One of the lesser-known fields of psychology is ‘maledictology’ which, as the name suggests, examines how people express themselves emotionally by swearing. Swearing is studied in its neurological, psychological and social contexts.
Clearly, the decision to swear comes from the brain. It is hypothesised that swearing involves both higher-level cognitive functions, such as decision-making and language, and the subcortical system, which determines how the person will respond to stimuli in their environment.
In psychological terms, we learn how to swear as part of our normal psychological development in society. From childhood, we learn what the common swearwords of our culture are, and which circumstances prompt their use. Knowing what is, and isn’t, considered rude in different contexts is an essential element of a child’s psychosocial development.
Socially-based research examines the cultural markers that people, and societies, use to determine when a particular word is or isn’t appropriate.
Currently, maledictology remains very much a minority field of study, a contested ground between psychology and linguistics that struggles to find funding, suggesting that the taboo element of swearing permeates academia as much as any other field of endeavour. For those who are particularly interested, the academic journal Maledicta was published between 1977 and 2005.
Photo Source: https://www.tuw.edu/psychology/career-in-psychology-traits/
