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Tattooing Commitment, Quality, and Football in Southeastern North America

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Evolution Education in the American South

Abstract

Tattooing appears to be a cultural and psychological pattern of behavior rooted in Darwinian processes. It is the result of an evolved tendency to manipulate human bodies in meaningful ways with distinctive benefits. Tattooing can signal group affiliation or commitment through using the body as a human canvas. Tattooing also provides cues about biological quality because it is an injury to the body, and the healing process on the surface of the skin is visible to everyone and impossible to fake. These factors make tattoos costly honest signals, consistent with evolutionary models in multiple species, including humans. In this chapter, we review the functions of tattooing from an evolutionary perspective, outline historic and prehistoric evidence from the North American Southeast, analyze biological implications, and discuss contemporary functions of tattooing among college football fans as a signal of commitment and quality.

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Notes

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Christopher D. Lynn & Cassandra A. Medeiros

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  1. Christopher D. Lynn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

    Christopher D. Lynn

  2. Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA

    Amanda L. Glaze

  3. The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

    William A. Evans

  4. The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

    Laura K. Reed

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Lynn, C.D., Medeiros, C.A. (2017). Tattooing Commitment, Quality, and Football in Southeastern North America. In: Lynn, C., Glaze, A., Evans, W., Reed, L. (eds) Evolution Education in the American South. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95139-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95139-0_14

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