A study suggests that individuals with vibrant and joyful tattoos are perceived as more agreeable

People are perceived as more amiable when they have vibrant, upbeat tattoos.

A Michigan State University study found that people with brighter, happier tattoos are more likeable than those with darker tattoos that include motifs associated with death, like skulls.

However, these presumptions turned out to be incorrect because the person’s genuine nature was not reflected in the tattoos.

In the Journal of Research in nature, William J. Chopik stated: “Although people frequently think that tattoos reveal profound truths about a person’s personality, those impressions typically do not hold up.”

Prior research has not addressed whether or how people utilize tattoo content to generate opinions about others, or whether or not those opinions are true.

In the same way that other outside indicators influence judgment (such as physical attributes or laptop stickers), the content of tattoos may convey significant information about those individuals.

The researchers recruited 274 persons between the ages of 18 and 70 who had at least one tattoo for their study. The participants filled out a personality test that assessed their agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to new experiences. 

In addition, the group shared images of their tattoos and explained their meanings.

Following the collection of 375 tattoos, the researchers asked 30 participants to rank the individuals who had them.

In the end, the researchers discovered that tattoos including images of death were viewed as more neurotic, whilst those with more reassuring images were viewed as more amiable.

others do assess others by their tattoos, according to Chopik. For instance, a person with a modest, adorable flower tattoo would be seen as more amiable than someone with a large, hideous skull tattoo.

But these assumptions were wrong, and the tattoos didn’t truly capture the owners’ true selves. 

The study did discover, however, that those with “wacky” tattoos were more likely to be receptive to new experiences than those with more conventional tattoos.

“Those perceptions typically don’t hold up, with the exception of ‘wacky’ tattoos, which can actually reflect a person’s openness,” Chopik continued.