug free, low cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance.”

As an organization that once had a swearword in our name, but was forced to take it out by censorious social media companies, IFLScience would like to agree. 

However, we acknowledge there might be a few points to consider before we all become Roy Kents and spew profanities here, there and everywhere. For example, it’s often argued that swear words lose their force when used too frequently. That’s normally suggested in regard to the effect on the listener, but might it happen to the swearer as well? Perhaps it’s best to save the “boost in performance” for contests that really matter. 

It’s also worth noting that, as with many psychological studies, this was done mainly on university students, and may not apply more widely. The authors also acknowledge that since blinding was not possible, there might be a placebo effect here, with people expecting certain outcomes from swearing, and mentally making them happen, and that other factors may contribute.

The study is published in American Psychologist.