Differences in personality characteristics between body‐modified and non‐modified individuals: associations with individual personality traits and their possible evolutionary implications

Abstract

After a long history of negative stigmatisation, the practices of tattooing and body piercing have become fashionable in the last decade. Today, 10% of the population in modern western societies have some form of body modification. The aim of this study was to quantify the demographic and personality traits of tattooed and pierced individuals and to compare them with a control group of individuals without body modifications. These comparisons are based on questionnaires completed by 359 individuals that investigate the details of body modification, and which incorporate five personality scales. We describe several sex differences in ornament style and location. We found no relevant differences between modified and non‐modified individuals in relation to demographic variables. This indicates that some of the traditional attitudes towards tattoos and piercings appear to be outdated. However, we found striking differences in personality traits which suggest that body‐modified individuals are greater sensation seekers and follow a more unrestricted mating strategy than their non‐modified contemporaries. We discuss these differences in light of a potential signalling function of tattoos and piercings in the mating context. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords

personality body modification ornament

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Atkinson

(2002).Pretty in ink: Conformity, resistance, and negotiation in women's tattooing. Sex Roles, 47,219–235.

Atkinson

Young

(2001).Flesh journeys: Neo primitives and the contemporary rediscovery of radical body modification. Deviant Behavior, 22,117–146.

Beauducel

Strobel

Brocke

(2003).Psychometrische Eigenschaften und Normen einer deutschsprachigen Fassung der Sensation Seeking‐Skalen, Form V [psychometric traits and norms of a German adaptation of the Sensation Seeking Scale, version V]. Diagnostica, 49,61–72.

Bem

S. L.

(1974).The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42,155–162.

Birmingham

Mason

Grubin

(1999).The psychiatric implications of visible tattoos in an adult male prison population. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 10,687–695.

Brähler

Strauß

Hessel

Schumacher

(2000).Normierung des Fragebogens zur Beurteilung des eigenen Körpers (FBeK) an einer repräsentativen Bevölkerungsstichprobe [standardization of the Questionnaire on the Perception of one's Own Body with a representative sample]. Diagnostica, 46,156–164.

Brown

L. T.

Ruder

V. G.

Ruder

J. H.

Young

S. D.

(1974).Stimulation seeking and the Change Seeker Index. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42,311.

Carroll

S. T.

Riffenburgh

R. H.

Roberts

T. A.

Myhre

E. B.

(2002).Tattoos and body piercings as indicators of adolescent risk‐taking behaviors. Pediatrics, 109,1021–1027.

Costa

P. T.

McCrae

R. R.

(1985). The NEO personality inventory manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

10.

Delazar

M. E.

(2005).The relationship between self‐esteem, objectified body consciousness, personality traits and body modification: An exploratory study. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 65(10B),5395.

11.

DeMello

(1993).The convict body: Tattooing among male American prisoners. Anthropology Today, 9,10–13.

12.

DeMello

(1995).“Not just for bikers anymore”: Popular representations of American tattooing. Journal of Popular Culture, 29,37–52.

13.

DeMello

(2003). Bodies of inscription: A cultural history of the modern tattoo community. Duke: Duke University Press.

14.

Dorfer

Moser

(1998).5200‐year‐old acupuncture in central Europe? Science, 282,239.

15.

Durkin

Houghton

(2000).Children's and adolescents' stereotypes of tattooed people as delinquent. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 5,153–164.

16.

Farley

F. H.

Davis

S. A.

(1977).Arousal, personality, and assortative mating in marriage. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 3,122–127.

17.

Ficher

I. V.

Zuckerman

Steinberg

(1988).Sensation seeking congruence in couples as a determinant of marital adjustment: A priori replication and extension. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44,803–809.

18.

Folstad

Karter

A. J.

(1992).Parasites, bright males and the immunocompetence handicap. American Naturalist, 139,603–622.

19.

Gangestad

S. W.

Simpson

J. A.

(2000).The evolution of human mating: Trade‐offs and strategic pluralism. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 23,573–644.

20.

Gilbert

(2001). Tattoo history: A source book. Rockville: Juno books.

21.

Grammer

Fink

Møller

A. P.

Thornhill

(2003).Darwinian aesthetics: Sexual selection and the biology of beauty. Biological Reviews, 78,385–407.

22.

Goldberg

L. R.

(1990).An alternative “Description of Personality”: The Big‐Five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59,1216–1229.

23.

Goldberg

Anderson

(2004).Hepatitis C: Who is at risk and how do we identify them? Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 11(Suppl. 1),12–18.

24.

John

O. P.

Donahue

E. M.

Kentle

R. L.

(1991). The Big Five Inventory: Versions 4a and 54. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research.

25.

John

O. P.

Srivastava

(1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin , & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research(2nd ed., pp.102–138). New York: The Guilford Press.

26.

Jones

(1996). Physical attractiveness and the theory of sexual selection. Ann Arbor, MI: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.

27.

Kral

A. H.

Bluthenthal

R. N.

Lorvick

Gee

Bacchetti

Edlin

B. R.

(2001).Sexual transmission of HIV‐1 among injection drug users in San Francisco, USA: Risk‐factor analysis. The Lancet, 357,1397–1401.

28.

Lang

F. R.

Luedtke

Asendorpf

J. B.

(2001).Testguete und psychometrische Aequivalenz der deutschen Version des Big Five Inventory (BFI) bei jungen, mittelalten und alten Erwachsenen [validity and psychometric equivalence of the German adaptation of the Big Five Inventory in young, middle and old adults]. Diagnostica, 47,111–121.

29.

Litle

Zuckerman

(1986).Sensation seeking and music preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 4,575–578.

30.

Ludvico

L. R.

Kurland

J. A.

(1995).Symbolic and not‐so symbolic wounds: The behavioural ecology of human scarification. Ethology and Sociobiology, 16,155–172.

31.

Maisey

D. S.

Vale

E. L. E.

Cornelissen

P. L.

Tovée

M. J.

(1999).Characteristics of male attractiveness for women. The Lancet, 353,1500.

32.

Mariano

Mele

Tosti

M. E.

Parlato

Gallo

Ragni

(2004).Role of beauty treatment in the spread of parenterally transmitted hepatitis viruses in Italy. Journal of Medical Virology, 74,216–220.

33.

Maronna

R. A.

(1976).Robust M‐estimators of multivariate location and scatter. Annals of Statistics, 4,51–67.

34.

Nathanson

Paulhus

D. L.

Williams

K. M.

(2006).Personality and misconduct correlates of body modification and other cultural deviance markers. Journal of Research in Personality, 40,779–802.

35.

Perrett

D. I.

Lee

K. J.

Penton‐Voak

I. S.

Rowland

D. R.

Yokisjawa

Burt

D. M.

(1998).Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature, 394,884–887.

36.

Pitts

V. L.

(2003). In the flesh—the cultural politics of body modification. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

37.

Roberti

J. W.

Storch

E. A.

Bravata

(2004).Sensation seeking, exposure to psychosocial stressors, and body modifications in a college population. Personality and Individual Differences, 37,167–1177.

38.

Roberts

T. A.

Aulinger

Ryan

S. A.

(2004).Body piercing and high‐risk behavior in adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 34,224–229.

39.

Roberts

T. A.

Ryan

S. A.

(2002).Tattooing and high‐risk behavior in adolescents. Pediatrics, 110,1058–1063.

40.

Rubin

(1988). The tattoo renaissance. In A. Rubin (Ed.), Marks of civilization(pp.233–265). Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History.

41.

Sanders

C. R.

(1989). Customizing the body: The art and culture of tattooing. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

42.

Schildkrout

(2004).Inscribing the body. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33,319–344.

43.

Schmitt

D. P.

(2005).Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: A 48‐nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28,247–275.

44.

Schneider‐Dueker

Kohler

(1988).Die Erfassung von Geschlechtsrollen – Ergebnisse zur deutschen Neukonstruktion des Bem Sex‐Role‐Inventory [assessment of sex roles—results of a German adaptation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory]. Diagnostica, 34,256–270.

45.

Siebers

(2000). The body aesthetics—From fine art to body modification. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

46.

Simpson

J. A.

(1998). Sociosexual Orientation Inventory. In W. L. Y. C. M. Davis , R. Bauseman , G. Schreer , & S. L. Davis (Eds.), Handbook of sexuality‐related measures(pp.565–567). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

47.

Simpson

J. A.

Gangestad

S. W.

(1991).Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60,870–883.

48.

Singh

(1993).Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist‐to‐hip ratio and financial status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65,293–307.

49.

Singh

Bronstad

P. M.

(1997).Sex differences in the anatomical locations of human body scarification and tattooing as a function of pathogen prevalence. Evolution and Human Behavior, 18,403–416.

50.

Snowdon

C. T.

(2004). Sexual selection and communication. In P. M. Kappeler , & P. Van Schaik (Eds.), Sexual selection in primates: New and comparative perspectives(pp.57–70). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

51.

Sokal

R. R.

Rohlf

J. F.

(1981). Analysis of frequencies. In R. R. Sokal , & J. F. Rohlf (Eds.), Biometry(2nd ed., pp.691–767). San Francisco: Freeman and Company.

52.

Stirn

(2003).Body piercing: Medical consequences and psychological motivations. The Lancet, 361,1205–1215.

53.

Stirn

(2004).Die Selbstgestaltung des Körpers—Narzistische Aspekte von Tattoo und Piercing [self‐embodiment of the body—narcistic aspects of tattoos and piercings]. Psychotherapie im Dialog, 3,256–260.

54.

Strauß

Appelt

(1983).Ein Fragebogen zur Beurteilung des eigenen Körpers [a Questionnaire on the Perception of one's Own Body]. Diagnostica, 29,145–164.

55.

Strauß

Richter‐Appelt

(1996). Fragebogen zur Beurteilung des eigenen Körpers (FBeK) [Questionnaire on the Perception of one's Own Body]. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

56.

Thornhill

Gangestad

S. W.

(1999).Facial attractiveness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3,452–460.

57.

Thornhill

Møller

A. P.

(1997).Developmental stability, disease and medicine. Biological Review, 72,497–548.

58.

Wilson

R. E.

(1996).Care of burn patient. Ostomy/Wound Management, 42,16–26.

59.

Wohlrab

Fink

Kappeler

P. M.

(2005).Menschlicher Körperschmuck aus evolutionärer Perspektive – Diversität und Funktion von Tätowierungen, Piercings und Skarifizierungen [human body ornaments from an evolutionary perspective—diversity and function of tattoos, piercings and scarifications]. Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft Wien, 134/135,1–10.

60.

Zahavi

(1975).Mate selection—a selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 53,205–214.

61.

Zuckerman

(1979). Sensation seeking. Beyond the optimal level of arousal. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

62.

Zuckerman

(1983).Sensation Seeking and sports. Personality and Individual Differences, 4,285–293.

63.

Zuckerman

(1984).The neurobiology of some dimensions of personality. International Review of Neurobiology, 25,329–436.

64.

Zuckerman

(1994). Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases of sensation seeking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

65.

Zuckerman

Bone

R. N.

Neary

Mangelsdorff

Brustman

(1972).What is the sensation seeker? Personality trait and experience correlates of the Sensation Seeking Scales. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 39,308–321.

66.

Zuckerman

Litle

(1986).Personality and curiosity about morbid and sexual events. Personality and Individual Differences, 7,49–56.

67.

Zuckerman

Tushup

Finner

(1976).Sexual attitudes and experience: Attitudes and personality correlates and changes produced by a course in sexuality. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 44,7–19.