People often stop physical effort not because their muscles fail, but because their minds do. New research suggests that swearing — long viewed as a social taboo — may help people push past that mental barrier, allowing them to sustain demanding physical tasks for longer.
In a paper published in American Psychologist, researchers report that participants who repeated a swear word while performing a strength exercise outlasted those who repeated a neutral word. The findings build on earlier work showing that swearing can improve performance — and offer new insight into the psychological state that makes it happen.
“In many situations, people hold themselves back — consciously or unconsciously — from using their full strength,” said study author Richard Stephens, in a [press release]…
People often stop physical effort not because their muscles fail, but because their minds do. New research suggests that swearing — long viewed as a social taboo — may help people push past that mental barrier, allowing them to sustain demanding physical tasks for longer.
In a paper published in American Psychologist, researchers report that participants who repeated a swear word while performing a strength exercise outlasted those who repeated a neutral word. The findings build on earlier work showing that swearing can improve performance — and offer new insight into the psychological state that makes it happen.
“In many situations, people hold themselves back — consciously or unconsciously — from using their full strength,” said study author Richard Stephens, in a press release. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident, and less distracted, and ‘go for it’ a little more.”
Read More: Here’s Why Words Blur Together When You Listen to a Foreign Language
How Swearing Affects Physical Effort
The performance-boosting effect of swearing has appeared repeatedly in past studies, from pain endurance tests to upper-body strength challenges. Across experiments, people who swear tend to hold on longer, even though their physical abilities are otherwise similar.
That consistency led researchers to ask a deeper question: if swearing doesn’t make people stronger, what does it change?
Rather than focusing on pain or arousal, the team turned its attention to disinhibition — the loosening of internal restraints that often limit effort. Swearing, they suspected, might help people temporarily drop self-monitoring and hesitation, making it easier to fully commit to a task.
Measuring Swearing’s Mental Impact
To probe whether swearing alters mindset during effort, the team designed a pair of lab studies involving just under 200 volunteers. Participants were asked to hold a chair push-up while repeating a single word at regular intervals — either a swear word of their own choosing or a neutral alternative.
Rather than focusing only on how long people lasted, the researchers also examined how the task felt in the moment. Afterward, participants rated their confidence, focus, and sense of psychological flow — a state of deep immersion in which attention narrows and effort feels more automatic — along with how distracted or self-conscious they felt during the exercise.
The results showed that people who swore were able to support their body weight longer than those who repeated a neutral word. That advantage wasn’t tied to physical strength alone.
Instead, it was linked to changes in mindset: participants who swore reported feeling more confident and more mentally immersed in the task, with less self-conscious hesitation. Those shifts point to a disinhibited state — one in which people are less likely to hold themselves back once effort is underway.
When Swearing Actually Helps
The findings suggest that swearing may work not by adding physical power, but by helping people override hesitation in moments of effort. By briefly loosening social and internal restraints, a well-timed swear word may make it easier to stay engaged and push through discomfort.
“These findings help explain why swearing is so commonplace,” said Stephens. “Swearing is literally a calorie-neutral, drug-free, low-cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance.”
The researchers are now exploring whether the same effect applies beyond physical tasks. Future studies will examine whether swearing can help in situations where performance hinges on confidence rather than strength — such as public speaking or initiating a romantic interaction — moments when people often hesitate just as much as they do under physical strain.
Read More: The History of Swear Words: Where the &%@! Do They Come From?
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from the recent study published in* American Psychologist: *“Don’t Hold Back”: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition