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Statistics Article Analysis
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Statistics Article Analysis
Stephens and Umland (2011) conclude that swearing provides relief from pain, although this intervention only has a short-term effect on pain management and intervention. In addition, the article concedes that the mechanism for swearing effect occurs through an emotional feedback mechanism that increases the heart rate. To arrive at this outcome, the researchers focused on measuring pertinent variables that included cold pressor latency. The cold pressor latency entailed subjecting the research participants’ to two temperature changes (5oC for cold conditions and 25oC for room temperature conditions) with the heart rate noted as the unit for measuring the variable using a heart monitor. The intention of the cold stressor latency was to place the body in a stressful environment by exposing it to an unfavorably low temperature and monitoring its response in that situation versus a normal situation with swearing words acting as a moderating variable. In this respect, the article sought to determine the effect of swearing words on pain brought about by cold environments through evaluating changes in the heart rate.
To present its results in a graphical format, the article applies whisker plot. In this case, the visual presentation offers information about the range and median as determined from analysis of the collected results. Drawn alongside a number line scale, the whisker plot offers the highest value at the topmost tip of the whisker, and the median line at the center of the whisker.

The plot presents the lowest value at the bottom tip of the whisker. Based on the plot presented in the article, the results for cold pressor latency show the males had a higher heart rate than their female counterparts. In addition, the males reported a median heart rate of 85 for non-swearing situation and a heart rate of 130 when swearing was introduced. In comparison, their female counterparts reported a heart rate of 50 for non-swearing situation and a heart rate of 75 when swearing was introduced. The implication is that swearing elevated the heart rate when an individual was placed in a stressful environment thereby validating its potential use in pain relief.
The authors acknowledged that the variables collected in the research followed a normal distribution. This implied that the variate for the variance and mean of the collected data had a static distribution with probability density function. In essence, it is an indication that the data can be plotted to present a curved flaring shape commonly referred to as a ‘bell curve’ and follows a Gaussian distribution. Through the acknowledgment, the authors indicate that the data observes the central limit theorem such that 99.7% of the values are within three standard deviations of the mean, 95% are within two standard deviations of the mean, and 68% are within one standard deviation of the mean. This is an important consideration when manipulating and interpreting the collected data.
The paper indicates that the latency was longer in the swearing condition relative to the non-swearing condition. In this case, the median heart rate for males in non-swearing condition was 85 while that of their female counterparts was 50 for the same conditions. These figures increased to 130 and 75 for the males and females respectively in swearing conditions. In essence, the results showed that cold pressor latency had a significant effect with F(1,69) = 26.942, P < .001. In addition, the results make it clear that gender has as effect on cold pressure latency, F(1,69) = 4.623, P = .035. Besides that, the results made it clear that there was no interaction between swearing and gender in relation to cold pressor latency, F(1,69) = 2.880, P = .094. Also, the collected results were subjected to general linear modeling with the intention of determining the correlation between gender and daily swearing frequency whereby it was shown that the males had a higher daily swearing frequency at 18.80 when compared to their female counterparts at 11.51.
Reference
Stephens, R. & Umland, C. (2011). Swearing as a Response to Pain—Effect of Daily Swearing Frequency. The Journal of Pain, 12(12), 1274-1281.