Aims: To study whether FBMs are recalled more than ordinary memories
Method:
80 American participants, 40 white, 40 black
Answer questions about 10 events
9 of the events were about assassinations of well-known American personalities
The tenth was a self-selected event that included the death of a friend or relative
They were asked to indicate how often they rehearsed the information about the event
Results:
The assassination of J.F.Kennedy led to the highest number of FBM’s with 90% remembering
African Americans reported more FBM’s for leaders of civil rights movements e.g. Martin Luther King
Most participants recalled the death of a parent
Conclusion: This study supported flashbulb memories. They: · Form in situations where we encounter surprising and highly emotional information · Are maintained by means of overt rehearsal (discussion with others) and covert rehearsal · (private) · Differ from other memories in that they are more vivid, last longer and are more consistent and accurate · Require for their creation the involvement of a specialised neural mechanism which stores information permanently in a unique memory system
STRENGTHS
Naturalistic, real life events
Ecological validity as people are quizzed on their memory usually and they were real life events
As qualitative data you can gain more rich and detailed information
Controlled and reliable, all participants asked the same questions about the same events
Holistic study as it acknowledges nature and nurture
WEAKNESSES
Small sample size
Cultural differences, only studied in America and could be different in other countries
Social desirability – might be asked why they don’t remember
Demand characteristics
Interpretation of participants answers could be biased – ICA
Asking participants to recall shocking event could cause psychological harm
Refuted by other studies, Neisser and Harsch and Tarico and Rubin