sensation seeking attributes and attitudes to tattoos

Running head: SENSATION SEEKING AND ATTITUDES TO TATTOOS 1

Sensation Seeking Attributes and Attitudes to Tattoos

Alison Fietz

220078965

University of New England

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SENSATION SEEKING AND ATTITUDES TO TATTOOS

Abstract

A scale was constructed to measure Attitudes to Tattoos(ATT18). 40 participants answered the 18 item

questionnaire as well as the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking scale, via Qualtrics Online Survey

Software.Results indicated that a higher score on the ATT18 did indicate higher scores on the AISS.Having

or liking tattoos correlates with greater sensation seeking attributes.The study did not find that there were

any gender differences on the two scales,further research with more balanced samples is needed to clarify

this.A larger sample containing a more varied age distribution, that utilised virtual technology could

elaborate on body modification and the need for novel and intense experiences.

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Similarities in Attitudes to Having or Liking Tattoos

and Sensation Seeking Attributes

Sensation seeking is characterized by seeking out novel, complex experiences and

sensations, even if this involves taking social and physical risks to attain them (Zuckerman,1979).

Recent studies have found a positive relationship between body modification in the form of

tattooing and an individual’s tendency to seek excessive sensations, intense and risky experiences

(Roberti, Storch&Bravata, 2004).Some studies have shown tattooed individuals receive negative

associations, particularly in regard to attitudes of employers and health-care personnel.

Consequently, they may be treated differently in these environments (Lanigan,S &Varma,S, 1999;

Stuppy,D.J, Armstrong,M.L & Casals-Ariet,C 1998). Sensation seeking and sociosexuality have

been related to tattooed stimuli being rated as having high numbers of sexual partners

(Wohlrab,Fink,Kappeler&Brewer,2009).

It was hypothesised that individuals who scored highly on the Attitudes To Tattoos (ATT18)

questionnaire would also attain a high score on the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS).

Most items on the 18 item scale are directly associated with tattooing -” I enjoy looking at people

who have tattoos”. There are five reverse score items included - “I would be worried about

employment prospects by having a visible tattoo” in order to avoid an affirmation bias.It is a

Likert scale format, indicating the extent that the item described them

1= Strongly Disagree

2=Disagree

3=Neither Agree nor Disagree

4=Agree

5=Strongly Agree

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Scoring: 5 indicates the highest response per item, combine responses for all 18 items to get a

total out of 90, higher score indicates more positive attitude to tattoos.

After receiving two peer reviews, the scale was modified to accommodate suggestions.

“Tattoos are a way for people to express themselves and can have strong personal meaning” was

changed to two items “Tattoos can have strong personal meaning” and “ Tattoos are a way for

people to express themselves”.Other changes related to reformulating the question “I agree with

the saying “no pain, no gain” due to socio linguistic relevance.This became “Even though tattoos

are painful when being applied, the pain is worth the long term gain”.The suggestion to have an

item that related to the exciting, addictive aspect was added “People can become addicted to the

sensation and/or thrill of being tattooed”. Review suggestions led to the ATT going from a 15 item

scale to 18 items.The ATT18 total score is 90, higher scores would suggest a favourable attitude to

tattoos.

It was anticipated that having and liking tattoos is influenced by impulsive,sensation seeking

attributes, which often break through social and physical boundaries.Tattoos can instigate

psychological, social and financial effects post application. Most patients requesting laser removal

applied tattoos impulsively and mainly in their youth (Lanigan&Varma,1998).

Method

Participants

The 40 participants in this study consisted of an anonymous mixture of undergraduate

psychology students and non-psychology students. Participation was voluntary and no incentives

were offered.There were 27 females and 13 males, with ages ranging from 19 to 67 years, and a

mean age of 42 years (SD=10.68).

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Materials

The Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS) was guided in its construction by a

conception of sensation seeking as having the distinctive qualities of the need for novelty and

intensity in sensory experience, which may be expressed in multiple areas of a person’s life

(Arnett,1994). The scale has 20 items, with two subscales of 10 items each, Intensity and

Novelty.A Likert format is employed, with respondents indicating the extent to which the item

described them.Six of the items were worded negatively in order to avoid affirmation bias.In this

study both subscales were used to give a total score.

A= describes me very well

B=describes me somewhat

C=does not describe me very well

D=does not describe me at all

Scoring: Combine responses to items, with A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, so that a higher score= higher

sensation seeking.With the 12 indicated items, scoring should be reversed.Arnett (1994) reported

internal consistencies (Cronbach’s α) to be .70 for the total scale, and .64 for the Intensity

subscale, and .50 for the Novelty.Convergent validity has been demonstrated by Arnett (1994) in

relation to the Aggressiveness subscale from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI; Gough,

1987).Criterion-orientated validity, in predicting youth delinquent behaviour is evident in previous

studies in regard to the subscale Intensity, when used in conjunction with the subscale Delinquent

Behaviour of the Youth Self-Report (Arnett,1996,Roth&YorckHerzberg,2004). Convergent and

discriminant validity of the AISS was found by Roth et al.,(2004) when used with the NEO Five

Factor Inventory(Costa&McCrae,1992).

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Procedure

The ATT18 was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of

New England.It was then entered into Qualtrics Online Survey Software , an information sheet

established that you had to be over 18 years.Two questions on gender and age followed, then the

ATT18 scale followed by the AISS scale. A link was set up in the Psychology 301 forum, where

fellow undergraduate students were participating in surveys. Another link was established on a

social networking page, to recruit respondents.The final dataset was downloaded into SPSS

version18.0 where it was scored and analysed.

Results

Descriptive statistics for the two scales.See Table 1.

Table1

Means, Standard Deviations and Cronbach’s α for the ATT18 and the AISS including subscales

Scale M SD Range Cronbach’s α

Min Max

ATT18a 58.37 10.45 39.00 80.00 .87

AISS b 59.07 7.14 42.00 78.00 .70

Novelty 31.32 4.59 23.00 38.00 .50

Intensity 27.75 4.40 19.00 35.00 .64

Note. N=40

ATT18=score total of 90.

AISS= score total of 80, two subscales total of 40 each.

Levene’s test indicates equal variances can be assumed p<01.An independent samples t test

was used to compare the means of males (n= 13) and females (n=27) on the AISS and the ATT18.

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For the AISS the result was only just non significant with males (M=62.23,SD=8.23) recording

scores 4,68 higher, 95% CI[-.02428,9.37] than females (M=57.55,SD=6.14), t(38)=2.01, p=.051,

two-tailed.The results for the ATT18 was also non significant with males (M=59.69,SD=12.68)

recording scores 1.95 higher than females,95%CI[-5.25,9.15], t(38)=.548, p=.587,two-tailed.

To assess the relationship between the AISS and the ATT18, a bivariate Pearson’s product-

movement correlation coefficient (r) was calculated.The correlation was positive and of medium

index of strength, r(38)= .370,p=.009, one tailed. The best item on the ATT18 scale was item 18,

“I find tattoos sexy and exciting” this produces the lowest alpha if deleted at .854.The worst item

on the ATT18 was item 9, “teenagers who get tattoos will probably regret them when they are

older” the alpha went up to .899 if this was deleted.

Discussion

As anticipated, the results reflect that having a positive attitude towards tattoos can indicate

that an individual is more likely to display sensation seeking attributes.This finding supports the

results of Roberti,Storch&Bravata,(2004),with a positive relationship between tattooing and

engaging in intense,sensory experiences.Gender differences were not significant on either scale,

this may have been caused by the unequal distribution, with more females than males Previous

research by Wohlrab et al.,(2007) found a relationship between tattooed stimuli, sociosexuality

and sensation seeking.This supports the best item on the ATT18, which asks about tattoos being

sexy and exciting. Considering that Varma&Lanigan (1998) found that most patients who opted

to remove tattoos later in their life cited impulsive, risk taking behaviour, mainly during

adolescence as reasons for getting tattoos. It relates that the worst item on the ATT18 was

“teenagers who get tattoos will probably regret them when they are older”.The mean age in this

study was 42 years, financial and social effects of body modification may be more restrictive

during this time.Future research would benefit from having a larger sample, with a larger

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percentage of under 25 year old participants. The ATT18 scale lacks validity due to its infancy,

with no re-test reliability to back it up.Future research in the direction of Wohlrab et al.,(2009)

which used virtual human characters, avatars with or without prominent tattoos where variables

such as hair,skin tone, clothing could be held constant,would bring the construct more in line with

recent technology.Positive correlations were found by Roth et al.,(2004) with the NEO-FFI and

the AISS, future research could use the multitrait-multimethod approach with the ATT18,

establishing convergent validity.

Overall, the results of the study suggest individuals who seek intense and novel experiences

are more likely to have or like tattoos.Some respondents were undergraduate psychology

students,who would have a greater tendency to be aware of socio-cultural,political,economic and

physical boundaries.This may have contributed to the higher scores and significant relationship.

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References

Arnett, J.(1994). Sensation Seeking: A new conceptualization and a new scale. Personality and

Individual Differences,16, 289-296.

Arnett,J.(1996).Sensation Seeking, aggressiveness, and adolescent reckless behaviour.Personality

And Individual Differences,20,693-702.

Costa,P.T, & McCrae,R.R.(1992).Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five

Factor Inventory(NEO-FFI). Professional manual. Odessa,Fl.: Psychological Assessment

Resources.

Lanigan,S.W, & Varma,S (1998).Reasons for requesting laser removal of tattoos. British Journal

of Dermatology,140,483-485.

Roberti,J.W.,Storch, E.A., & Bravata,E.(2004).Sensation seeking,exposure to psychosocial

stressors, and body modification in a college population.Personality and Individual Differences,

37,167-177.

Roth,M, & Yorck Herzberg,P.(2004).A validation and psychometric examination of the Arnett

inventory of sensation seeking (AISS) in German adolescents.European journal of

Psychological Assessment,20,205-214.

Stuppy,D.J., Armstrong,M.L., & Casals-Ariet,C.(1998).Attitudes of health care providers and

Students toward tattooed people .Journal of Advanced Nursing,27,1165-1170.

Wohlrab,S, Fink,B, Kappeler,P, & Brewer,G.(2009).Differences in personality attributions toward

tattooed and nontattooed virtual human characters.Journal of Individual Differences,30

1-5.

Zuckerman,M.(1979). Sensation seeking:beyond the optimum level of arousal.Hillsdale,NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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Appendix

PSYC301 PEER REVIEW TEST FEEDBACK

Name of Test under review ______ATT15____Reveived by Neville Shackleton________________

1. Did you find it hard to understand exactly what was being asked of you in any of the questions? (please

circle)

NO

YES . . . Which questions were hard to understand?

Question 12: I understand, but I am wondering about the cultural / socio linguistic relevance, I wonder if

something along the lines of

Even though tattoos are painful when being applied, the pain is worth the long term gain.

2. Were there any questions that you found hard to answer due to not having enough response options you

wanted? (please circle)

NO

YES . . . For which questions was this the case? What other response options should have been included?

3. Did you feel reluctant to answer any of the questions (please circle)

NO

YES . . . Which questions were you reluctant to answer? Why?

Question 10, I feel this may be asking me to different things, as I would like to answer with two different

responses. Both would make great individual questions

Question 13, Is good, just wondering if they need to be linked closer together. Such as “I would be

worried by my employment prospects by having a visible tattoo” ?

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PSYC301 PEER REVIEW TEST FEEDBACK

Name of Test under review _____________ATT15_________________________

1. Did you find it hard to understand exactly what was being asked of you in any of the questions? (please

circle)

NO

YES . . . Which questions were hard to understand?

Question 6 – Consider simplifying question to “In general I enjoy being the centre of attention” or “In

general, I enjoy people looking at me” – one or the other?

Question 10 – consider simplifying to “Tattoos are a way for people to express themselves”.

Question 12 – “no pain, no gain” – considering the global definition that without suffering then there

is no reward – maybe you could consider reformulating the question to incorporate the attraction to

the pain associated with getting a tattoo - My ‘tattooed’ family members tell me there is an addiction

or pleasurable sensation experienced in lead up to, during and after getting tattoos!

2. Were there any questions that you found hard to answer due to not having enough response options you

wanted? (please circle)

NO

YES . . . For which questions was this the case? What other response options should have been included?

Question 2 – Maybe consider rephrasing question, so that your scale of 1.strongly disagree….5.

Strongly agree can be applied

Suggestions… make the question quantitative eg. The majority of my friends and/or relatives have

tattoos.

3. Did you feel reluctant to answer any of the questions (please circle)

NO X

YES . . . Which questions were you reluctant to answer? Why?

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ATT15

Please indicate your gender : Male Female

Please state your age : Years

Please read the 15 statements and circle the number that most relates to your view.

The rating scale is as follows:

1) STRONGLY DISAGREE

2) DISAGREE

3) NEITHER AGREE OR DISAGREE

4) AGREE

5) STRONGLY AGREE

1) I enjoy looking at people who have tattoos 1 2 3 4 5

2) A lot of my friends and/or relatives have tattoos 1 2 3 4 5

3) I have, or would like to get a tattoo 1 2 3 4 5

4) People should cover up tattoos if they are in 1 2 3 4 5

occupations such as infants/primary teaching

5) I consider tattooing to be an art form 1 2 3 4 5

6) In general, I enjoy people looking at me and being 1 2 3 4 5

the centre of attention

7) The age limit for getting a tattoo should be raised to 1 2 3 4 5

21 years

8) Tattoos are a lot more accepted now than in the past 1 2 3 4 5

9) Teenagers who get tattoos will probably regret them 1 2 3 4 5

when they are older

10) Tattoos are a way for people to express themselves 1 2 3 4 5

and can have strong personal meaning

11) Tattoos are expensive and a waste of money 1 2 3 4 5

12) I agree with the saying “no pain no gain” 1 2 3 4 5

13) I worry about employment prospects and would 1 2 3 4 5

never get a visible tattoo

14) If I had teenagers I would not be worried about them 1 2 3 4 5

getting a tattoo

15) I find tattoos sexy and exciting 1 2 3 4 5

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ATT18

Please indicate your gender : Male Female State your age Years

For each of the following statements please select the response that best reflects your attitudes about tattoos, by

circling the number that matches the scale listed below.

1=Strongly Disagree

2=Disagree

3=Neither Agree nor Disagree

4=Agree

5=Strongly Agree

1) I enjoy looking at people who have tattoos 1 2 3 4 5

2) The majority of my friends and/or relatives have tattoos 1 2 3 4 5

3) I have, or would like to get a tattoo 1 2 3 4 5

4) People should cover up tattoos if they are in occupations such as infants/primary teaching 1 2 3 4 5

5) I consider tattooing to be an art form 1 2 3 4 5

6) In general, I enjoy people looking at me 1 2 3 4 5

7) The age limit for getting a tattoo should be raised to 21 years 1 2 3 4 5

8) Tattoos are a lot more accepted now than in the past 1 2 3 4 5

9) Teenagers who get tattoos will probably regret them when they are older 1 2 3 4 5

10) Tattoos are a way for people to express themselves 1 2 3 4 5

11) Tattoos are expensive and a waste of money 1 2 3 4 5

12) Even though tattoos are painful when being applied, the pain is worth the long term gain 1 2 3 4 5

13) I would be worried about employment prospects by having a visible tattoo 1 2 3 4 5

14) If I had teenagers I would not be worried about them getting a tattoo 1 2 3 4 5

15) I find tattoos sexy and exciting 1 2 3 4 5

16) Tattoos can have strong personal meaning 1 2 3 4 5

17) I would worry about the health and safety concerns when getting tattooed 1 2 3 4 5

18) People can become addicted to the sensation and/or thrill of being tattooed 1 2 3 4 5

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sensation seeking attributes and attitudes to tattoos

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