An examination of the flashbulb memory characteristics and functions in the context of ideological asymmetry hypothesis by using the example of memories of the night of 15th July 2016

The first study of this thesis research, which consisted of two studies aiming at examining flashbulb memories in the context of the main theses of the Social Dominance Theory, targeted to discover whether the memories of the night of the July 15th 2016 coup attempt bear the basic canonical and phenomenological flashbulb memory characteristics suggested in the literature and whether these memories can be considered as a social representation. Data collected from 343 participants via an online questionnaire were analyzed using a mixed design method that enables simultaneous analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. The findings showed that the memories in question have both the features that can be expected from flash memories and a social representation structure. Also, the social representations of the participants with strong flashbulb memories, which were differentiated through canonical category characteristics, contained more elements from the core structure of the general social representation compared to the participants of the weak flashbulb memory group. These findings have been interpreted as the processes that are valid in the formation and maintenance of social representations may also be effective in the strengthening of social flashbulb memories. The second research aimed to examine the flashbulb memory characteristics and functions in the context of the Social Dominance Theory through its concept of "ideological asymmetry", which has been relatively little discussed. The functions and phenomenological aspects of the memories of the night of July 15th, which were determined to be flashbulb memories in the first research, were examined in relation to the values, beliefs (social axioms), and participation in the protest actions of the July 15th event of the 239 participants, who were selected from among 1113 university students with regard to their Social Dominance and System Justification tendencies. The findings, consistent with the ideological asymmetry thesis, showed that the relationships between the flashbulb memory functions and the social dominance orientations of the participants with high system justification tendency were stronger in the high system justification group than the relations exhibited by the participants with low system justification tendency. Findings supported the opinion that the hierarchical structure in society has a decisive effect on the formation and maintenance of public flashbulb memories.