Science says you’re wrong about a person’s personality based on their tattoos

Picture this scenario: You take your kid to the park to have them run around and play. Naturally, they find a playmate and proceed to have a good time. You find yourself talking to the child’s mom. The conversation goes great and the kids have a good enough time that you arrange a play date for them next week while you both chat again over coffee. That’s when you notice the mom’s tattoo and you catch yourself feeling surprised by it. They don’t seem like a person that would have that tattoo. Then you ask yourself, “Wait, why did I think that?”

A scientific study published in the Journal of Research in Personality found that while people have consistent opinions and impressions about a person’s personality based on their tattoos, they’re incorrect more often than not. Many people still associate tattoos with rebellion, anti-social behavior, free-spiritedness, and being less conscientious when they could just be a responsible fellow parent that you met in the park. That parent-park scenario was hypothetical, but relatable. Heck, based on a 2023 Pew Research Poll, there’s a one out of three chance that you were a tattooed person being psychoanalyzed.

Since 32% of Americans have at least one tattoo, with the lion’s share being under 50 years old and 38% of them being women, one would think that tattoos have become so commonplace in society that preconceived notions about a person based on their body art have become immaterial. However, the people surveyed in the study still stereotyped a person’s personality based on a tattoo’s size, colors, “wackiness,” and design (flowers versus a skull, for example).

Throughout most of human history, tattoos have been used as indication of a person’s status rather than just for aesthetics. Depending on culture, a tattoo could signify a person’s rank, status within a tribe, or societal class. They could indicate an allegiance to a particular religious sect, an arm of a military force, or a gang such as the Japanese Yakuza or the Vice Lords in the U.S., among others . There are some ancient cultures that used tattoos as a means to ward off evil spirits or as a primitive form of providing pain relief in various points in the body like acupuncture. Based on the study, however, this traditional notion regarding tattoos as an official affiliation or strict stance of belief or status has become less apparent.

  - YouTube  youtu.be  

Today, in the majority of the current day western world, among the most cited reasons people get a tattoo is to honor a memory whether it was of a struggle they conquered, a beloved time in their life, a family member, or a deceased pet. There are still people that get tattoos to represent their religious faith, belief in a cause, or as a mark of affiliation such as being an Olympic participant or in the cast of Lord of the Rings. But more and more modern tattoo lovers get them as a form of artistic expression, to just use their body as a canvas. A person could have a tattoo that expresses their Christian faith on one part of their body while another part has a tattoo of Spongebob Squarepants. The varieties of tattoos and the reasons behind them are innumerable.

Even though tattoos have become more favorable than before, there are still a number of people getting their tattoos removed, too. Some people get a tattoo removed for professional reasons, a change in belief, or that they just don’t want it anymore. The reasons for removals are equally as innumerable as the reasons to get a tattoo. But a good chunk of people try to get a regrettable tattoo altered into something else by a tattoo artist rather than just getting a tattoo flat-out removed.

As tattooed people become more and more commonplace, and the ability to alter or remove regrettable or controversial tattoos becomes more accessible and achievable, it’s likely the stigma and prejudgment of tattooed individuals will become even less commonplace. For now though, if you don’t have a tattoo, you may want to withhold your initial beliefs about a person based on the ink they have on their body. You could be distancing yourself from a quality person to know.