Swearing as a Response to Pain: Assessing Effects of Novel Swear Words
Previous research showing that swearing alleviates pain is extended by addressing emotion arousal and distraction as possible mechanisms. We assessed the effects of a conventional swear word (“fuck”) and two new “swear” words identified as both emotion-arousing and distracting: “fouch” and “twizpipe.” A mixed sex group of participants ( N = 92) completed a repeated measures experimental design augmented by mediation analysis. The independent variable was repeating one of four different words: “f