When is it good to swear?

“Sometimes you want to scream, but a good upbringing does not allow,” used to say the wonderful heroine of the wonderful novel by Bulat Okudzhava¹. And we all find ourselves in that position from time to time. Do tow trucks take your car? The boss brought to white heat? Are the scales again showing the wrong number that you were hoping for? That’s what. Forget about a good upbringing, open your mouth wide – and just say everything directly. About all these …, about how you all this …, and about when all this … will finally end. And you will feel better. In any case, many psychologists are sure of this. How foul language affects our emotional state and processes in the brain, researchers have been studying for a long time and seriously. And they found some very curious relationships between bad words and good consequences.

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Cursing makes us stronger

Strong swearing helps to overcome increased emotional stress – says psychology professor at Keele University (Great Britain) Richard Stephens (Richard Stephens). The participants in his study were asked to play very naturalistic video games “from the first person” – the kind where the hero endlessly rushes through the labyrinths, and creepy monsters jump out from behind every corner, one more bloodthirsty than the other. Half of the volunteers in this experiment were allowed to get along with relatively neutral words like “oh, damn it!”, while the other half were able to call the damned monsters exactly the words they deserve. As you might guess, it was the second half that turned out to be much more successful in passing the game.². In parallel, this experiment also confirmed that swearing is literally meant for emotionally “charged” situations. And in a difficult moment she hurries to our rescue. Before and after the game, participants were asked to make a list of swear words they knew. The list after was much longer for everyone.

Pass the tests

• Can you express your feelings?

In another work, Richard Stevens showed that swearing adds not only emotional but also physical strength and endurance to us. This time, each volunteer participant was given a very cold glass in their hands, to be sure, also filled with ice cubes. The goal of this experiment was to keep the glass as long as possible. Half of the participants were allowed to use only neutral language to express their feelings. And the other half was again free to say whatever they think about the glass and the experimenters themselves. It is probably not necessary to report who managed to hold the glass much longer.³.

Swearing makes us healthier

Whole volumes have already been written about how harmful it is to accumulate negative emotions in oneself, and additional arguments are hardly required. And what is one of the best ways to express these emotions? That’s right – put them in the most appropriate words. And if for a long time the ability to control and restrain one’s anger was considered a virtue, now it seems to be moving into the category of bad habits. The useful one is to be able to “let off steam” by the most adequate means.

Moreover, this mechanism operates at the very biological level. Psychologist Jennifer Lerner of Carnegie Mellon University (USA) found that the direct expression of negative emotions – including through selective abuse – reduces the production of the stress hormone cortisol in the body.⁴. Which in the most diverse and almost always negative way affects our health. By the way, many studies trace the relationship between excess cortisol and excess weight. Now you understand how you can effectively lose weight, while sending all the diets. Well, you figured out where to send them.

Swearing makes us sexier

In fairness, it must be said that there are almost no serious psychological studies on this topic. But sociological – in abundance. For example, the popular entertainment portal The Frisky (thefrisky.com) recently asked its users how they feel about swearing. Portal users have demonstrated a fairly balanced approach. For example, they noted that far from everyone is given to swear “correctly”, and those who do it poorly are better off not trying – otherwise they don’t look cool at all, but rather ridiculous and pathetic. However, there is one place where swearing was found by most survey participants to be particularly helpful. More precisely, there can be as many such places as you like – from a bedroom to a deserted beach. The situation remains the same: we are talking about making love. The vast majority of men said they find women who use strong language during sex much hotter and more attractive.

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The main thing is not to overdo it

Richard Stevens, among other things, refuted one common misconception associated with foul language. It is traditionally believed that people who are poorly educated, with a low level of IQ, are more inclined to use obscene vocabulary. However, according to his research, the true “virtuosos” of scolding were not at all they, but, on the contrary, people who were well developed intellectually. Moreover, it is in their mouths that foul language is also most effective – that is, it serves to reduce stress levels and strengthen emotional strength. The reason is very simple: uneducated people use swear words too often – just like in the well-known joke: “I don’t swear, I speak it.” And the constant use of strong curses negates their therapeutic effect.

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¹ B. Okudzhava “Journey of amateurs” (U-Factoria, 2014).

² R. Stephens «Swearing – the language of life and death», The Psychologist, 2013, № 26.

³ R. Stephens, C. Umland «Swearing as a response to pain – effect of daily swearing frequency», Journal of Pain, 2011, № 12.

⁴ J. S. Lerner et al. «Facial Expressions of Emotion Reveal Neuroendocrine and Cardiovascular Stress Responses», Biological Psychiatry, 2006, № 61.