Exemplar 16 marker- Cultural bias

Cultural bias refers to the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret psychological phenomena through the perspective of one culture. It has been argued that mainstream psychology has generally ignored culture as an important influence on human behaviour, and by doing so, has mistakenly assumed that findings derived from studies carried out in Western culture can be straightforwardly applied all over the world. Ethnocentrism refers to a particular form of cultural bias whereby it is believed that one's own culture is superior and that any other behaviours that deviate from this are seen as deficient and abnormal. Mary Ainsworth's strange situation is an example of this- criticised as reflecting only the norms and values of American culture. Ainsworth identified the key features of