Swearing Is Good for the Economy
Back in 2007, a rash of newspaper articles followed hotly on the release of a study examining the effects of cursing in the modern workplace. Conducted by organizational psychologists in the UK, the researchers found that swearing tended to reinforce group bonds and promoted an atmosphere of productive camaraderie.
In other words, the researchers found that swearing was good for the economy.
In light of this new data, managers were encouraged not to overreact to swearing among team members. Quite the contrary: since the research found that a cursing worker was a productive worker, blue language was now to be interpreted as music to a manager’s ears.
Eager to break the good news to the business community and the public at large, mainstream media outlets were quick to sprinkle the Internet with their sage nods of approval:
- BBC: Swearing at work can “cut stress”
- AFP: Swearing at work boosts team spirt, morale: research
- FOXNews.com: Swearing at Work Eases Stress, Boosts Team Spirit
- WSJ’s Marketwatch.com: What the bleep! Swearing in the office can inspire teamwork
For many people, work is hell. Therefore, swearing at work not only bonds you to your co-workers, it also lessens the pain of being there in the first place.
Now, two academic budget years later, a new swearing study has been released with even more good news for the economy. As it turns out, a good curse now and again appears to buck-up those dutiful soldiers of the commuting classes by making them insensitive to pain.
Researchers at Keele University found that “swearing increased pain tolerance, increased heart rate and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing.”
The study, entitled “Swearing as a Response to Pain,” was published at the journal NeuroReport.
The findings are in contrast to an earlier theory that swearing was a signature of “catastrophism” — or “drama queen” behavior.
As anyone who knows one can tell you, drama queens are characterized by their propensity for emotional exaggeration. Likewise, catastrophism is an irrational assumption that things are worse than they actually are. A baseball player who suffered from this condition would “strike out” in their mind before they even got to the plate. A.A. Milne’s Eeyore springs to mind as a stand-in for someone suffering from a classic case of catastrophism.
But as it turns out, the study found that Eeyore’s perpetually pessimistic state of mind was less likely to be relieved by swearing than were those of Pooh Bear or Tiger, whose curses did indeed dull the pain of being a day laborer in Christopher Robin’s post-industrial menagerie.
A diminishment in swearing-related hypoalgesia with increased catastrophising may occur because negative emotions induced by swearing spill over into catastrophic thinking in those more predisposed towards catastrophising.
“In other words,” said lead researcher Dr, Richard Stephens, “swearing feeds into catastrophising and is unhelpful for pain tolerance in high catastrophisers.”
In short, the bad news for the perpetually bummed-out Eeyores of the world is that, for them at least, cursing doesn’t help.
I read somewhere once that dirty words were nothing more than collections of sounds to which anxious people assign anxious meanings. Enough said!
Swearing is a sign that you have little self discipline or self control. Its like a tantrum and brands you as juvenile . People who swear are announcing themselves as vulgar and anti social.
So for the researchers who are trying once more to convince that something we instinctively know is wrong, I say,shut your foul mouth get a job.
Who pays for such rubbish in a study like this as a pathetic attempt to change behavior? What is Keele University ?
Here’s the money quote from JH Jackson which was inadvertently left out of the article:
“It has been said that he who was first to abuse his fellow-man instead of knocking out his brains without a word, laid thereby the basis of civilization”. John Hughlings Jackson, Neurologist, 1879.
BTW – I agree swearing is evidence of a lack of self control. But that doesn’t negate its apparent analgesic effect.
Being a former sailor in the U.S. Navy I had to learn how to behave in public as my language was awful. An old saying in the Navy was that a bitching sailor is a happy sailor and I believe that I was the happiest sailor in the U.S. Navy because I bitched all the time. After getting out though I had to learn to watch my choice of words and still do to this day. I am not sure if I would take this article as an excuse to slip into profane or off color language as I feel that it shows a limited vocabulary (at least to myself). When injuring myself I do admit to sometime letting a few curse words fly and they are almost involuntary and I am not sure if they even help.
I guess that if cursing works for you without any complaints from others then I suppose that is alright, but try to keep it to those that know you. I hate going to a convenience market or fast food restaurant and hearing foul language, this could be a reason that I tend to use the drive thru and certainly check the contents before driving off especially if the one taking my order seems to have difficulty with English.
With this thesis then, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, Dead Fish Emmanuel, Robert Gibbs, etc al should all find their respective microphones & start yammering the expletives away so they can get us out of this recession. I have a feeling that this will not work though. No, but it would be fun to watch….
I am wondering if this would also apply to the use of acceptable curse words(darn it, dang it, fudge) or to even a barage of non-words or nonsensical phrases.
I too believe that cursing shows a loss of control, however, when you have hurt yourself, you have momentarily lost control. Also, does this particular research advocate the use of cursing in casual conversation, or only in the event of a shock either physically or mentally? I am willing to forgive the curse that comes as a shock, but to fill your daily language with cursing seems to demonstrate that you have a very limited vocabulary and/or intellect.
Profanity is ignorance made audible.
I couldn’t agree less with you puritans. I never swear around women or children, but among my buddies we banter it up pretty good. It’s good social bonding time. And as to the comments about ignorance, I’d challeng anyone of you to a game of trivial pursuit or computer jeopardy(I’m sure one of you could beat me, but not all of you, so keep patting yourselves on the back, and try not to injure yourselves).
As the book of ecclesiastes says, there’s a time for everything under heaven, and I believe that includes cussing.
Perhaps I could spell challenge a little better eh?