A brief visit to a neighborhood induces the social attitudes of that neighborhood

Spending as little as 45 minutes in a high-crime, deprived neighborhood can have measurable effects on people's trust in others and their feelings of paranoia. In a new study, students who visited high-crime neighborhoods quickly developed a level of trust and paranoia comparable to the residents of that neighborhood, and significantly different from that in more low-crime neighborhoods. As a result, urban planners should carefully consider the psychological effects of the environment. Read more