Figure 1.
a-b. Two hypothetical ways in which swear words and euphemisms are associated with emotions.
According to an approach that rejects relatively claims, the (implicit) assumption must be that word forms only influence our emotions via semantics, as in 1a. On this view, euphemisms and swear words mean different things—as indicated by their large separation in semantic space—and as a consequence, they evoke different reactions. By contrast, linguistic relativity would be supported if the structural features of a language can influence our thoughts via verbal conditioning, as in 1b. On this view, direct links develop between word forms and negative affect in response to past events in which the two stimuli co-occur. On this view, euphemisms are useful even when their meaning is very similar (or the same) to the swear word—as indicated by their small separation in semantic space—because they replace the surface form of the swear word that directly evokes negative affect.
Figure 2.
Mean electrodermal activity (EDA) invoked by stimulus onset across the four conditions.