by Leigh Adams: http://goarticles.com/article/People-Perceptions-of-Tattoos/1890433/
“If you were confronted with two people. One dressed in a suit and looking office smart and one who dressed in shorts and had tattoos up his neck and down his sleeves. Who would you be inclined to talk to or do business with? Would you expect these people to be different because of their appearance? What if someone you have seen dressed in a suit consequently then wears shorts at the weekend and is covered in tattoos. Would this change your impression of them?
Tattoos have been around for centuries and I see them as being part of the warrior culture. Not to make you look hard but to represent your journey in life. The various stages that you go through and the events which are often so memorable. Just like warriors are rewarded with a tattoo when they grow into adulthood.
There are so many different types of tattoos you can find. From Japanese, Chinese, Maori, Celtic, fairies, angels, demons, bull dogs, tribal. You name it you can get it tattooed. So is your perception different depending on the type of tattoo they wear?”
People often rely on each other’s physical appearance to form first impressions, and these impressions can be potent and enduring (Burgoon, Buller, & Woodall, 1996). People use seemingly trivial cues like clothing, grooming, cosmetics, hair length, and body piercings to form impressions of each other. Currently there is another seemingly trivial physical appearance cue that is growing in popularity among people of all age groups and social classes, tattooing (Stuppy, Armstrong, & Casals-Ariet, 1998).
Tattooing in U.S. has become sixth fastest growing retail business (Lord, 1997) and one in ten people are estimated to have or have had a tattoo (Gardyn, 2001). The art of tattooing has been around for centuries but people with tattoos generally are not evaluated positively in western cultures. For example, a survey done on employers in occupations of retail and office revealed that they were less likely to hire people with tattoos than those without them (Bekhor et al., 1995).
A different study on tattoos involved high school and college students viewing photograph of a female either with or without a visible tattoo on her upper arm and rating her on various traits (Degelman & Price, 2002). The results of the study demonstrated that the female without tattoo was rated significantly more attractive, intelligent, artistic, athletic, motivated, generous, mysterious, religious, and honest compared to the same female with one. This study was limited in scope as the tattoo used in the study was a “biker tattoo” and only a female model was used in the study.
To further explore how tattoos can affect our perceptions of other individuals, Seiter and Hatch (2005), two researchers at Utah State University, used a male and female model and created images of them with and without tattoos. These images were given to 148 participants who were asked to provide their assessment on model’s credibility and attractiveness. The notion of credibility was measured alongside dimensions of competence, character, sociability, extroversion, and composure.
The results of the study indicated that for both sexes tattoo wearers received lower ratings on competence, character, and sociability than those without one. These negative results can be explained by role theory, which states that all societies have expectations about how each sex is supposed to look and behave like (Workman & Johnson, 1994). Those who violate their expected roles are hindered in their social interactions. These results are also consistent with empirical research suggesting that a conservative appearance enhances one’s credibility (Seiter & Sandry, 2003).
Although having a tattoo lowered credibility rating of models, it did not affect participants’ ratings of their attractiveness. This result goes against common perception of tattoo wearers that having a tattoo makes one more attractive (Drews, Allison, & Probst, 2000). Of course, people do not perceive tattoo wearers to be ugly either. Nonetheless, the interesting point to note here is that individuals perceive and judge tattoo wearers’ internal characteristics and not their external ones, when in fact tattoos are part of external features of a person.
References:
Bekhor, P.S., Bekhor, L, & Gandrabur, M. (1995). Employer attitudes towards persons with visible tattooes. Australian Journal of Dermatology, 36, 75-77.
Burgoon, J.K., Buller, D.B., & Woodall, W.G. (1996). Nonverbal communication: The unspoken dialogue. (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.
Degelman, D., & Price, N.D. (2002). Tattoos and ratings of personal characteristics. Psychological Reports, 90, 507-514.
Drews, D.R., Allison, C.K., & Probst, J.R. (2000). Behavioral and self-concept differences in tattooed and nontattooed college students. Psychological Reports, 86, 475-481.
Gardyn, R. (2001). Ink me, stud. American Demographics, 23, 9-11.
Seiter, J.S., & Hatch, S. (2005). Effect of tattoos on perceptions of credibility and attractiveness. Psychological Reports, 96, 1113-1120.
Seiter, J.S., & Sandry, A. (2003). Pierced for success? The effects of ear and nose piercing on perceptions of job candidates’ credibility, attractiveness, and hirability. Communication Research Reports, 20, 287-298.
Stuppy, D.J., Armstrong, M.L., & Casals-Ariet, C.C. (1998). Attitudes of health care providers and students towards tattooed people. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27, 1165-1170.
http://www.wnd.com/2006/10/38428/
There are children's books like "Mommy Has a Tattoo" and the "Tattoo Colouring Book." The topic of tattoos and body piercing is one of the hottest for campus speakers. Major corporations are working the "hip" new trend into their TV commercials and ad campaigns. And as tattoos and piercings become more common, some zealots are moving to extremes once unthinkable.
Just as "Heather Has Two Mommies" is now required reading for kindergartners in some school districts, how long will it be before the tolerance police mandate Phil Padwe's new books. He's the author and illustrator of the two new children's books on tattoos.
In "Mommy Has a Tattoo," a little boy, James, is afraid of a heavily tattooed neighbour – until he realizes his mother has one, too.
“WASHINGTON – You run a fashionable restaurant with a dress code for employees and customers that discourages pierced tongues and noses.
You are a personnel director at an upscale department store known for customer service and refuse to hire women with prominent tattoos.
You supervise a supermarket and require those with pierced body parts who handle food to remove the piercings before reporting to work.
According to legal experts in employment law, if you fit any of these categories, you are setting yourself up for lawsuits from members of a new activist lobby representing the ever-growing population of those into "body modification."
"Employers are getting involved in expensive legal battles as they attempt to adapt to the ever-changing workforce," said David Barron, an attorney with Epstein Becker Green Wickliff & Hall, P.C. "Long-accepted rules are now being challenged and questioned in court." “
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7034500.stm
News article purely based on opinions, statistics and discussion about tattoos in and out of the work place. Also what kinds of people have them.
http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/385.php
http://www.unh.edu/sociology/media/pdfs-journal2008/LandryEDITED.pdf
http://www.examiner.com/cognitive-science-in-national/people-with-tattoos-are-perceived-to-be-less-credible-than-those-without
I have carried out this research to find out about different peoples perceptions on tattoos and there representation. This will help me with my entire project because it will help me understand that everyone has a different opinion on tattoos.
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_facts.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment