Many of us were taught as children that using profanities is a bad thing. A foul mouth gives off the impression of rudeness or low intelligence.
But as a recent article in BBC’s Future reports, swearing has some surprisingly positive effects from increasing a person’s tolerance to pain to raising feelings of solidarity among team members.
Evidence suggests that the brain area activated by swear words, is separate from the cortex and left hemisphere, the parts of the brain which handles most language, which may explain some of these unexpected benefits.
Guests:
Tiffanie Wen, Freelance Contributor for the BBC in Tel Aviv;
Richard Stephens, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Keele University in the United Kingdom and author of the book “Black Sheep: The Hidden Benefits of Being Bad.” In 2010, he won the Ig Nobel Peace Prize for his research confirming that swearing relieves pain