Effects of tattoos on the aesthetic appreciation of human stimuli as influenced by expertise, tattoo status, and age reflecting internalized social norms

Scientific interest in body modifications continues to grow, and tattoos have recently become a subject of empirical aesthetics. While conceptual structures of tattoo aesthetics have been studied, the question of how tattoos are aesthetically appreciated has not yet been studied. In this study, we e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-12, Vol.19 (12), p.e0313940
Main Authors: Weiler, Selina M, Duer, Christian, Krämer, Dustin, Jacobsen, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aesthetics
Age
Age Factors
Aged
Analysis
Artists
Beauty
Biology and Life Sciences
Consent
Esthetics - psychology
Evaluation
Extreme values
Female
Humans
Image manipulation
Influence
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Middle Aged
Norms
People and Places
Perceptions
Personality
Personality traits
Physical Sciences
Research and Analysis Methods
Schmidt, Helmut (1918-2015)
Social aspects
Social Norms
Social Sciences
Stimuli
Stimuli (Psychology)
Tattooing
Tattooing - psychology
Tattoos
Young Adult
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Summary:Scientific interest in body modifications continues to grow, and tattoos have recently become a subject of empirical aesthetics. While conceptual structures of tattoo aesthetics have been studied, the question of how tattoos are aesthetically appreciated has not yet been studied. In this study, we examined how tattoos influence the aesthetic appreciation of human stimuli and uncovered differences in beauty perceived by individuals older and younger than 50, which we consider indicative of different internalized social norms, experts (tattoo artists) and nonexperts, and tattooed and nontattooed individuals. Images of a male and a female model were manipulated to vary in the amount of tattoo coverage across six manipulation conditions: Baseline (none), Light, Moderate, Heavy, Extreme, and Extreme + Face. N = 487 participants rated the beauty of these stimuli. The results suggest overall group differences (experts vs. nonexperts; tattooed vs. nontattooed; older vs. younger). The perceived beauty of the stimuli decreased as the extent of tattoos increased, with the Extreme + Face condition standing out as the lowest rated condition. These findings confirm that tattoos influence aesthetic appreciation, which is highly dependent on expertise and social norms as indicated by age. We also discuss the generalizability and implications of the findings.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0313940