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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Scientists have determined that uttering curse words can offer pain relief, make you a little stronger. A study published in American Psychologist last week links that boost in brawn to state disinhibition, a psychological state where you’re less likely to hold back. Nicholas Washmuth co-authored the study. He’s a Ph.D. student at the University of Alabama. He joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.

NICHOLAS WASHMUTH: Absolutely.

SIMON: Tell me about your research. Did you just tell a number of people, start swearing and try to pick up that chair?

WASHMUTH: No. It’s – what we did in this most recent study was we had 300 participants complete a chair push-up task. Basically, we asked these participants to sit in a chair, using their hands and hands alone to lift their bottom off the chair for as long as possible. They did this while swearing and while also repeating a neutral word. And when they were swearing, they could hold that position longer. The reason why you can hold that position longer was because you are in a more disinhibited state. You’re more willing to give yourself physically and mentally to that task after swearing.

SIMON: Any curse words work better than others?

WASHMUTH: The prompt we used was, share a swear word that you would use if you hit your head or stubbed your toe. And they also selected their neutral word using the prompt, share a word that you would use to describe this table. So when you ask a participant to choose a swear word they would use, that’s a word that is likely powerful to them or they would use in certain situations where they need that boost. The most common words that were selected were the F-word and the S-word.

SIMON: Now – all right. My late aunt Izetta would not swear in front of us, but when something happened, she would say sugar – I think to replace the S-word. Would that have had the same effect?

WASHMUTH: Evidence would suggest made-up swear words or euphemisms for swear words do not have the same impact. So you can’t say sugar or fudge or even say, the F-word. There’s a line that needs to be crossed to enter that taboo realm. We don’t know exactly where that line is yet. But right now evidence would suggest that you actually need to say the word to get that boost in performance.

SIMON: So what do we do with this information?

WASHMUTH: That is an excellent question. Our hope is that people would be engaged with this line of research and, if it is something that they are interested in, play around with this tool themselves in a safe, comfortable area where they’re not going to offend somebody. But our research is transitioning more into this broader idea that if swearing helps you go for it or not hold back, can swearing as a tool be generalized to other situations where success depends on overcoming hesitancy? People tend to second-guess themselves during public speaking and when approaching a potential romantic partner. So can swearing privately just before public speaking or privately just before you ask someone out on a date – can that be a tool you can use to help you essentially be more successful in these situations where we tend to hold ourselves back?

SIMON: Nicholas Washmuth, co-author of the study “Don’t Hold Back: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition.” You know, I get extra strength just from saying that BJ Leiderman does our theme music. Thanks so much for being with us.

WASHMUTH: Thank you for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MARACUYA”)

HERMANITOS: (Non-English language spoken).

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