When considering the social impact of body language, attractiveness may have an impact in various settings, including the job setting: who obtains a job and who does not? Who is offered a promotion, or a more prestigious job, or a higher salary? The nonverbal cues in which I propose to research are tattoos and body piercings. Many stereotypes and judgments have developed surrounding these two forms of body modification. A negative connotation has developed. As tattooing and piercing are both becoming increasingly popular in Western society, as well as many other areas of the world, it is important to study the possible implications behind these forms of expression, especially when discussing tattoos as they are a decision being made which lasts a lifetime. What are individuals’ first impressions when meeting someone for the first time and are able to see visible tattoos and/or body piercings? Do they form a completely different judgment whether a tattoo/piercing is visible? What kinds of things are associated with tattoos and piercings? As they are becoming increasingly popular, are opinions changing as well? Are we becoming more open-minded, accepting individuals’ personal choices of partaking in permanent body art? As these forms of body modification become more and more common, is it possible that future generations no longer carry with them these negative ideals regarding tattoos/piercings? Will society one day consider these currently frowned upon artifacts to be forms of expression, beauty, and design? Or, are the increasing numbers of individuals who are participating in these forms of body modification closing doors, limiting future endeavors, eliminating possibilities, opportunities, which they otherwise would have had? The main question I will be addressing is: Do first impressions differ if a person has a visible tattoo/piercing? My study will relate this question to the workplace in a job interview setting. This research proposal aims to determine whether or not employers formulate stereotypical judgments and negative first impressions of applicants based on visible tattoos and/or body piercings.
Previous research done surrounding tattoos and/or body piercings have looked at negative perceptions of tattoos, underlying motivations behind obtaining tattoos and body piercings, factors that influence attitudes toward women with tattoos, attitudinal findings regarding individuals’ cues, reason, and purpose for getting tattooed, risks of tattooing, correlations between tattoos/piercings and problem substance use, and between tattoos/piercings and criminality and recidivism.
A previous research study has been done in regard to negative perceptions of tattoos. In this study, two experiments were conducted, examining college student participants’ perceptions when shown a photograph of a female model with and without a visible tattoo. Participants rated her on thirteen personal characteristics. The results revealed ratings of a model with a dragon tattoo significantly more negative than were rating of the same model shown without the tattoo. A second experiment was carried out which included different participants, a different model, and a different tattoo. In this experiment the woman had a tattoo of a dolphin. The dolphin tattoo led to less negative ratings than the model with the dragon tattoo had received (Resenhoeft et al., 2008, p. 593). This study tests only general perceptions of women with visible tattoos, excluding men entirely, keeping the focus on the type of tattoo instead.
In light of tattoos and body piercing becoming increasingly popular, a paper was written to determine the underlying motivations behind obtaining tattoos and body piercings. This paper provides a review of the existing relevant literature found as a considerable body of research on motivational aspects already exists, providing reference for future research. The paper entails a list of ten broad motivational categories, comprising motivations for getting tattooed and body pierced. The list includes: (1) Beauty, art, and fashion, (2) individuality, (3) personal narrative, (4) physical endurance, (5) group affiliation and commitment, (6) resistance, (7) spirituality and cultural tradition, (8) addiction, (9) sexual motivation, and (10) no specific reason (Kappeler et al., 2006, p. 87-90).
Another study looked at the factors that influence attitudes toward women with tattoos. This group focused on tattoo size and visibility. They claim that women may account for more than 50% of the individuals currently (2004) obtaining tattoos. Their findings showed that both men and women had more negative attitudes toward a woman with a visible tattoo than toward the non-tattooed woman (Hawkes et al., 2004, p. 593).
The purpose of another study was to determine whether the presence of body modification among adolescents was an independent predictor of problem substance use (Brooks et al., 2003, p. 44).
Another paper was written to report attitudinal findings from a recent study (2000) with college students regarding their cues, reason, and purpose for getting tattooed; what they believe are the risks of tattooing; the barriers that would stop them from obtaining (or getting another) tattoo; and their ideas of customer skills regarding the tattooing procedure (Armstrong et al., 2002, p. 317).
One study was conducted surrounding tattoos discussing whether there is a link between tattoos and young offenders, recidivism, aggression, and substance use. They set out to determine whether being tattooed is related to criminality and whether tattoo removal is related to reduced recidivism (Putnins, 2002, p. 62).
The assumptions that are made, and the topics on which these papers and studies are based alone, strengthen the notion that tattoos and body piercings are perceived negatively. My project will extend existing research on tattoos and body piercings as it will provide further evidence that negative connotations and stereotypes are instilled based on these artifacts. More specifically, my project will determine whether these negative connotations and stereotypes become more than just connotations and stereotypes, more than a judgment made, a faulty first impression formed. I aim to determine whether these judgments develop into discriminatory behaviour, such as dismissing qualified applicants from a job hiring process, based on visible body modification, more specifically, tattoos and/or piercings. In addition, my research study will determine whether these negative views are in the process of gradually shifting as these forms of body modification are becoming more common in our society. I will examine current perceptions held by employers, as well as examine their perceptions in the future to measure whether an incremental decrease in negative associations with tattoos/piercings is in effect.
Research methods I will use to conduct this research mostly involve surveys. I will have two focus groups. One group will have visible tattoos and/or piercings, the other will not. There will be an equal amount of participants in each group. For each participant who has visible tattoos/piercings, there will be a corresponding person in the other group which does not have any tattoos/piercings. The two counterparts will be similar in face, height, body shape/weight, skin colour, body smell, head, facial and body hair, attractiveness, attire, age, gender, qualifications, skills, experience, performance, eloquence, and education level. This will eliminate the possibility of external factors tampering with the experiment in question, by minimizing differences among the applicants, honing in on the main nonverbal cue which is our focus, visible tattoo(s) and/or body piercing(s).
The individuals from both groups will be professionally interviewed by a potential employer. This way, we are able to analyze the impressions made by the participants as the stimulus used is face-to-face interaction. Each tattooed/pierced participant will perform on a similar level, delivering equivalent interviews as their non-tattooed/pierced counterpart, further ensuring minimal external obstructions of the results of the study.
Following the interviews I will administer a set of ask and response questions to the interviewer to determine whether he/she were more likely to instill negative connotations and/or stereotypes of the individuals with tattoos/piercings, paying close attention to any implicit and/or explicit judgments made based on these nonverbal artifacts. The questions which will be administered will delve into subjects including social attractiveness, task attractiveness, physical attractiveness, and the physical attractiveness stereotype, which states that we respond more favourably to those we perceive as attractive, than to those we see as unattractive. Often, we judge beauty first by looking at a person’s face. Stereotypically, we judge that beauty implies goodness, talent, and success. Beauty, bodies and artifacts are often decoded as being indicative of a person’s background/status, character/credibility, personality/likeability, talents/skills, and future behaviour. Examples of some questions that will be asked during the questionnaire process include: 1) In a few words, what was your first impression of the applicant when they entered the room, before the interview began? 2) Is this someone with whom you want to socialize/associate? 3) Is this someone with whom you want to have as a coworker/teammate? 4) What information have you gathered based on this first encounter in terms of the applicant’s character/credibility? 5) What information have you gathered based on this first encounter in terms of the applicant’s talents/skills? 6) What information have you gathered based on this first encounter in terms of the applicant’s future behaviour? 7) What information have you gathered based on this first encounter in terms of the applicant’s personality/likeability? 8) If you were to choose one quality you believe to be this applicant’s best quality, what would it be? 9) If you were to choose one quality you believe to be this applicant’s worst quality, what would it be? 10) In a few words, what was the impression of the applicant you were left with after they had left the room, once the interview had ended?
I will then be sure to follow up to find out which individuals received the position applied for, and which did not. Ultimately, I would like to repeat this research study at least twice more in five year increments. This will reveal whether currently held beliefs toward tattoos/piercings which are, for the most, negative, are shifting for the better, as the number of individuals obtaining tattoos/piercings is, in fact, increasing.
I believe that my research project will confirm that negative associations and stereotypes about tattoos and body piercings are still very much alive, whether decoders are consciously aware, or unconsciously triggered. I believe that the employers who conduct the job interviews in this study will favour the applicants who do not have any visible tattoos or piercings, ultimately molding their decision of who they will hire and who they will disregard in the job application process. This may be a conscious distinction, or an unconscious notion unintentionally formed based on the negative associations that are triggered by these forms of body modification. I believe that varying degrees of favourability and negativity will unfold according to the size, location, type, number of, and how noticeable the visible tattoos and/or piercings are from individual to individual. I believe that body modifications such as tattooing and piercing are becoming increasingly popular and therefore gradually accepted in society. I predict that future research studies will reveal that these negative connotations are gradually diminishing as time passes and these forms of body modification are subsequently able to thrive as art, beauty, design, expression, spirituality, culture, fashion, and individuality.
References
Armstrong, M., Kock, J., Owen, D. & Roberts, A. (2002). College Tattoos: More Than Skin Deep. Texas.
Brooks, T., Knight, J., Shrier, L. & Woods, E. (2003). Body Modification and Substance Use in Adolescents: Is There a Link? New York: Elsevier Science.
Hawkes, D., Senn, C. & Thorn, C. (2004). Factors That Influence Attitudes Toward Women With Tattoos. Windsor, ON: Plenum Publishing Corporation.
Kappeler, P., Stahl, J. & Wohlrab, S. (2006). Modifying the body: Motivations for Getting Tattooed and Pierced. Germany: Elsevier.
Putnins, A. (2002). Young Offenders, Tattoos and Recidivism. Australia: Routledge.
Resenhoeft, A., Villa, J. & Wiseman, D. (2008). Tattoos Can Harm Perceptions: A Study and Suggestions. New Jersey: Heldref Publications.
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