Reading between the Lines: Personality Correlates of Graffiti Writing
- 1 October 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Perceptual and Motor Skills
- Vol. 59 (2) , 395-398
- https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1984.59.2.395
Abstract
Because private graffiti can be an effective way of communicating unconventional attitudes anonymously and in a manner that allows the writer to avoid negative sanctions, it was hypothesized that graffitists would be more creative and more externally-oriented in their locus of control and would describe graffiti less negatively than would non-graffitists. Subjects were assigned to graffitist and non-graffitist conditions on the basis of their self-report. All three of the hypotheses were supported. Graffitists were more creative and external than were non-graffitists. In addition, graffitists evaluated graffiti neutrally whereas non-graffitists described graffiti negatively. These results suggest that writing graffiti is not an arbitrary, destructive act but rather a purposeful behavior through which individuals may express themselves.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- URBAN GRAFFITI AS TERRITORIAL MARKERS∗Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 1974
- Homosexuality in the Philippines and the United States: The Handwriting on the WallThe Journal of Social Psychology, 1969
- Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement.Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 1966