The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 3 244 This bias appears within incarceration rates as well. In a study conducted by Camacho and Brown (2018), they found that arrestees with neck tattoos were more likely to receive felony charges specifically for larceny offenses. Among these groups, Black individuals with neck tattoos were more likely than others to face felony charges (Camacho & Brown, 2018). It is also noteworthy that law enforcement catalog the tattoos of arrestees in the Registry of Distinct Marks (Miranda, 2020), which is kept in their permanent record and could potentially bias future incarceration and convictions due to the criminogenic stigmatization of individuals with tattoos (Martone, 2023; Rima et al., 2023). Neck tattoos specifically appear to elicit bias (Baumann et al., 2016). Given two sets of photos of male and female faces, with a neck tattoo and without a visible tattoo, participants were asked to choose among the photos that they would most like to have as their surgeon. In a separate condition, participants were asked to choose who they would most like to have as their car mechanic. In both experiments, participants preferred to have a nontattooed person as their surgeon or mechanic. However, the preference was more substantial for a nontattooed surgeon than a nontattooed mechanic. Female participants assessed the tattooed faces more positively than male participants, but still preferred the nontattooed faces (Baumann et al., 2016). Roberts (2016) suggested that although tattoos are becoming more prevalent worldwide, they are not yet entirely accepted. As such, employment discrimination occurs for people with visible tattoos. Roberts (2016) suggested employers discriminate primarily because of the fear of customer complaints and the concomitant loss of business. They further suggested that small businesses in rural areas, which tend to be more conservative, may be even more likely to refuse employment to tattooed workers. Clients’ Perception of Tattooed Counselors To date, very few published studies examine the perceptions of tattoos within the mental health professional arena. One exception, however, is a recent publication examining the perception of potential mental health clients of psychologists with or without tattoos. Zidenberg et al. (2022) recruited 534 participants to determine if there were negative perceptions of psychologists who had tattoos. First, participants were presented with a mock profile of a fictional clinical psychologist. Each participant was randomly assigned to view one of three images of the psychologist: with no tattoo, a neutral tattoo (a flower), or a provocative tattoo (a skull with flames). Participants then rated the counselor on perceived competence and their personal feelings toward her. Contrary to the researchers’ initial expectations, the psychologist’s photo with the provocative tattoo was rated more likable, interesting, and confident and less lazy than the psychologist with a neutral or no tattoo. Interestingly, the psychologist’s photo without a tattoo was rated as more professional, but this did not equate to participants’ believing that the psychologist would thus provide better care. The researchers speculated that while nontattooed people are viewed as more professional, they are not necessarily who clients believe will give the best mental health care. They further hypothesized that professionalism may convey a bias of being “better than” the clients and thereby might be perceived as less authentic. Moreover, participants in this study believed they would get better help from a more “authentic” psychologist, and that the provocative tattoo communicated a sense of authenticity (Zidenberg et al., 2022).
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