Objectives

Researchers have been studying the most important environmental cues that influence people’s fear and how to measure these emotions and perceptions in a more valid way. In order to contribute to experimental studies, we develop and validate the Urban Security Image Database (USID).

Method

The construction and validation of the USID followed two stages: (a) the obtainment by researchers of more than 300 naturalistic pictures in different urban contexts of the city of Porto and (b) using a within-subject design, a large sample (N = 1780) classified 49 selected pictures for fear of crime, risk perception of victimization, arousal, and valence levels.

Results

The validated Urban Security Image Database (USID) contains 49 pictures that are grouped in three categories according to fear mean levels: low fear, neutral fear, and high fear. Pictures of the low fear group depict residential areas, with high prospect spaces and well-cared vegetation. Pictures in the high fear group represent scenarios in night-time, with signs of incivilities and low prospect spaces. Fear of crime was negatively correlated with valence and positively with arousal.

Conclusions

USID is an important step to laboratorial experiments in the field of fear of crime and its relationship with environmental features. Moreover, since fear of crime is correlated with valence and arousal, it provides strength to the importance of considering fear a context-specific experience.

中文翻译：

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城市安全图像数据库 (USID)：用于对犯罪恐惧进行实验研究的图像数据集的开发和验证

目标

研究人员一直在研究影响人们恐惧的最重要的环境线索，以及如何以更有效的方式衡量这些情绪和感知。为了对实验研究做出贡献，我们开发并验证了城市安全图像数据库(USID)。

方法

USID 的构建和验证分为两个阶段：（a）研究人员在波尔图市的不同城市环境中获得 300 多张自然主义图片；（b）使用主体内设计，大样本（N  = 1780) 对 49 幅选定的图片进行了分类，这些图片用于对犯罪的恐惧、受害的风险感知、唤醒和效价水平。

结果

经验证的城市安全图像数据库 (USID) 包含 49 张图片，根据恐惧平均水平分为三类：低恐惧、中性恐惧和高度恐惧。低恐惧组的照片描绘了住宅区，具有高前景空间和精心照料的植被。高度恐惧组中的图片代表夜间场景，带有不文明迹象和低前景空间。对犯罪的恐惧与效价呈负相关，与唤醒呈正相关。

结论

USID 是对犯罪恐惧及其与环境特征的关系领域的实验室实验迈出的重要一步。此外，由于对犯罪的恐惧与效价和唤醒相关，因此它加强了将恐惧视为特定于上下文的体验的重要性。