The present research examines the formation of flashbulb memories in a sample of Colombians. Flashbulb Memories (FBM) are autobiographical memories related to the context of receiving shocking public news. A sample of 380 respondents (171 men and 209 women) aged from 20 to 89 years old (M = 37.05; SD = 13.36) conducted a test between 4-19 days after worldwide breaking news. Factor analysis, descriptive analysis and structural equation models were applied. Four models described by the literature on flashbulb memories were tested. Results show that models proposed by Finkenauer et al. (1998) and Er (2003) predict the formation of flashbulb memories through an indirect path. The models proposed by Brown and Kulik (1977) and Conway et al. (1994) do not predict the formation of flashbulb memories in news related to international terrorism. However, goodness of fit indexes were better for B...

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo estudiar la formación de los Recuerdos Flashbulb (FBM) en una muestra de población colombiana. Se denomina FBM al tipo de recuerdo autobiográfico que recoge información acerca del contexto de recepción de noticias públicas impactantes. Trescientas ochenta personas (171 hombres y 209 mujeres) entre los 20 y los 89 años respondieron un cuestionario de FBM entre los 4 y 19 días después de publicada una noticia que conmocionó a la población mundial. Se realizaron análisis factoriales para cada grupo de ítems del cuestionario, análisis descriptivos y ecuaciones estructurales. Cuatro modelos de formación fueron probados. Dos modelos, el de Finkenauer et al. (1998) y Er (2003), explicaron la formación de la FBM por un camino indirecto que involucra la memoria del evento como predictor de la FBM. Sin embargo, el modelo de Finkenauer e...

The present research examines the formation of flashbulb memories in a sample of Colombians. Flashbulb Memories (FBM) are autobiographical memories related to the context of receiving shocking public news. A sample of 380 respondents (171 men and 209 women) aged from 20 to 89 years old (M = 37.05; SD = 13.36) conducted a test between 4-19 days after worldwide breaking news. Factor analysis, descriptive analysis and structural equation models were applied. Four models described by the literature on flashbulb memories were tested. Results show that models proposed by Finkenauer et al. (1998) and Er (2003) predict the formation of flashbulb memories through an indirect path. The models proposed by Brown and Kulik (1977) and Conway et al. (1994) do not predict the formation of flashbulb memories in news related to international terrorism. However, goodness of fit indexes were better for B...