Aug 28, 2026 · 9 min · 9 segments
Swearing: bad habit, emotional release, or performance booster? This week, Grace and Professor Binna Kandola OBE unpack the surprising psychology of swearing. From tolerating pain to pushing through…
Binna KandolaGuestGraceHost
And lab studies show that swear words trigger stronger physiological responses than neutral words.
For example, in one experiment, people had to put their hand into a tub of ice water and then they were given a neutral word to exclaim or they were given a swear word to exclaim.
And where they exclaimed with a swear word, they were able to withstand the pain for longer periods.
wow.
You know, when you think about times when people are in pain, a lot of people will actually just swear.
Yeah.
more tolerable.
And that's not just in your mind, that's in your body as well.
And lab studies show that swear words trigger stronger physiological responses than neutral words.
For example, in one experiment, people had to put their hand into a tub of ice water and then they were given a neutral word to exclaim or they were given a swear word to exclaim.
And where they exclaimed with a swear word, they were able to withstand the pain for longer periods.
wow.
You know, when you think about times when people are in pain, a lot of people will actually just swear.
Yeah.
more tolerable.
And that's not just in your mind, that's in your body as well.
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