A new study reveals intriguing differences in personality between tattooed and non-tattooed individuals.
While effect sizes were small, tattooed participants scored higher in sensation-seeking and need for uniqueness compared to their non-inked counterparts.
Key Facts:
- 22% of the 540 study participants had at least one tattoo
- Tattooed individuals scored higher in extroversion, need for uniqueness, and sensation seeking
- Tattooed participants had more positive attitudes toward tattoos
- Observed differences between groups were statistically significant but small in magnitude
Source: Psychol Rep.
Standing Out from the Crowd: Tattoos and Uniqueness
In recent decades, tattoos have become increasingly mainstream in Western societies.
No longer relegated solely to sailors, bikers, and social outcasts, tens of millions of middle-class adults now sport body art.
This normalization leads to an intriguing question: in an inked world, what motivates an individual to acquire permanent markings?
According to Viren Swami, lead author of the present research, tattoos may allow people to express uniqueness and construct distinct identities, especially related to appearance.
The very act of obtaining a voluntary, enduring, and often painful tattoo implies a desire for differentiation.
To investigate individual differences between tattooed and non-tattooed individuals, Swami and colleagues recruited 540 adults from southern Germany and Austria, 22% of whom had at least one tattoo.
Their analysis revealed that tattooed participants scored significantly higher on need for uniqueness compared to their non-tattooed counterparts.
The researchers suggest that tattoos allow wearers, especially in appearance-focused societies, to stand out from the crowd and boost feelings of being one-of-a-kind.
Of course, as tattoos grow more ubiquitous, their power to confer a sense of uniqueness may wane.
For now, however, inked skin appears to offer some people an alluring canvas for asserting their individuality.
Thrill Seekers and Nonconformists: Tattoos and Personality
In addition to valuing uniqueness, tattooed participants exhibited higher levels of sensation seeking, a personality trait tied to the need for novel and thrilling experiences.
Specifically, they showed elevated scores on the experience seeking sub-scale of the Sensation Seeking Scale.
This indicates a preference for living in the moment and embracing lifestyles off the beaten track.
Along with desiring intense activities, tattooed individuals displayed increased extroversion compared to their non-tattooed peers.
Extroverts tend to be outgoing, enthusiastic, and excitement-oriented.
The tattooed group likewise expressed more positive attitudes toward body art, unsurprisingly.
Interestingly, there were no differences between tattooed and non-tattooed participants across the other Big Five traits: agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness.
The researchers suggest that extroversion, sensation seeking, and need for uniqueness comprise a profile of qualities that sway some people toward getting inked.
A Population Shifts: Tattoos Become Mainstream
Western opinion toward tattoos has liberalized dramatically in recent generations.
As acceptance grows, stereotypes of inked individuals as reckless deviants lose traction.
Swami and colleagues argue that tattoos allow for personal expression precisely because they have crossed over into mainstream culture.
Whereas heavily tattooed people once faced suspicion and stigma, body art now permeates everyday life.
By some estimates, a quarter of adults under 40 in the U.S. and Europe have tattoos.
Pop culture brims with inked celebrities, elite athletes, and PTA members.
A barrista, banker, or bike mechanic with arm tattoos raises scarcely an eyebrow nowadays.
As this cultural shift continues, differences between the tattooed and non-tattooed may begin to fade.
With body art de-stigmatized and decoupled from extremeness, perhaps tattoos will cease to signify high sensation seeking or need for uniqueness in the future.
Then again, new forms of body modification may emerge to fill this void.
Only time will tell whether tattoos remain an emblem of edginess as they proliferate through the population.
Size Matters: Effect Size in Tattoo Research
Before rushing to stereotype tattooed individuals as thrill-chasing mavericks, examining effect sizes proves instructive.
While the study uncovered statistically significant differences between groups, the magnitude of these effects was relatively modest.
The disparities in sensation seeking, extroversion, and need for uniqueness accounted for only 2-7% of the variation between tattooed and non-tattooed participants.
By contrast, the groups showed large divergence in their attitudes toward tattoos, with inked participants expressing much more positive views, as expected.
In practical terms, the small effect sizes imply that tattooed and non-tattooed groups substantially overlap in most personality domains.
Plenty of tattooed individuals rank low on sensation seeking, while many non-tattooed folks score highly.
In the paper itself, Swami and fellow authors acknowledge the limited real-world impact of the small differences they observed, stating: “real-world implications of such and mostly small differences between tattooed and non-tattooed individuals may well be negligible.”
This underscores the importance of looking beyond statistical significance alone when interpreting research findings.
Tattoo Motivations: Style, Subculture, and Signaling
Interviews and surveys with tattooed adults reveal a palette of motivations behind their body art.
These include:
- Aesthetic reasons – tattoos as artistic expression, visual lifestyle, and personal style
- Cultural connection – expressing ethnic heritage, spiritual beliefs, or ties to a subculture
- Marking life events – commemorating milestones, losses, accomplishments
- Permanent commitment symbol – displaying devotion to values, causes, relationships
- Group affiliation – denoting membership in military, gangs, teams
- Sexual allure – enhancing attractiveness and bad girl/boy image
- Proof of toughness – displaying ability to withstand pain, overt masculinity/femininity
- Provocation – flouting conventions, causing shock or outrage
- Impulse, accidents, or intoxication – no specific motivation
This list illustrates the complex interplay of internal and social factors behind tattooing.
While self-expression and uniqueness matter for many wearers, tattoos also serve as communication to others.
Even as mainstream opinion grows more approving, body art retains elements of signaling traits, values, or group belonging.
Of course, motivations differ enormously across individuals, settings, and eras.
The stereotyped tattooed man of the early 20th century sought to convey toughness, solidarity with fellow sailors, disdain for bourgeois conformity, patriotism, or marks of life experience.
Today, a tattoo may variously symbolize femininity, achievement, cultural roots, anarchism, undying love, or simply youthful folly.
Body Ink Goes Skin Deep
The present study contributes uniquely to our understanding of how and why tattoos get under the skin for some individuals more than others.
Yet the results require nuanced interpretation in light of their limited effects sizes.
With cultural stigma fading, differences between tattooed and non-tattooed groups appear to be modest in most psychological domains.
By joining the ranks of the inked, today’s adults express themselves without necessarily signifying higher risk-taking or sensation seeking.
As tattoos become mainstream, they may begin to convey individuality in more subtle ways.
One thing remains clear – the motives for acquiring body art run far deeper than skin deep.
References
- Study: Personality differences between tattooed and non-tattooed individuals
- Authors: Viren Swami et al. (2012)
