Missing Children Posters: How Effective Are They?

Do missing child posters really work? They’re blasted everywhere-I see numerous of them at my local Walmart and I’m sure you’ve seen them in various places all around town. We all see them…but do we really see them?

Parents of missing children desperately rely on these flyers in hopes of having their loved one return home safely. Police say they’re effective, but psychology studies have proven only if passer byers really pay attention. Do any of us really pay attention to flyers?

A New Yorker, alongside with the NY Police, set up an experiment where an actress, Alyssa McAdams, had her face blasted on posters all over a small New York City Suburb. The description, alongside with her picture, read the following: she’s a 10 year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

alyssaThe experiment: posters of her were up all over a local bakery and all around town. She was assigned to walk in with a strange man holding her by the arm. There was a control room downstairs, where Alyssa’s mother and a detective were watching it unfold.

One woman was very worried with the poster and even happened to ask the cashier about it several times. Then Alyssa walked in, with the strange man holding her arm. What happened next? The woman immediately recognized her as the girl in the posters. What did she do next? Help? No. She took the hand of her own young daughter and walked out of the store without saying a single word.

Alyssa’s mother, watching from the control room, was so heartbroken that she broke down in tears. The experiment was then revealed.

When asked if she identified Alyssa as the missing girl in the posters, the woman answered: “I did. I saw that she resembled the picture. It was unsettling.” When questioned why she didn’t do anything about it, she stated: “Yeah, because I wasn’t sure…I didn’t want to insult the gentleman if it wasn’t the girl. I didn’t want to scare the girl if it wasn’t her.”

Another woman reacted in a similar manner. She did a double take at Alyssa and even went out of her way to ask the clerk if that was the girl on the poster. The clerk was in on the experiment and therefore, played dumb. She proceeded on to not take any action and instead, left the store with her family. When asked, she explained “I did [recognize her]. I kind of asked somebody if they confirmed my feeling and they ignored me, so I guess I went on. It was the wrong thing.”

Opposing from the above incidents, one man matched Alyssa to the flyer and immediately called the police.

This experiment proves that as observant or analytical mankind claims to be, we often fail to notice our surroundings or, at least, a portion of our surroundings. The two women in the experiment demonstrated that by not taking action for fear of being wrong, humans also have a tendency to not proceed on with our gut instincts because of fear of uncertainty and being wrong. Something that’s completely understand (Who wants to be wrong? Who fears looking like the one who caused an uproar over something that’s actually nothing?). However, if you were a part of this experiment, what would you’ve done?

Xoxo,

Chrissy

http://www.today.com/id/47704638/ns/today-today_news/t/rossen-reports-do-missing-child-posters-really-work/#.VAuKCmPYgjo

http://list25.com/25-intriguing-psychology-experiments/

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