Art or mutilation?

This article caught my eye.
This guy, Alexx Ng, has three rows of Teflon beads and a star-shaped silicone implant under the skin of his right arm.
This guy claims he doesn’t know why he did it, and that he’s not an attention seeker.

People who see his implants ‘scold him’ and aunties in coffee shops scream at him in Hokkien, calling him crazy. People point and stare at him when he’s on the MRT. (The Sunday Times, Lifestyle, Mar 23, 2008) Even the police stop him and his group of friends to contact checks and tests for drugs.

Why such a strong reaction to him? If you check out the photos, you may be shocked too. This guy obviously doesn’t conform to social norms in terms of appearance. It’s no wonder that the public and police react in such a manner.

However, he does conform to some other norms; those of his group of friends. He has “10 or so friends” who have such implants.

“A reference group is a group that serves as a standard of comparison for an individual, whether in terms of attitudes, values, or behaviour. Individuals try to conform to the norms and values of their main reference group.” (Social Psychology Alive, Pg 223)

Most people conform to reference groups by imitating their appearance and behaviour in order. Peer conformity, though normally appearing in children and adolescents, seems to be at work here in these young adults. Alexx Ng could likely be conforming to his main reference group which is his group of friends. Having the same appearance, in this case the implants, shows their attitudes and identities. They convey an identity that connects them to this group which they are a part of.

What perceptions do the public have of him?
The aunties think he is crazy. The passengers on the MRT probably think so too, as they are staring and pointing at him.
What do they attribute his different appearance to? They think there’s something wrong with him. They are attributing his behaviour to internal factors rather than external ones. Is there a fundamental attribution error here? Or is it really internal factors that are the causes for his behaviour?
Is it his eye for beauty and creativity at work, or some other reasons like stress relief due to work pressures? We are not offered much in the interview to help us make a conclusion.

The actor-observer effect is observed here as well. The observers, people who see his implants, were thinking that he’s crazy, or just out to do something illegal.
The actor himself, Alexx Ng, made some external attributions for his actions.
He said he’s not an attention-seeker, and that he’s a normal guy with a normal job, thus there’s no internal attributions here. He claims that the “body modification” community website sparked his interest, he talked to the people on the site, and thus got into it. He’s externally attributing to the community website.


Alexx Ng claims that he doesn’t know why he got his implants. Does he really not know or is there some cognitive dissonance going on, but he has yet to resolve this dissonance?
He may have resolved the dissonance, but chose not to reveal it, which makes me even more curious.
Whether it’s denying the health risks or emphasising the aesthetic value of his new appearance, we don’t have a clue what he is thinking until possibly the next interview.