Study: Tattoos stain impressions of females

Brookdale professor and students honored for research on project

BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer

BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer

KAREN BOWES Professor Joel Morgovsky, of Brookdale Community College, led a group of students in a study that examined people’s perceptions of those with tattoos. KAREN BOWES Professor Joel Morgovsky, of Brookdale Community College, led a group of students in a study that examined people’s perceptions of those with tattoos. MIDDLETOWN — First impressions are hard to erase, especially if they’re tattooed on.

According to a recent study conducted by Brookdale Community College, women with large visible tattoos are more likely to be perceived as unattractive, dishonest and less intelligent than their non-tattooed peers.

“In the emergency room, people with tattoos are perceived more negatively and receive less quality health care,” said psychology professor Joel Morgovsky, of Lincroft, who led the study.

This may not come as news to some, as North American women with tattoos have historically been judged more negatively than their male counterparts.

“In the late 19th century, women were tattooed in order to pursue careers as sideshow circus attractions. Their costumes were scant and, therefore, considered rebellious for their time. Despite their tattoos, these women were not regarded as revolutionaries, but instead as social outcasts to be marveled as well as ridiculed,” according to Daina Hawkes, Charlene Senn and Chantal Thorn in a 2004 study published in the academic journal “Sex Roles.”

Students judged this model with and without an upper-arm tattoo. The result, the model without a tattoo was deemed more attractive and trustworthy.   Students judged this model with and without an upper-arm tattoo. The result, the model without a tattoo was deemed more attractive and trustworthy. Brookdale students, looking to perform a study that explored people’s perceptions of tattooed women, modeled their study on one done in 2002 by Douglas Degelman, of Vanguard University of Southern California.

As part of the project, student volunteers were divided into four groups. One group was given a picture of a “goth,” or harshly made-up woman with a tattoo on her upper arm. A second group was given the same photo with the woman’s tattoo airbrushed out. Then students are asked to rate the attractiveness, intelligence and trustworthiness of the woman based on a scale of one to five. The result? The woman without a tattoo netted more positive responses.

COURTESY OF DOUGLAS DEGELMAN, VANGUARD UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIF.  COURTESY OF DOUGLAS DEGELMAN, VANGUARD UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIF. The third and fourth groups were also given photos to rate. These groups viewed a different woman, dressed in white, wearing little to no makeup with a tattoo clearly visible on the woman’s shoulder.

The results differed dramatically from the goth-looking woman. Students saw little difference between the attractiveness of a woman with or without a shoulder tattoo.

“It indicates that there are other factors involved,” said Morgovsky. “How the woman dresses, looks, something about her face.”

The professor also pointed out that the size and shape of the tattoo may be a determinant.

“We’d also like to get a picture of a man,” said Morgovsky. “To see, does it carry across gender? Does a skull get perceived differently than, say, a pumpkin?”

Morgovsky said he chose the subject of tattoo research not because he likes tattoos, but because he thought it would be a subject matter his students would respond to.

“This is very new,” said Morgovsky. “There’s not a lot of studies out so we’ve really contributed to the literature.”

Morgovsky hopes to make his findings official by having them published in a psychology journal sometime in the near future. Professor David Wiseman, along with students Julie Villa and Annette Resenhoeft, are busy calculating the final results of the experiment.

“This project was not so much about tattoos,” said Morgovsky.

“We wanted students to have the experience of forming a question and then going out and testing it empirically.”

Although Brookdale’s Psychology Department has only had a Psi Beta, or National Honor Society, for three years, the group was honored this year for their work on the tattoo study.

At the annual American Psychological Association convention held in Washington, D.C., Morgovsky was named “outstanding advisor” and his students were given the 2005 Wadsworth Publishers Outstanding Psi Beta Chapter Award.

“It’s just been a great year for us,” he said.