Swearing as a catalyst of technological development

> On an apparently different note, increasing evidence suggests that manual dexterity is potentiated by swearing. Indeed, swearing elicits many measurable biopsychosocial positive effects, like strengthened attention and memory, heightened autonomic arousal, or hypoalgesia (i.e., pain relief) (Stapleton et al., 2022; Washmuth et al., 2026). In this opinion paper, we will support the view that swearing behavior may have contributed to the advancement of human technology. In principle, it is emotionally neuter and significantly elaborated (i.e., lexically rich and grammatically complex) language that can be expected to support technological improvements, since it enables more efficient transmission of know-hows to others. Indeed, as societies evolve larger and more complex, the languages they speak usually gain more content words (Goulden et al., 1990; Bromham et al., 2015; Reali et al., 2018) and richer lexical taxonomies (Kay and Maffi, 1999; Lev-Ari, 2024), and their grammars become more complex and rule-dependent (Wray and Grace, 2007; Chen et al., 2024). Nonetheless, here we will argue that swear words, in spite of being structurally simpler and emotionally loaded, might have contributed, directly and indirectly, to improving our technological abilities. Directly, because of its positive biopsychosocial effects, particularly, on fine motor skills, as noted. Indirectly, because an emotionally alliviated state with decreased stress levels and reduced anxiety, as a result of swearing, enables one to engage in more efficient deep thinking, more productive work within a community, and more sophisticated linguistic behavior: not just richer language uses, but also more complex language structures, which largely result from a cultural mechanism (Tamariz and Kirby, 2016; Tamariz, 2017). We will frame our hypothesis within the self-domestication hypothesis of human evolution (henceforth, HSD) > Actually, it was Freud (1893) who famously said that the man who first flung a word of abuse at his enemy instead of a spear was the founder of civilization. In other words, as HSD increased, “reactive language” would have replaced “reactive aggression”. At the same time, because of the (partially) common brain mechanisms involved, as characterized above, creating and using this type of derogatory compounds can be hypothesized to have reinforced our trend toward a more prosocial behavior (see Progovac and Benítez-Burraco, 2019 for details). > Ontogenetically, a positive relationship exists between motor abilities, social cognition and social interactions, and language skills (Leonard and Hill, 2014). For instance, motor improvements by the child typically result in more frequent and richer interactions with other individuals, this in turn potentiating her language abilities (Iverson, 2022). Neurobiological determinants can contribute as well to such a positive feedback loop between motor and language development. > Accordingly, Washmuth et al. (2026) found that repeating a swear word immediately prior to a manual dexterity task enhanced performance compared with repeating a neutral word. Such swearing-induced performance improvements were observed across different tasks, samples, and testing conditions (Stephens et al., 2025; Washmuth et al., 2026). These findings are consistent with prior, more anecdotal evidence. For instance, surgeons, known for their high-level motor skills, have been observed swearing in the operating room and during other fine-motor tasks (Palazzo and Warner, 1999; Joseph et al., 2024). > For instance, repeating a swear word has been found to enhance motor performance by shifting people into a more disinhibited, goal-focused, self-confident psychological state (Stephens et al., 2025). More generally, swearing reduces stress, provides catharsis, and facilitates emotional release (Vingerhoets et al., 2013; Stapleton et al., 2022), which can be expected to facilitate more careful, precise, and prolonged thinking, as well as attentional engagement and willingness to expend effort. All these positive effects can be linked to the improvement of technology, since the behaviors required for advanced technological performance typically involve effort, discomfort, and sustained attention. > In a nutshell, the more sophisticated language as we tamed our reactive agression, the more refined our motor abilities. Since swear words (mostly compound words) are hypothesized to have emerged early during language evolution, swearing can be viewed as the earliest instance of such a feedback loop between language (and HSD) and motor behavior. However, because swearing has other positive outcomes as well, our swearing behavior might have also potentiated our motor skills (and ultimately, our technological abilities) indirectly. Hence, for instance, fine motor skills typically require sustained effort throughout a task to achieve meaningful results.