诅咒可以降低疼痛
题记：很早就订阅了world of psychology，里面的内容大多是和心理自助有关的，可是总是很少去认真看。于是想，是否可以养成翻译的习惯，把这些文章翻译出来。一呢可以训练下自己的翻译能力，二呢就是也算阅读了。p.s. 为了翻译方便，所有文章均用第一人称。
3月份的时候，我报告了Timothy Jay所做的一项关于人们因何诅咒的研究。作为一个研究诅咒达35年之久的研究者，Jay有着一些很有趣的见解。现在增加再增加一个新的理由：我们诅咒不仅仅是对疼痛的反应，而是因为诅咒可以降低我们的疼痛感。
在该研究中，有67名大学生进行了冰水测试。当被试将手插入冰水时可以做出两种选择，要么读出中性词汇，要么重复诅咒的词汇。
选择诅咒反应的被试比选择中性反应的被试报告了更少的主观疼痛感，平均可以在冰水中忍受长达40s的时间。
一些研究者开始推测诅咒为了可以减少疼痛。诅咒似乎受脑深层结构的支配，如杏仁核，它也负责战斗或逃跑反应。当我们面对有威胁的刺激时，人类与动物一样面临两个选择：战斗或者逃跑。在任何情况下，当一种反应被激发时，我们的心跳开始增加，为身体将要做出的反应提供准备。在这一反应过程中我们对疼痛的敏感度也降低了。
被试做出这种反应也可能是由于儿童期长期发展中的心理条件作用。当一个小孩受到伤害时，立即的反应就是用哭来表达疼痛。这可能会带来一些情绪上的缓解（如通过父母的安慰），但常常也不能带来具体情绪和生理上的疼痛缓解。不过，似乎它可以让我们感觉好一些。
虽然我们的年龄增长和成熟，我们学习以其它方式来表达疼痛，比如通过诅咒。当我们哭泣或者诅咒后，我们预期会感觉好一些，确实是这样。
对于那些将疼痛做灾难化理解的男性大学生而言不存在这种效应。如，那些认为将手放入冰水中将会是最痛苦经历的男士不能从诅咒中得到疼痛缓解体验。
然而，如果我们太频繁使用诅咒或者我们使用的诅咒不带有情绪化特征，诅咒将失去它的效果。这就解释了为什么有些人似乎总是在诅咒，他们将诅咒当作交流中的习惯用语，它已经没有情绪上的意义了。而那些很少使用这些词汇的人则可以很快的被这些词汇做激活。
无论是哪种情况，这都为我们为什么诅咒提供了另外一种解释：因为它可以给我们带来暂时的疼痛缓解。
而且要比阿司匹林便宜的多哦！
附原文：Swearing Reduces Pain
Back in March, I reported on a study by Timothy Jay describing how and why humans swear. As a researcher studying swearing for 35 years, Jay had some interesting insights. Now add one more reason to the list — we swear not merely as a reaction to pain, but because it can actually reduce our sense of pain.
The new finding comes from research that tested the hypothesis with a bunch (67) of college students and some ice cold water. Students were given a choice when they plunged their warm hands into the freezing water — chant a neutral word, or repeat a swear word instead.
Those students who chose to swear reported less subjective pain than the neutral word chanters, and could endure the icy cold water with their hands for about 40 seconds longer on average.
Some researcher speculate into the reasons why swearing might work to lesson pain. Swearing appears to come from structures deep within the brain, like the amygdala which is home to the fight or flight response. When faced with something that threatens us, humans — like animals — have a choice: fight it or run away from it. In either case, when this response is triggered, our heart rate climbs, preparing our body for the action it needs to take. It also appears that our sensitivity to pain during this response is also lessened.
It could also be the case that the students’ responses were an example of psychological conditioning from years of normal child development. When you’re a child and you hurt yourself, your immediate reaction is to cry to express your pain. This could bring about some sort of emotional relief (through a consoling parent, for instance), but it also often results in no particular emotional or physical relief from the pain. And yet, somehow it seems to make us feel better.
As we age and mature however, we learn to express our pain in other ways — through swearing, for instance. After we cry or swear, we expect to feel better, so we do.
The pain response didn’t work for the male college students who had a tendency to catastrophize their pain, however. For instance, men who think it will be the most painful experience ever to dunk their hand into an icy cold bucket of water will find little relief from swearing.
Swear words lose their effect, however, if we use them too often or they no longer carry any particularly emotionality to them. That’s why a swear word used by someone who swears all the time almost seems like casual conversation to them — because it is. Someone who rarely uses the same word, however, could quickly become offended by the very same word.
In either case, this adds another explanation as to why people swear — because it brings them a temporary sense of pain relief.
And it’s cheaper than aspirin.
Reference:
Stephens, R., Atkins, J., Kingston, A. (2009). Swearing as a response to pain. NeuroReport. 20(12):1056-1060. DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1
3月份的时候，我报告了Timothy Jay所做的一项关于人们因何诅咒的研究。作为一个研究诅咒达35年之久的研究者，Jay有着一些很有趣的见解。现在增加再增加一个新的理由：我们诅咒不仅仅是对疼痛的反应，而是因为诅咒可以降低我们的疼痛感。
在该研究中，有67名大学生进行了冰水测试。当被试将手插入冰水时可以做出两种选择，要么读出中性词汇，要么重复诅咒的词汇。
选择诅咒反应的被试比选择中性反应的被试报告了更少的主观疼痛感，平均可以在冰水中忍受长达40s的时间。
一些研究者开始推测诅咒为了可以减少疼痛。诅咒似乎受脑深层结构的支配，如杏仁核，它也负责战斗或逃跑反应。当我们面对有威胁的刺激时，人类与动物一样面临两个选择：战斗或者逃跑。在任何情况下，当一种反应被激发时，我们的心跳开始增加，为身体将要做出的反应提供准备。在这一反应过程中我们对疼痛的敏感度也降低了。
被试做出这种反应也可能是由于儿童期长期发展中的心理条件作用。当一个小孩受到伤害时，立即的反应就是用哭来表达疼痛。这可能会带来一些情绪上的缓解（如通过父母的安慰），但常常也不能带来具体情绪和生理上的疼痛缓解。不过，似乎它可以让我们感觉好一些。
虽然我们的年龄增长和成熟，我们学习以其它方式来表达疼痛，比如通过诅咒。当我们哭泣或者诅咒后，我们预期会感觉好一些，确实是这样。
对于那些将疼痛做灾难化理解的男性大学生而言不存在这种效应。如，那些认为将手放入冰水中将会是最痛苦经历的男士不能从诅咒中得到疼痛缓解体验。
然而，如果我们太频繁使用诅咒或者我们使用的诅咒不带有情绪化特征，诅咒将失去它的效果。这就解释了为什么有些人似乎总是在诅咒，他们将诅咒当作交流中的习惯用语，它已经没有情绪上的意义了。而那些很少使用这些词汇的人则可以很快的被这些词汇做激活。
无论是哪种情况，这都为我们为什么诅咒提供了另外一种解释：因为它可以给我们带来暂时的疼痛缓解。
而且要比阿司匹林便宜的多哦！
附原文：Swearing Reduces Pain
Back in March, I reported on a study by Timothy Jay describing how and why humans swear. As a researcher studying swearing for 35 years, Jay had some interesting insights. Now add one more reason to the list — we swear not merely as a reaction to pain, but because it can actually reduce our sense of pain.
The new finding comes from research that tested the hypothesis with a bunch (67) of college students and some ice cold water. Students were given a choice when they plunged their warm hands into the freezing water — chant a neutral word, or repeat a swear word instead.
Those students who chose to swear reported less subjective pain than the neutral word chanters, and could endure the icy cold water with their hands for about 40 seconds longer on average.
Some researcher speculate into the reasons why swearing might work to lesson pain. Swearing appears to come from structures deep within the brain, like the amygdala which is home to the fight or flight response. When faced with something that threatens us, humans — like animals — have a choice: fight it or run away from it. In either case, when this response is triggered, our heart rate climbs, preparing our body for the action it needs to take. It also appears that our sensitivity to pain during this response is also lessened.
It could also be the case that the students’ responses were an example of psychological conditioning from years of normal child development. When you’re a child and you hurt yourself, your immediate reaction is to cry to express your pain. This could bring about some sort of emotional relief (through a consoling parent, for instance), but it also often results in no particular emotional or physical relief from the pain. And yet, somehow it seems to make us feel better.
As we age and mature however, we learn to express our pain in other ways — through swearing, for instance. After we cry or swear, we expect to feel better, so we do.
The pain response didn’t work for the male college students who had a tendency to catastrophize their pain, however. For instance, men who think it will be the most painful experience ever to dunk their hand into an icy cold bucket of water will find little relief from swearing.
Swear words lose their effect, however, if we use them too often or they no longer carry any particularly emotionality to them. That’s why a swear word used by someone who swears all the time almost seems like casual conversation to them — because it is. Someone who rarely uses the same word, however, could quickly become offended by the very same word.
In either case, this adds another explanation as to why people swear — because it brings them a temporary sense of pain relief.
And it’s cheaper than aspirin.
Reference:
Stephens, R., Atkins, J., Kingston, A. (2009). Swearing as a response to pain. NeuroReport. 20(12):1056-1060. DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1
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