What We Find Inside Us When Searching for Missing People

Does "missing white woman syndrome" exist?

A study entitled, "Missing White Woman Syndrome: An Empirical Analysis of Race and Gender Disparities in Online News Coverage of Missing Persons," points out that at any given time, there are tens of thousands of Americans officially filed as “missing." Yet, only a fraction of those receives news coverage.

The authors of the study, published in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, refer to this as the infamous “missing white woman syndrome" because it appears that it is indeed white women, or girls, who, when they go missing, receive disproportionate news coverage, compared to any other demographic.

In this investigation, missing people who appear in news stories were compared to the overall missing person population data collated by the FBI, which confirmed that "missing white woman syndrome" is indeed a reality.

The authors argue that female missing persons disproportionately finding the media spotlight could be explained by a psychological process; news stories about lost women exploit the classic image of “damsels in distress,” in which a helpless girl or woman must be saved by a man. This is a theme that recurs in mythology, fairy tales, fiction, and movies (Gone Girl starring Rosamund Pike was a huge critical and commercial success, for example).

The concept of a damsel in distress is so embedded in our culture that audiences readily accept women and girls as inherently virtuous and innocent victims. When not much is known about how or why someone has gone missing, the "missing white woman syndrome" kicks in psychologically.

The Nicola Bulley Case

In the U.K., on Jan. 27, Nicola Bulley disappeared while walking her dog by a river in Lancashire, England. The story dominated headlines in British press and media, including BBC News. The mortgage adviser had just dropped off her daughters at school. Her dog was discovered shortly afterward, and it was dry, so it hadn’t been in the river. Her phone was also found still connected to a work conference call on a bench along the river bank.

Despite a major police search operation and relentless nationwide media coverage, it was more than three weeks before her body was found on Feb. 19. As the corpse was just around a mile from where she had disappeared, police handling of the disappearance is to be the subject of an independent review.

The Lancashire constabulary also faced a public and media backlash as, during the search, in an unprecedented step, they disclosed Bulley's apparent struggles with menopause and alcohol. The police’s defense was they were trying "to avoid any further speculation" (according to the BBC News website).

BBC News reported that Bulley's family was aware police were revealing the personal details, adding: "Although we know that Nikki would not have wanted this, there are people out there speculating and threatening to sell stories about her."

The search had drawn massive public interest, with large numbers of people invading the small community, playing detective, filming the area, and even breaking into local buildings. In response, the police had to issue dispersal notices, including warnings over anti-social behaviour.

Does Social Media Mean We Are All Detectives Now?

A study entitled "Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media And Citizen Policing In Missing Person Cases" argues that the internet and digital technologies create opportunities for civilians to play at becoming police officers. They describe this emerging field as "crowdsourcing criminology."

Pooling information obtained from many observers might get us closer to the truth than if it were merely gathered by a smaller police team. “Collective intelligence” contends that groups solve problems more effectively than experts. Can the "wisdom of the crowd" compensate for a lack of relevant expertise?

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"Crowd criminology" might also become more about entertainment than any real systematic attempt to help resolve a mystery. Yet it was, in fact, in the Nicola Bulley case, ordinary members of the public who actually found the body, not the "experts," demonstrating again that no law enforcement agency anywhere in the world has the "manpower" of the public.

But the police’s attempts to enlist the assistance of the public can backfire and the family of the missing person then suffer the indignity of being internet-trolled. This sometimes fractures the frequently already-strained trust between police and family.

The Importance of the Relationship Between the Family of a Missing Person and the Police

A study entitled "Investigating Missing Persons: Learning From Interviews With Families," published in The Journal of Homicide and Major Incident Investigation, found that families of missing people are not passive when they are dissatisfied with the police search strategy. They actively respond to their frustration, sometimes launching their own personal hunts, some of which can last for years.

The study found this obstructed emotional recovery from these tragedies.

Coping with loss is always difficult but a missing person represents a particularly problematic kind of trauma event, referred to by psychologists as "ambiguous loss."

What many families reported was a critical element of their role in missing person enquiries is their own character witness of the person who is missing. Psychologically sophisticated questioning by police could therefore powerfully assist the family in providing better information about where a missing person might have ended up.

Is Emergency Response Now a Social Media Response?

A study from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden examined the increasing role of social media when it comes to missing persons. The authors of the investigation point out that social digital networks such as Twitter and Facebook may have now become the most popular sources for accessing emergency information by a population facing a crisis, including earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, terror attacks, and forest fires.

But while social media brings people to help others through “digital volunteerism,” the authors of the study caution that it would appear the motivation when large numbers become mobilised by a missing person, or any kind of catastrophe, may be more about processing or expressing or spreading strong emotion, and also may even be more about forming new connections with others, rather than actually providing effective help.

The Psychology of Ambiguous Loss and How the Need to Know Can Backfire

Maybe social media is filling emotional needs generated by the trauma of "ambiguous loss." It could also be that the power of social media is that it makes us all feel like we are experts.

Psychologists have long known that it is the stress of not knowing that underpins the trauma of ambiguous loss, as happens when someone goes missing as opposed to when there is a definite tragic outcome, which at least can start to be emotionally processed.

Maybe social media fills a deep psychological need within us to always be "in the know," even when, in fact, the reality is that we frequently have to confront the unknown.

Following a plethora of theories, referred to as vindictive and salacious, spread on social media, the family of Nicola Bulley have revealed that, as reported on various news websites, the public focus had "distracted from finding Nikki."