Psychological distance and fear of crime: Towards a new understanding of risk perception formation
| Author | Jacques Mellberg,Michael L Chataway,Matthew J Ball,Toby Miles-Johnson |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/26338076221105899 |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Psychological distance and fear
of crime: Towards a new
understanding of risk
perception formation
Jacques Mellberg , Michael L Chataway,
Matthew J Ball, and Toby Miles-Johnson
School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane,
Australia
Abstract
The current study seeks to enhance the theoretical development of fear of crime by exploring
the complex cognitive processes involved in risk perception formation. We apply Trope and
Liberman’s construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance to understand how and why
these complex cognitive processes might shape an individual’s worry about crime. We pilot
survey measures designed to capture perceptions of psychological distance and worry
about crime using a convenience sample of N =265 residents from Townsville, Queensland,
Australia. Results of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) reveal that these new measures
have good scaling properties and that each dimension of psychological distance is empirically
distinct. Multiple linear regression demonstrates that temporal, social and hypothetical psy-
chological distance predicted worry at a statistically significant level, however, spatial distance
was in the expected direction but was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that
CLT is an appropriate lens to understand how individuals perceive their risk of criminal vic-
timisation, but further research is needed to refine spatial distance survey measures. We rec-
ommend future research explores how psychological distance may interact with other well-
known correlates of worry, such as age, gender and ethnicity.
Keywords
Fear of crime, construal level theor y, psychological distance, risk formation, risk perception
Date received: 23 March 2022; accepted: 16 May 2022
Corresponding author:
Jacques Mellberg, School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001,
Australia.
Email: j.mellberg@qut.edu.au
Article
Journal of Criminology
2022, Vol. 55(3) 377–399
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/26338076221105899
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Introduction
For many years, scholars have explored the reasons why individuals fear crime and disorder.
This research has led to a significant body of knowledge about the various correlates of fear,
including individual-level variables (i.e., age, gender, underlying attitudes and anxieties;
Ferraro & LaGrange, 1992; Jackson, 2005, 2009; Jackson & Gray, 2010), neighbourhood
level variables (i.e., disorder, collective efficacy; Foster et al., 2010) and the nature and
impacts of perceived risks (Chadee et al., 2007; Gray et al., 2011). Explaining the complex rela-
tionship between risk perception and fear of crime is of critical importance to fear of crime
scholars because prior research has found that individuals tend to overestimate their likelihood
of falling victim to crime, when compared to their actual (objective) risk of victimisation
(Chadee et al., 2007; Ditton & Chadee, 2006; Jackson, 2006). The presumption of crime
risk is found to increase feelings of concern and worry about becoming the victim of crime
(Farrall et al., 1997; Farrall & Gadd, 2004; Jackson, 2006; Warr, 2000).
Several explanations have been put forth for this relationship between risk perception and
worry about crime, such as the vulnerability hypothesis and incivilities hypothesis (Franklin
et al., 2008; LaGrange et al., 1992; Skogan, 1986; Skogan & Maxfield, 1981). However,
these hypotheses have been tested using ad hoc models of fear of crime (Jackson, 2004; van
der Wurff et al., 1989). These ad hoc models combine several variables (e.g., demographic,
sociological and/or psychological variables) without hierarchy to explain an individual’s pro-
portion of worry about crime (van der Wurff et al., 1989). Because the variables contained
within these ad hoc models lack theoretical justification, there are limits to explaining the
complex emotional and cognitive processes involved in the development of fear of crime
(Gabriel & Greve, 2003; Gouseti, 2016; Jackson, 2004; van der Wurff et al., 1989). These
models can be used to identify whether variables associated with risk perception predict
worry about crime, but not how these variables reflect the processes involved in the develop-
ment of fear of crime (van der Wurff et al., 1989). To address this, van der Wurff et al., (1989)
advocated for the use of more sophisticated and coherent theoretical frameworks to understand
fear of crime because they contain hierarchies and established explanations for how and why
each variable is related. Applying a coherent theoretical framework to understand the complex
emotional cognitive processes may lead to an explanation of how and why individuals become
worried about crime. This knowledge could subsequently inform fear of crime intervention and
management strategies that target these complex processes.
The current study seeks to advance our existing knowledge about the complex emotional
and cognitive processes associated with fear of crime from a new perspective. We propose
that Trope and Liberman (2010) construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance can
be used to understand how individuals subjectively perceive their risk of criminal victimisation
and emotionally respond to imagined crime events. At its core, CLT suggests that individuals
are capable of cognitively transcending their ‘here and now’to react to events that are not
present within their immediate location. The perception of this imagined event is sensitive to
psychological distance, which describes how ‘far’the event is perceived to be from an indivi-
dual’s point of reference. We argue that, coinciding with CLT, individuals are capable of emo-
tionally responding to crime that is not happening to an individual in their immediate time,
place, or reality. Despite the appeal of CLT for understanding fear of crime as a subjective
experience, few scholars have attempted to develop survey measures capable of capturing psy-
chological distance outside of experimental settings. Further to this, there are a lack of
378 Journal of Criminology 55(3)
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