Why swearing is awesome - from a brain science perspective
When I first came up with F-Bomb Affirmations I realised that it might not sit well with everyone, so I started looking for research to support these bold claims I was making about swearing.
I was quite naturally delighted when I found that studies have indeed been done on the effects of swearing.
And research shows that in fact, swearing is linked to our emotions.
You’ll recall from chapter one how we discussed the brain, and that it is divided into two areas, the left and right hemispheres. Within each hemisphere there are specific areas. The left hemisphere is home to language development. And the right hemisphere is home to emotional development.
Guess which part of the brain lights up when we swear?
The right. Swearing feels highly emotive.
Additionally, it has been found that swearing utilises many parts of the brain - parts of the brain where we process emotions - aka the feeling brain, and parts of the brain where cognitive processing happens- aka the thinking brain.
So swearing could be the ultimate bridge between the feeling and thinking brains.
But perhaps most intriguing of all, swearing has been found to be positively correlated with honesty.
Feldman et al published a wonderful study in 2017 cleverly titled ‘Frankly, we do give a damn’. One of the reasons this line from Gone with the Wind was so memorable is because of the impact it had at the time. This moment in the film is where Rhett Butler passionately expresses his feelings. This moment cost the production company a whooping $5000 fine for violating the Motion Picture Production Code for its use of this language. This moment is a perfect example of the contrasting opinions we had, and still have to some extent, towards swearing. It is seen, in the words of my father, as ‘uncooth’.
However, back to the study. Feldman et al conducted three experiments to explore the relationship between profanity and honesty. Not only did they find a strong relationship between swearing and honesty between individuals, but they found that swearing was positively correlated with higher integrity at a societal level too.
In their first experiment they asked subjects to list their favourite and most used swear words and then gave them a lie test. They found that those who knew and used more swear words were less likely to lie.
In their second experiment they collected data from 73000 Facebook users, after analysis they found that those who used more swear words in their online interactions were more likely to use language patterns related to honesty.
Their last study, and to me their most fascinating is the comparison of swearing by State - i.e. which States do the people who swear the most live in, to what they called ‘State Level Integrity’. They used an index of integrity to assess each State. This included things such as ‘the State government’s stance on honesty and transparency, the presence of ethics commissions, and executive, legislative, and judicial accountability. They found that the States scoring the highest on the integrity index were also the States with a higher level of swearing.
This supports the premise that swearing is often used to express our truest feelings, and aligns with the collective understanding that swearing comes from a place of honesty.
Swearing adds an emphasis. Swearing is a strong word that indicates passion or truth. It is a shortcut to communicating something with urgency and passion.
When we add a swear word to our affirmations we are tapping into the collective correlation of swearing to honesty and passion.
When we add a swear word to our affirmations we are adding a shite load of emphasis to the command we are giving our brain.
When we add a swear word to our affirmations we utilising the power of emotions - emotions are indicators of significance. And significance indicates to our brain to make note and to ‘wire this in good’ now.
Try it and see.
(N.B. This blog is an extract from my book ‘F-Bomb Affirmations’, available for pre-order now)
