Making an impression; USU study shows people with tattoos not trusted as much as people without tattoos
For Utah State University students walking around campus sporting a tribal armband tattoo, chances are their peers will find them less credible than non-tattooed students before they ever open their mouths to speak to them. This is the result of a study published by USU speech communication Associate Professor John Seiter and speech graduate Sarah Thompson in “Psychological Reports 2005.” The study took a picture of both a man and woman wearing a black T-shirt and jeans with blank facial expressions and neutral posture and showed them to four test groups of USU students. Each test group was given a different photo of either the man without a tattoo, the woman without a tattoo, the man with a tattoo digitally added or the woman with a tattoo digitally added. The groups were then asked to fill out a questionnaire about the credibility and attractiveness of the person in their photo. “What we found is that having a tattoo had no effect on perceptions of attractiveness, but it did affect perceptions of credibility,” Seiter said. “That old saying that people judge a book by its cover is true. There’s a longtime stigma attached to tattoos; they’re traditionally associated with the rougher-edged parts of society.” Sarah Thompson, now a USU graduate who studied speech communication, said she expected there to be a difference in perception based on gender, but there was none. “I had expected that the female with the tattoo would be rated more negatively than the man with the tattoo, and that didn’t happen,” Thompson said. The tattoo on the man and woman were the same, a swirling tribal armband pattern. The study did not address differences that may exist between tattoos of different images. Seiter said the study is interesting because it has been 10 or 15 years since a study like it has been done and tattoos have become more commonplace during that time. He said he expected the results to be different from previous studies, but instead, they backed up earlier research. Thompson said that the results of the study were probably influenced by the conservative environment in which it was conducted. “I only did the study at Utah State,” Thompson said. “We have a pretty conservative population and so the students may have seen the pictures and seen that [the subjects] were different. And it’s not uncommon for people to perceive negatively things that are different, so it could just be a regional thing.” There were 148 undergraduate students divided into the four groups for the study, 96 women and 52 men. The groups were gender-mixed. Only six of the participants reported having tattoos themselves, which may have made their impressions different from their non-tattooed counterparts. “If you did the same study in Seattle or something like that, you’d get different results, because it seems like some regions of the country are somewhat enamored with tattoos,” Seiter said. Seiter said it was interesting that perceptions of attractiveness were not changed, either positively or negatively, because one of the main reasons people get tattoos is that they want to be seen as more attractive. In the credibility field, the subjects were rated on subcategories of competence, character, sociability, extroversion and composure. Of those, the only category the tattooed photos scored higher on than the non-tattooed photos was extroversion. “People with tattoos were seen as extroverted,” Seiter said. “Extroverts are socially bold, and people who get tattoos are socially bold.” Thompson said she hasn’t talked to any real people with tattoos to see if the results of the study are consistent with their experiences, but she has read that people with tattoos do notice changes in peoples’ perceptions. She said a lot of people get their tattoos in places that can be hidden by clothing, which alleviates some of the problem. Seiter said that until tattoos become fully socially acceptable, putting a tattoo in a discreet area is probably a good idea. “At least in this geography, tattoos still give you the perception of being less credible,” Seiter said. “At least when you go for the job interview, wear a long-sleeved shirt.”–jenbeasley@cc.usu.edu