Social Identity and Use of Taboo Words in Angry Mood: A Gender Study

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between social identity and the taboo words men and women use in order to express their anger. Moreover, this study went further and investigated the relationship between using taboo words in male and female participants who had a university degree and those who did not. In order to do the research, 20 female and 20 male adults, whose professions were similar in pairs, were randomly selected. The researcher recorded their voices when they were in an angry mood. After recording data, the researcher made a transcription of the first fifty words uttered by each participant. Then, the taboo words- words which were considered offensive or shocking and that were discouraged in public places - were calculated. Finally, the percentage of taboo words used by each participant was calculated and compared to that of the others. The findings of the study confirmed that the percentage of using taboo language by male characters, in different social identities, was much more than that of female characters. On the other hand, by dividing the participants into two groups of those who had a university degree, and those with no university degree, the researcher came to the conclusion that both male and female participants with a university degree used less taboo words than those without a university degree.