culture bias

• Americans and students are over- represented in research. A review that 68% of research participants came from United States and 96% from industrialised nations (Henrich et al.) Another review found that 80% of research participants were undergraduates studying psychology (Arnett)
• Ethnocentrism is a form of cultural bias. In psychology research this may be communicated through a view that any behaviour that doesn't conform to a European/American standard is somehow deficient or underdeveloped
• An example of ethnocentrism is that Ainsworth and Bell's research on attachment type reflected the norms of US culture. They suggested that ideal attachment (secure) was defined as a baby showing moderate distress when left alone by the mother figure. This has led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries which deviated from the US norm.
• cultural realism helps to avoid cultural bias. The "facts" that psychologists discover may only make sense from the perspective of the culture within which they were discovered. Being able to recognise this is one way of avoiding cultural bias in research
• One limitation of cultural bias is that many studies are cultural biased. Both Asch's and Milgram's original studies were conducted with middle-class US participants. Replications of these studies in different countries produced rather different results. Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than the original studies in the US, an individualist culture. This suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualist cultures
• One strength of cultural bias is the emergence of culture psychology. Cultural psychology is the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience. It is an emerging field that takes an epic approach. Research is conducted from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers using culturally- based techniques. Fewer cultures are considered when comparing differences. This suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the danger of cultural bias and are taking steps to avoid it