ABSTRACT
Flashbulb memory (FBM) encompasses vivid and long-lasting remembering of the reception context of public news events (Brown & Kulik, 1977; Luminet, Chapter 3, and Curci, Chapter 1, this volume). Such events are often shocking, emotionally intense, collectively and personally important, and consequential over the long term to a social group, be it a family, a local community, a nation, or the entire world. Apparently beliefs, goals, practices, and other cultural aspects of the social group can have profound impact on how the remembering process takes place, on the quality, content, and structure of the memory subsequently formed, and on the long-term social, emotional, and behavioural consequences of the memory for the social group and its individual members. Yet in both theorization and empirical research of FBM, the role of culture is often treated implicitly and sometimes is even taken for granted. In this chapter we put culture “in the middle” of analysis (Cole, 1996). By delineating the various ways that culture may affect the process and consequence of remembering, we highlight the central role of culture in FBM.
