Short Visits To Deprived Neighborhoods Affects Trust And Induces Paranoia, Study

Spending just 45 minutes in a high-crime, depressed neighborhood affects people's trust in others, according to a Newcastle University.

For the study, researchers observed two neighborhoods within the same city. One of them was underprivileged with higher crime rates, while the other was prosperous with lower criminal activities.

First, the researchers surveyed the residents and found that the inhabitants of the neighborhood with higher crime rates reported reduced feelings of social trust and increased feelings of paranoia when compared to their peers from the other community.

Then the researchers sent around 50 student volunteers, who did not belong to either of the neighborhoods, to both the communities in random groups. The volunteers, who were not aware of the study, spent approximately 45 minutes roaming the streets and dispatching envelopes to houses.

The volunteers were then asked to report their experience of visiting the neighborhoods. The researchers found that those who were sent to the deprived neighborhood experienced lower levels of trust and elevated amounts of paranoia than those that were sent to the wealthy neighborhood.

"We weren't surprised that the residents of our high-crime neighborhood were relatively low in trust and high in paranoia", Daniel Nettle, lead researcher, said in a press release. "...What did surprise us though was that a very short visit to the neighborhood appeared to have much the same effects on trust and paranoia as long-term residence there."

The results suggest that people's attitudes change according to their environment. The lower levels of trust and elevated amounts of paranoia in the volunteers were attributed to cues gathered from seeing broken windows, graffiti, litter, and razor-wire on houses.

"It's a striking illustration of the extent to which our attitudes and our feelings are malleable and are powerfully influenced by the social environment that surrounds us on a day-to-day basis. Improving the quality and security of the urban environment is not just a cosmetic luxury; it could have profound knock-on effects for city-dwellers' social relationships and mental health".

The study titled, 'Being there: a brief visit to a neighborhood induces the social attitudes of that neighborhood' has been published in the open access journal, PeerJ.