Fear of crime : trust in the police, in others and in self

Research into public perceptions of risk and crime has received a lot of attention, although these fields of research continue to exist separate from each other. This thesis tries to bridge the gap between these two fields and tackle public perceptions of crime from a social cognition point of view. Self-efficacy and trust are introduced into a theoretical model comparable to the threat appraisal process of PMT. To investigate relations of self-efficacy and trust with the threat appraisal model a survey was held amongst UT students and friends (n = 596). Self-efficacy was a significant predictor of fear of victimization and fits well into the theoretical model. Perceptions of probability were no longer significant after controlling for self-efficacy. Trust in strangers and in the police were significant predictors of perceptions of probability. Trust was not a significant predictor of fear of crime when controlling for other variables.