like why do people swear when they are in pain. I searched up this question and it seems to communicate stress but for humans also release emotions. can someone more knowledgable on this subject explain it further?
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The main purpose is to alert others that we’re in trouble. This could mean family members, friends, or other members of our social group. In the case of animals, it can warn the rest of the pack that there’s danger nearby. This is useful in promoting survival, as it may prompt others to provide help or take defensive action.
There’s also an interesting psychological aspect related to swearing when in pain. Studies have found that swearing can actually increase our tolerance to pain. This is thought to be because swearing triggers our ‘fight or flight’ response, leading to a surge in adrenaline, which is another natural pain-reliever.
Of course, these are not the only reasons and a full explanation of all the reasons would be much more complex, but I don’t know them and this is ELI5. 🙂
You do only find this behavior among animals who live in groups. The sound is to Conway the need for support and protection among the other members.
On top of that, do you find three kinds of “screams”:
1) The children’s scream that calls on everybody from the group.
2) The female scream that only calls the male part to come.
3) The male “scream” is a sound to call the strongest males in the group.
If you take humans as an example, can you clearly hear a difference between a baby, a woman and a male. The baby’s sound is in fact made to be as annoying as possible, the woman’s scream is to be easy to hear from a long distance, through a noisy environment. The male is more an angry shout or a shout of defeat.
1. Its an indication that something is wrong and someone needs help
2. It warns others of possible danger and increases vigilance. This also probably causes a shot of adrenaline to enhance the ability for the flight/fight response
3. People swear because those words convey the most emotion. “Ah, fuck!” Is more emotional than “ah, crap!”. And communicating emotion invokes #1 and #2
As far as i know it is to communicate to everyone around that you are hurt and there is a predator nearby.
The system that activates in a monkey when he sees a predator and screams is the same system you use for that kind of spontaneous swearing when you stub your toe.
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