Citation

Vélez MA, Trujillo CA, Moros L, Forero C. PLoS One 2016; 11(7): e0158878.

Affiliation

School of Management, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Public Library of Science)

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0158878

PMID

27472437

Abstract

Subjective insecurity is a key determinant of different forms of prosocial behavior. In Study 1, we used field experiments with farmers in Colombian villages exposed to different levels of violence to investigate how individual perceptions of insecurity affect cooperation, trust, reciprocity and altruism. To do so, we developed a cognitive-affective measure of subjective insecurity. We found that subjective insecurity has a negative effect on cooperation but influences trust and altruism positively. In Study 2, carried out three years after Study 1, we repeated the initial design with additional measures of victimization. Our goal was to relate subjective insecurity with actual victimization. The findings of Study 2 support the initial results, and are robust and consistent for cooperative behavior and trust when including victimization as a mediator. Different indicators of victimization are positively correlated with subjective insecurity and an aggregate index of victimization has a negative effect on cooperation but exerts a positive influence on trust.

Language: en