Citation

Koomen W, Visser M, Stapel DA. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 2000; 30(5): 921-934.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02503.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It was hypothesized that the effect of a fear-arousing newspaper article about crime on fear of crime and concern about crime as a societal problem is dependent on source (newspaper) credibility. In an experimental study, participants were presented with an article on street robberies, ostensibly published in a more credible newspaper or in a less credible newspaper, whereas a control group did not read any article. As predicted, it was found that the article's effect on fear of robbery, fear of crime in general, and concern about robbery as a societal problem was fully dependent on source credibility. Further, women reported more fear of robbery and fear of crime in general than did men.