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Announcer: Welcome back to The David Pakman Show.
David: Welcome back to the show. Interesting new study, Louis, suggests that swearing is
actually a pretty effective painkiller, and I'm referring, of course, to cursing, profanity,
the seven dirty words. And according to the study, researchers from UK's Keele University
asked participants for five words they'd like to use after hitting their thumb with a hammer.
And the first word they listed would be kind of like their go-to profanity during the experiment.
They were also asked to list five boring words, so like words they'd use to describe a table,
for example.
And the participants were then told to submerge their unclenched hand in a container of 41-degree
water and keep it there while cursing for as long as they could. Before and after putting
their hands into the water, their heart rate was recorded. And after they could no longer
stand the cold temperature, they were asked to rate the amount of pain they were in, also.
And people withstood a moderate to strongly painful stimulus for longer if they were repeating
a swear word instead of a non-swear word, according to the team, which was led by psychologist
Richard Stephens. And, well, what's your reaction to this? Is this logical to you? I mean, as
a guy who likes to swear a lot outside of the show.
Louis: Yeah, I really have to hold back while I'm doing the show. It's tough.
David: Yeah.
Louis: But this is weird. I mean, on one hand, it doesn't make any sense to me, on the other
hand, I think why do people automatically swear when they stub their toe?
David: Right.
Louis: I have no idea.
David: So you actually don't think it makes sense that people-- that swearing would dull
pain for people?
Louis: Well, it's obviously all mental. I mean, there's no way that uttering a word
would have some physical effect without a mental component, so...
David: No... it alters the perception of the pain.
Louis: Right, right.
David: From the way participants' heart rates accelerated post-swearing, the psychologists
believe that their fight-or-flight response had been activated. That may be because cursing
can amp up feelings of aggression. Interestingly, women reported feeling less pain after swearing,
in other words, the difference was more significant with women than with men. So women's pain
perception was dulled more by swearing than men's. Wonder what that says.
Louis: You know, I think... I think this study could've been done on something more worthwhile.
David: Uh-oh, here we go again, Louis... See, here's the thing, if you don't do the study,
then people will claim that there's no credible evidence about it.
Louis: Let them claim that there's no credible evidence that swearing causes less pain.
David: On a serious note, though, we hear so much about Christian groups want Obama
to address indecency and expletives on television, and wouldn't the effect... in other words,
there's something about swear words that must be affecting the effect they have on pain
perception because they are swear words, right? And if you suddenly eliminate that list of
seven dirty words, all of a sudden if they aren't swear words, maybe it wouldn't have
the pain-dulling effect. So in other words...
Louis: So we should keep them as... we should keep these seven dirty words?
David: What if... what if the seven dirty... what if broadcasting decency regulations go
out the window, the way that I think they should, really, and then all of a sudden,
because they are no longer words you aren't supposed to say, they don't have the pain-dulling
effect?
Louis: Then we'll just have to rely on the pharmaceuticals.
[Laughter]
David: Right. But you...
Natan Pakman: There would be new words.
David: There would be new words that would come up is what we're hearing.
Louis: We'll make new words.
David: Yeah, right, but in other words, if the... if those seven-- I'm not saying specifically
those seven words, just if any words are allowed on television, because people aren't going
to... their lives won't be ruined if they hear a swear word, if we ever become adult
enough to realize that.
Natan: Those words have meaning because they're bad.
David: That's what I'm saying. A lot of the meaning of... that's my point exactly, which
is that the effect, the pain-dulling effect must be coming from the fact that people are
saying words that you're not supposed to say.
Louis: Yes. The stigma of saying it... yeah. And if you give the word... you know, by not
saying it, you give the word power, and if you're allowed to say it, the power goes out
the window, the word is meaningless, and...
David: No pain-dulling effect.
Louis: No pain-dulling effect, and we'll just have to take Percocets.
David: No... right, right, of course.
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