Grandmother's abduction theory in missing boy case | 7NEWS - YouTube
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When a child vanishes without explanation, grieving families instinctively reach for abduction narratives — and this grandmother's certainty reveals how motivated reasoning shapes what we believe in a crisis.
Motivated ReasoningAttribution TheoryNarrative Bias
Theory Briefing
- Four-year-old Gus Lamont is missing, and his 75-year-old grandmother Josie Murray firmly believes he was abducted by someone.
- In the absence of hard evidence, the mind fills uncertainty with the most emotionally coherent story — here, an external perpetrator rather than accident.
- Motivated reasoning and the need for a 'controllable' explanation drive families to favour abduction theories, even when facts remain unknown.