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Saying the F-Word and Flipping the Bird Can Reduce Pain
Research suggests producing taboo acts may have hypoalgesic effects.
Posted March 18, 2024 Reviewed by Michelle Quirk
Key points
- Swearing is not an uncommon response to severe pain.
- A recent study explored whether saying the F-word or flipping the bird affects the experience of pain.
- The results showed that taboo acts appear to reduce pain perception and increase pain tolerance.
Swearing is not an uncommon response to pain. But does it actually reduce pain perception or pain tolerance?
Yes, according to recent research, by Hostetter and colleagues, published in the April 2024 issue of Psychological Reports.
The paper concluded that producing taboo acts—saying the obscene word “f*ck” or extending the middle finger—can reduce pain sensitivity and increase pain tolerance.
Investigating the effects of taboo acts on pain perception
The study sample consisted of 111 college students; 61 percent were women, the average age was 19 years, and 69 percent were white. The study design was 2 (Modality: Gesture vs. Language) × 2 (Valence: Neutral vs. Taboo) mixed design, with one cold pressor trial for each valence. These are detailed below.
In the language modality, participants were required to submerge their nondominant hands in a bin of ice water (2-5°C or 35-41°F). Those in the taboo trial were asked to say “f*ck” over and over, in one-second intervals, whenever a light blinked. Those in the neutral trial were instructed similarly, except to say “flat” instead of “f*ck.”
In the gesture modality, participants were required to place their nondominant hand in cold water, with the dominant forearm upright and flexing either the middle finger (taboo trial) or index finger (neutral trial) up and down whenever a light blinked.
To determine pain perception during the cold pressor trials, participants were instructed to keep their nondominant hand in the cold water for as long as possible, but let the experimenter know when they first felt pain.
Subsequently, they completed the Perceived Pain Scale (from 0 to 12, with 12 indicating maximum pain). This was followed by a word completion task, which measured aggressive feelings. Then a second cold pressor trial followed and so did the same measures.
Saying the F-word, flipping the bird, and perception of pain
The results suggested that engaging in taboo behavior enabled participants to withstand pain “for significantly longer than engaging in a neutral act” and to perceive “less pain when they engaged in the taboo acts [than] neutral acts.”
This finding agrees with previous research on cursing and hypoalgesia (i.e., reduced pain sensitivity).
Interestingly, pain reduction was experienced regardless of how the taboo act was produced—whether by flipping the bird or saying the F-word.
So, why was flipping the bird as effective as saying the F-word? We do not know. One possibility is a shared mechanism, given that spoken language and symbolic gestures are processed by shared neural areas in the brain.
Or maybe it is because gestures can, in certain circumstances, enable lexical access to taboo words. Simply put, when extending the middle finger, participants might have been thinking of the F-word and experiencing related emotions.
Saying the F-word, extending the middle finger, and experiencing pain reduction
An important question is why producing a taboo act reduces pain.
One explanation involves the influence of taboo gestures on aggression. Pain can cause frustration, anger, and aggression, but swearing might reduce these feelings and allow us to endure pain longer.
However, the word completion task used in this study did not support this explanation. Nor was heart rate, which is an indicator of the fight-or-flight (stress) response, affected.
Of course, It could be that the measures used in the study were not sensitive enough and that a reduction in aggression does play a cathartic role in pain reduction. Future research should use different measures of aggression to assess this possibility.
There are other potential explanations, unrelated to aggression, for the effect of taboo acts on pain perception and pain tolerance. One involves humor. Swearing or giving the finger repeatedly in the lab might have been perceived as comical and absurdly funny.
Another possibility involves emotion regulation, particularly disinhibition—freely expressing how one feels instead of trying to control the feelings.
Swearing may have also worked as a distraction, which is another emotion regulation strategy.
More research is needed to pinpoint the exact mechanisms.
Takeaway
Saying the F-word or giving the finger appears to increase pain tolerance and lower perceived pain.
The hypoalgesic (pain-relieving) effects of swearing or giving the middle finger might be mediated by more effective emotion regulation. Additional research is needed to validate this hypothesis.
If you are a pain patient, you might be tempted to apply these findings in your own life—swearing or flipping the bird a few times a day—to see if it reduces pain or increases pain tolerance.
Perhaps you have already been doing this.
Just be careful not to do that in the presence of others, since accidentally starting a fight is unlikely to reduce your pain. Then again, more research is needed….
