Why do people swear? Why does using a swear word make us feel better? How do we choose which word we use?

Luckily for you, the Association of Psychological Science’s Perspectives on Psychological Science just published an article that answers these important scientific questions in an article by Timothy Jay (2009). If swear words hurt your eyes, you may want to stop reading now.

Jay notes that swear words (or taboo words, as he calls them) can include sexual references (fuck), those that are profane or blasphemous (goddamn), scatological or disgusting objects (shit), animal names (pig, ass), ethnic/racial/gender slurs (fag), ancestral allusions (bastard), substandard vulgar terms and offensive slang. Taboo words can be mildly offensive to extremely offensive, and people will often use a more mild euphemism to replace a swear word when in mixed (or unknown) company.

How do we choose what word to use and when? We make choices about which word to use depending upon the company we’re in, and what our relationship is to that company, as well as the social setting. We’re more apt to use less offensive terms in mixed company or in settings where more offensive swear words might result in recrimination (such as work). For instance, people are more comfortable and are more likely to use technical terms for sexual references in mixed crowds, and to reserve the taboo words for same sex crowds or with their sexual partner. Most people feel uncomfortable saying, “Fuck” in a business or public crowd, instead falling back on less offensive words like, “Damnit.”

As Jay notes, “Swearing is like using the horn on your car, which can be used to signify a number of emotions (e.g., anger, frustration, joy, surprise).”

Taboo words can be used for a variety of reasons, including to achieve a specific reaction from others. Swearing injects a direct, succinct emotional component into the discussion, usually in order to express frustration, anger or surprise (up to two-thirds of our swearing is for just such expressions). These insulting swears can be name calling or wishing someone harm, so it’s no wonder they are often a defining feature of hate speech, verbal abuse, sexual harassment and obscene phone calls.

Swearing is beneficial in ways that people may underestimate or take for granted. Swearing is often cathartic — it often frees us of the feelings of anger or frustration we hold and allows expression for them. It can also be a useful substitute to physical violence (who would rather be punched out than to withstand being sworn at?).

Swear words can also be used in a more positive manner, in the form of jokes and humor, sex talk, storytelling, self-deprecation or even social commentary. Imagine when you want to emphasize how great you feel something is, a swear words emphasizes the positive feelings you have for that object, situation, person or event (”This concert is fucking awesome!”). Sure, we could just say “This concert is awesome,” but the addition of the swear word emphasizes the emotional reaction we have toward it — and easily conveys that emotional reaction to others.

Virtually all people swear, and people swear pretty consistently throughout their lifetime — from the moment they can speak to the day they die. Swearing is almost a universal constant in most people’s lives. Research, according to Jay, has shown we swear on average from 0.3% to 0.7% of the time — a tiny but significant percentage of our overall speech (frequently-used personal pronouns occur at approximately 1.0% rate in speech). Swearing is more common than you might think. But personality research suggests that people who swear more, not surprisingly, score higher on traits such as extraversion, dominance, hostility and Type A personalities. Swearing is not just for the uneducated or people of a lower socioeconomic class — it knows no social boundaries in its expression.

Swearing is a natural part of human speech development. We learn which words are taboo and which words are not through our normal childhood development. We also learn that not all swear words are equal, as Jay notes — “Fuck you! represents a greater level of anger than crap!” We then learn that we may be able to say a swear word in one social context, but not another.

Jay’s article was a bit of an eye-opener for me as well, as I didn’t know that swearing was really as commonplace as he notes, and I never much considered the beneficial effects of swearing. Jay calls on more psychological research to be done on this topic, and after reading his article, I’d have to agree.

人為什么要說(shuō)粗話(huà)？為什么用上粗口會(huì)讓我們感覺(jué)更好？我們?cè)趺催x要用什么詞？

現(xiàn)在好了，心理科學(xué)協(xié)會(huì)（原美國(guó)心理學(xué)會(huì)）出版的《心理科學(xué)新知》上剛發(fā)表了一篇文章，Timothy Jay在文章中回答了這些重要的科學(xué)問(wèn)題。如果粗口讓你不舒服，你就不必繼續(xù)往下讀了。

Jay提到，粗口（或者按照他的話(huà)，禁忌詞匯）包括了和性有關(guān)的內(nèi)容（比如f***)，那些不敬或者褻瀆的詞匯（goddamn），排泄物或者惡心的東西（shit），動(dòng)物名字（pig），和種族/民族/性別有關(guān)的蔑稱(chēng)（fag），污蔑祖先(bastard），還有一些非正式的庸俗詞匯和污蔑性的短語(yǔ)。禁忌詞匯的程度可能從輕度污蔑到嚴(yán)重污蔑，人們一般常會(huì)在復(fù)雜（或者不明）的場(chǎng)合下，用溫和些的婉轉(zhuǎn)語(yǔ)來(lái)代替粗口。

我們是如何選擇什么時(shí)候用什么詞呢？我們會(huì)根據(jù)和什么人在一起、我們和這些人的關(guān)系、以及社會(huì)場(chǎng)合來(lái)選擇要用什么詞。如果周?chē)�的人龍蛇混雜、或者是用那些更重的詞可能導(dǎo)致指責(zé)（比如工作），我們就更容易用一些沒(méi)那么冒犯的詞。比如，和一群不同背景的人在一起，說(shuō)到和性有關(guān)的事情，人們更愿意用一些技術(shù)層面的詞匯，而把那些禁忌詞匯留到當(dāng)我們和同性在一起或者跟性伴侶在一起的時(shí)候。大多數(shù)人都會(huì)覺(jué)得在商業(yè)或者公共場(chǎng)合說(shuō)“f***”很不舒服，因而會(huì)說(shuō)些沒(méi)那么冒犯的詞，比如“damnit”。

就像Jay指出的，“說(shuō)粗口就像在車(chē)?yán)锇蠢�叭，可以用�?lái)表示不同的情緒（比如生氣、受挫、高興、吃驚）。”

使用禁忌詞匯可能會(huì)處于不同的原因，也包括激起他人特定的反應(yīng)。說(shuō)臟話(huà)將直接、簡(jiǎn)潔的情緒成分帶進(jìn)了討論中，一般都是為了表達(dá)受挫、生氣或者吃驚（高達(dá)2/3的粗口是為了表達(dá)這些情緒）。這些不敬的粗口可以使罵人或者詛咒某人受到傷害，因此，毫不奇怪，他們往往是界定怨恨言論、言語(yǔ)暴力、性騷擾和淫穢電話(huà)的標(biāo)志。

而人們往往會(huì)低估說(shuō)粗口的好處，或者認(rèn)為是天經(jīng)地義。說(shuō)臟話(huà)常常是一種發(fā)泄——它能幫我們宣泄那些被壓抑的生氣或者沮喪的感覺(jué)，讓他們表達(dá)出來(lái)。他也是身體暴力的有效代替品。（比起被罵一兩句，誰(shuí)愿意被暴打呢？）

粗口還能更積極地使用，比如在笑話(huà)或幽默、性對(duì)話(huà)、講故事、自嘲或者社會(huì)評(píng)論中。想象一下，當(dāng)你想強(qiáng)調(diào)你覺(jué)得一樣?xùn)|西多棒的時(shí)候，粗話(huà)會(huì)強(qiáng)調(diào)你對(duì)這個(gè)東西、清凈、人或者事件的正面感覺(jué)（這個(gè)音樂(lè)會(huì)太他媽棒了�。�。當(dāng)然，我們也可以就說(shuō)“這個(gè)音樂(lè)會(huì)太棒了”，不過(guò)加上一個(gè)粗口，會(huì)強(qiáng)調(diào)我們對(duì)它的情感反應(yīng)——也會(huì)很容易的吧這種情緒反映傳遞給他人。

基本上所有的人都說(shuō)粗口，人們說(shuō)粗口的頻率在一生中相當(dāng)穩(wěn)定——從我們能說(shuō)話(huà)到我們死的那天。粗口是在大多數(shù)人的生活里幾乎是普遍存在的。Jay的文章中指出，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)我們說(shuō)臟話(huà)的平均頻率占到0.3-0.7%，在我們的言語(yǔ)中，是個(gè)雖小但是不可忽視的組成。說(shuō)臟話(huà)比你想象的更普遍。不過(guò)關(guān)于人格的研究指出，那些說(shuō)臟話(huà)更多的人，在外向性、統(tǒng)治傾向、暴力傾向和A型人格方面分?jǐn)?shù)更高。并不是只有那些沒(méi)受過(guò)教育或者社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)層次低的人才會(huì)說(shuō)臟話(huà)，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)這種表達(dá)方式并沒(méi)有什么社會(huì)界限。

說(shuō)臟話(huà)是人類(lèi)語(yǔ)言發(fā)展中很自然的一部分。在正常的兒童發(fā)展過(guò)程中，我們學(xué)會(huì)了那些詞是禁忌、哪些不是。我們還知道了并不是所有的粗口都一樣，就像 Jay寫(xiě)的“F*** you!比Crap!所表達(dá)的憤怒程度更高”我們之后還明白了，在有些社會(huì)場(chǎng)合中我們能說(shuō)個(gè)臟話(huà)，但是在另一些場(chǎng)合則不能。

Jay的文章也讓我開(kāi)闊了眼界，因?yàn)槲抑�前并不知道說(shuō)粗話(huà)像他說(shuō)的真有那么常見(jiàn)，而我也從沒(méi)認(rèn)真考慮過(guò)說(shuō)臟話(huà)有什么好處。Jay呼吁在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上進(jìn)行應(yīng)該更多的研究，在看過(guò)他的文章之后，我也不得不同意這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)。