Don’t judge a person by their tattoo — you’re likely to be wrong.
A new study shows that people consistently misjudge the personality of others based on their tattoos — with one exception.
Individuals with “quirky or wacky tattoos” were more accurately perceived as open to new experiences and to have an appreciation for artistic and abstract endeavours, according to the study co-author and psychology professor William Chopik from Michigan State University in the US.
Tattoos are becoming increasingly popular — an estimated one in five younger South Africans are inked — according to a World Health Organization report and the “rates are growing”.
“All types of people come in here — from priests who want a tribute to God, to people who were in jail and want to cover up their tattoos. I’ve tattooed an accountant in a top financial post in government, pilots, doctors and engineers,” said Chad Meyer, the tattoo artist at Ink Republik Tattoo Studio in Hout Bay. “People who choose more [wacky] tattoos tend to be more spontaneous.”
The destigmatisation of tattoos, particularly in cities, appears to be a trend. The new study, published this week in the Journal of Research in Personality, is the first to look at how people judge specific tattoos.
“We found that people tend to rate the personalities of tattooed people consistently. So when people saw a tattoo, they tended to think at least similarly in what they assumed the person was like,” said Chopik. “However, the accuracy of these assumptions does not align with reality for most traits.”
The research involved two groups of people in the study. People with tattoos were photographed and asked to fill out a battery of personality measures, while a second group looked only at the photos of people’s tattoos and rated their personality from these.
The second group tended to agree on their perceptions, which were largely inaccurate overall. The size, colour and content of tattoos did not correlate with any findings besides that of open-mindedness linked to original tattoos, the study showed.
“We were surprised to see that people accurately judged someone’s openness based only on seeing a photo of a tattoo. When people see a wacky or goofy tattoo, they assume that person is open to experience and ... they’re correct about it,” said study co-author Brooke Soulliere.
People make judgments all the time about others based on environmental characteristics and cues, often quickly and accurately, said the authors. “For example, how people decorate their spaces and belongings, even down to the stickers they put on their laptops, are used to derive cues about their personalities.
“The rates can accurately predict a person's open-mindedness and extroversion by looking at the amount and type of stickers on their laptop” in this example — unlike with tattoos where stereotypes may skew perceptions.
“For example, suppose someone were to have a tattoo of a skull and a gun. In that case, one may believe that the person who has that tattoo has antisocial or antagonistic tendencies, when in fact, that person may just like a certain band for whom those features are part of their logo [for example, Guns N’ Roses],” they noted.
“Tattoos often carry special meanings, communicating important things about the person who decided to get the tattoo … the most common [reasons] are to celebrate or memorialise a person or event, to express themselves through art, or simply because they believe that tattoos look cool and appealing.”
While a peer-reviewed study, most of the 274 participants with 375 tattoos were white women, unlike the broad range of demographics among people who get tattoos.
“I tend to tattoo more women and I have guys come in who have been dared by their friends,” said Meyer, who has been a tattoo artist for 10 years and prefers not to do any tattoo he wouldn’t want on his skin.
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