It may not be in keeping with the festive spirit, but if you find yourself dropping the F-word while wrestling a Christmas tree up a flight of stairs, scientists say you could be on to something. A study has found that swearing can boost physical performance by lowering inhibitions and pushing the brain into a “flow state”.
“In many situations, people hold themselves back – consciously or unconsciously – from using their full strength,” said Dr Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele University who led the research. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and go for it a little more.”
Previous research found that swearing increases strength and pain tolerance in tests that involved participants repeating swearwords while pushing themselves to the limit on an exercise bike or holding their hand in icy water. Initially the researchers hypothesised that swearing riled people up into a “fight or flight” state, but they did not find any corroborating evidence for this, such as an increased heart rate.
Instead, the latest research suggests that swearing triggers a state of disinhibition. “By swearing, we throw off social constraint and allow ourselves to push harder,” said Stephens.
To test this, the researchers conducted two experiments with 192 participants. In each, they asked participants to repeat either an expletive of their choice, or a neutral word, every two seconds while doing a chair pushup. After completing the chair pushup challenge, participants answered questions about their mental state during the task.
Their answers suggested that swearing boosted self-confidence, improved psychological “flow” and distracted them from the task at hand – all important aspects of disinhibition. Confirming earlier research, the researchers found that swearing led to an 11% increase in the length of time people could maintain a chair pushup.
“These findings help explain why swearing is so commonplace,” said Stephens. “Swearing is literally a calorie neutral, drug free, low cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance.”
Stephens said the power of swearwords was likely to be linked to their taboo nature. His team is now investigating whether more offensive swearwords produce more impressive physical gains in a “dose-response” trial that will test the length of time people can tolerate holding their hand in icy water while saying either mild or strong swearwords.
The team is also exploring whether boosts in self-confidence from swearing could help in other contexts, such as public speaking or making a romantic approach.
“There are lots of situations where hesitancy might be to our detriment,” said Stephens. “You could go into a quiet room, go for it swearing for a minute and then go out and give your talk. I bet people do it already.”
However, he cautioned that swearing was not an entirely risk-free strategy. “You’re never quite sure when you use a swearword how it’s going to land,” he said. “You have to know your audience and who is around. You could land yourself in hot water if you swear inappropriately.”
The findings are published in the journal American Psychologist.
