The Unexpected Upside Of Strong Language

In tense situations, you may feel inclined to let a curse word fly. I am here to tell you that not only is that justified; it can improve your physical performance.

When performance matters more than politeness

If you’ve ever felt yourself hesitate right before a hard moment, you might relate to the mindset behind personal effectiveness.

The Authors Of The Study

This research draws on psychology, language, and performance, with a team that’s been thinking deeply about what swearing does to the mind and body.

The research team

• Dr. Richard Stephens
• Harry Dowber
• Christopher Richardson
• Nicholas B. Washmuth

Dr. Richard Stephens

Dr. Richard Stephens has over 30 years of experience in Psychology. He is a senior lecturer in psychology at Keele University.

Stephens has a particular interest in research on emotional language (swearing). He gained notable attention for his pioneering research on swearing as it relates to pain.

Christopher Richardson

Christopher Richardson is a Postgraduate Researcher at Keele University. He is currently working on his PhD in Psychology after earning a BSc in Psychology as well as a MSc in Computer Science.

According to his brief biography on the Keele University website, “His research investigates the prevalence of speech disfluencies in socially stressing environments…”

Nicholas B. Washmuth

Nicholas B. Washmuth, DPT, is an associate professor in the physical therapy department at Samford University. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at Keele University.

Washmuth went from outpatient orthopedic physical therapy clinics to academia as he was interested in the effects that swearing can have on the body.

Previous Research

Stephens has conducted extensive research on this particular topic. In a previous study, Stephens and other researchers found that when people swear, they can perform better on several physical challenges.

Ice water, chair push-ups, and the urge to prove it again

In one study, Stephens had participants put their hand in ice water to see how long they could keep their hand there. They also conducted a chair push-up exercise experiment to see how long participants could support their body weight.

This research only left Stephens with the desire for more, for a chance to further prove his findings. He commented, “That is now a well replicated, reliable finding. But the question is—how is swearing helping us? What’s the psychological mechanism?”

These are the questions that led him down the path to this study. He has explained in simple terms, the way that swearing helps us, “In many situations, people hold themselves back—consciously or unconsciously—from using their full strength. Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and ‘go for it’ a little more.”

Related research on swearing and pain has also been discussed by Harvard Health.

If you’re thinking about long-term sustainability alongside intensity, high performance can look a lot like knowing when to recover, too.

About This Particular Study

Stephens and other researchers had a theory to test. They believe that swearing puts people in a disinhibited state of mind, “By swearing, we throw off social constraint and allow ourselves to push harder in different situations.”

Testing “state disinhibition” in real effort

The article, entitled “Don’t Hold Back: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition, was published in American Psychologist. In order to test that theory, the team of researchers conducted two experiments with 192 participants in total.

There was a return of the chair push-up exercise for this study. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

In each experiment, Stephens and his colleagues asked the participants to repeat either a swear word or a neutral word every two seconds as they completed a chair push-up. Then once the chair push-up challenge was completed, they asked the participants to answer questions regarding their mental state during the exercise.

The questions were related to:

• How much positive emotion they felt
• How funny they found the situation
• How distracted they felt
• How self-confident they felt

These questions also looked at psychological flow, “a state in which people become immersed in an activity in a pleasant, focused way.” The research team discovered that participants who chose to use a swear word every two seconds were able to support their body weight for significantly longer than those who had chosen to use a neutral word.

Keele University also shared a public-facing summary of the study and its focus on state disinhibition in a write-up of the findings.

The Results

Confirming previous research conducted in a similar manner, Stephens and his colleagues found that the difference in the performance of the participants was a result of the disinhibition that they had originally believed.

Flow, distraction, and self-confidence

They explained that the following aspects of disinhibition are important to consider for the study:

• Psychological flow
• Distraction
• Self-confidence

Stephens said, “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.”

Stephens and his colleagues are not just stopping with this study. They intend to discern whether the boost from swearing would work in any context where success depends on overcoming hesitancy.

Co-author of the study, Professor Nicholas Washmuth said, “Our labs are now studying how swearing influences public speaking and romantic approach behaviors, two situations where people tend to hesitate or second-guess themselves.”

If you’re paying attention to your mental state outside of the moment, that same steadiness can matter just as much as the push.

In Conclusion

I am no stranger to the positive effects of swearing. It lets out your frustration and negative energy, leaving you feeling better, emotionally or physically.

What it feels like in real life

I have been known to drop the f-bomb at the gym during particularly difficult exercises, and it does in fact increase your strength and endurance.

I am looking forward to reading about the next discoveries related to disinhibition in other aspects of life from Stephens and his team.

And when it comes to staying grounded while you push, self-kindness can be the quiet counterweight that keeps effort from turning into self-punishment.