Abstract
There are several displays commonly labeled as body modifications, including body piercings, scarification, tattoos, cutting, etc. In this study, we were focused on one distinct form of body modification, namely tattoos. The current exploratory study investigated the connection between body modifications (BM) and Dark Triad personality for a sample of 77 university students with BM, compared to a control group of 77 non-BM individuals. Three self-administrated questionnaires were used to collect the data: Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-Short Form, Mach-IV scale, and Narcissistic Personality Inventory. The findings suggest that subclinical psychopathy is most strongly connected to body modifications. An increased number of tattoos was also significantly correlated with a higher level of anti-sociality. Participants with visible body modifications had significantly higher affective callousness and overall self-reported subclinical psychopathy levels, compared with individuals with non-visible alterations.
Highlights
Body Modification, Rebellion against Mainstream Values, and Self-Construction: The term body modification (BM) refers to several procedures that change the appearance of one’s body
Dark Triad and Tattoos: We began by investigating the connection between the presence of BM and selfreported levels of psychopathy
We found that individuals with body modifications had significantly higher levels of psychopathy on the affective callousness (U = 2152, p = .003), erratic lifestyle (U = 1928, p = .000) and overt antisociality subscales (U = 2153, p = .003), as well as higher scores on the overall SRP-SF scale (U = 1892, p =.000)
Summary
Body Modification, Rebellion against Mainstream Values, and Self-Construction: The term body modification (BM) refers to several procedures that change the appearance of one’s body. There are several displays commonly labeled as body modification, including body piercings, scarification, tattoos, cutting, adornments, garments, and hairstyles (Myers, 1992). We will focus on one distinct form of body modification, namely tattoos. Throughout time, a shift has occurred in the way body modification was perceived and, a shift in the social and psychological significance that possessors of BM attribute to their tattoos. The mainline of reasoning to explain such findings is closely linked to the cultural history of body modifications, which were initially mostly found within certain social groups considered to have an aggressive or criminal behavioral background (e.g., bikers, military, sailors, prison inmates); these BM markings served as an indicator of rebellion against mainstream/conservative cultural values (DeMello, 2003)
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