The Effect of Cultural Affiliation of the Formation of Flashbulb Memories
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Moore, Haley Elizabeth
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Abstract
Flashbulb memories are vivid memories that contain specific details, such as where a person was when the event occurred, what they were doing, etc. Early flashbulb memory studies posited that the events that trigger flashbulb memories must be surprising and consequential, but more recent research indicates that social factors, such as nationality and religious involvement, may play a role as well (Curci et al., 2001; Tinti et al., 2009). The present study sought to examine the relationship between an affiliation with a cultural group, the American South, and the occurrence of flashbulb memories surrounding the Mother Emanuel AME church shooting in Charleston, SC. Participants answered questions about their autobiographical memory surrounding the shooting, the phenomenological properties of the memory (vividness, narrative structure, emotional intensity, etc.) using a questionnaire developed by Rubin, Schrauf, and Greenberg (2003), the original flashbulb event, their cultural affiliation with the South, and where they lived at the time of the shooting (which was coded as Southern and non-Southern, per Cooper and Knotts, 2017). Analyses showed a significant difference for location at the time of Mother Emanuel for autobiographical memory scores and for the accuracy of event memory scores. No significant difference was found for Southern affiliation in autobiographical memory scores nor for accuracy and detail of original event memory scores. These results suggest that cultural affiliation within one country does not affect the formation of flashbulb memory over and above location or nationality.
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memory, flashbulb memory, cultural affiliation, Southern identity