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Body piercing: Does it modify self-construction? A research with repertory grids.

Cipolletta, S., Faccio, E., Berardi, S.

Keywords:
piercing, body, personal construct psychology, self, repertory grid

Abstract:
This study aims to explore how an extreme and permanent modification of one’s own body, such as the one realised by body piercing, can be connected to a concurrent modification in one’s way of feeling and defining oneself. Referring to Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology we consider the person as a whole, a concrete actor and narrator of his/her own experience. Using repertory grids we explore how the self construction of 40 teenagers devoted to extreme piercing differs from that of 40 persons who don’t practice this particular technique of body modification. The main differences deal with self-acceptance and attractiveness.