Swearing as a Response to Pain, Essay Example

One of the most common things in human culture is swearing. There are many reasons why people swear, this includes to shock, out of habit, or to let off steam. Another type of swearing that, usually, only occurs when there is a painful situation is cathartic. Cathartic swearing happens when people give birth or as simple as stubbing a toe. Some theorist however with no supporting evidence believes there is a relationship between and pain and swearing, called pain-related catastrophizing. The given question is that why swearing is the maladaptive response to pain. Pain can be affected by several elements that include emotional state, expectations, suggestions, and attention state. Within the paper the group performed an experiment in order to test, “invalidated hypothesis that swearing, being a maladaptive response to pain, and would decrease pain tolerance and increase pain perception compared with not swearing” (Stephens, Atkins, and Kingston 1)

“Cold pressure test”- a cardiovascular test that is performed by dipping the hand into the ice water bucket for up to a minute, and measure the change in heart rate and blood pressure.

“Repeated measures design”- is a design that repeats the same subjects throughout their research and control. Usually changed over time, they are collected during a longitudinal study.

The experimental hypothesis for this research, given for testing out the experiment is, swearing would decrease the pain tolerance, and increase the perception of pain when not swearing.  The Null hypothesis; pain is a maladaptive response from ideas are thoughts are brought up when pain is experienced.

The authors predict that the outcome will highlight that the experience of pain brings about swearing which a person’s personal pain perception.

The independent variable for this experiment is the swearing words.

The dependent variables for this experiment are cold pressure pain tolerance, pain perception, and heart rate. The controlled variables are the subjects or the participants, the cold-pressure latency, and the five word swear list.

Since Ig Nobel Prizes are, usually, a play on the actual Nobel Prizes, it is given to research or studies that are unusual or improbable achievements through scientific research. These researches will make people laugh, but ultimately will make people think. While this is not a common research topic (swear words), it is useful knowledge. Looking into the field of scientific discovery, it is an actual research topic that is known as stress-induced analgesia. With an actual hypothesis and reasoning for the study, it is no wonder that although it may seem meaningless, is a good example of examining the properties of swearing.

This unlikely research does lend itself useful in the scientific world, as a contribution to the study of stress-induced analgesia. The stimulus of pain expresses an emotional response that will elicit swearing words.  It is also seen as a type of response along the lines of activating the amygdala that riggers the fight or flight response in humans. This will lead to an increase in adrenaline, which is a form of pain relief that is natural in people. From the study itself, “this study has shown that, under certain conditions, swearing produces a hypoalgesic effect.” (Stephens, Atkins, and Kingston 5) It is a significant research that studies the human brain, and the way that if functions from different stimulus.

Works Cited

Stephens R, Atkins J, Kingston A. Swearing as a response to pain. Neuroreport. 2009; 20(12):1056-60.