ABSTRACT
Kuhn focused on the role of exemplars in critiquing science. He argued that they are the core of any theory, teaching the scientist how to recognize and assign meaning to science’s subject matter. Science’s content does not exist without exemplars to identify and abstract it. Further, a science’s laws cannot be tested until there is content against which to test them. The theme of this paper is that cross-cultural psychology’s exemplars promote Western biases. For cross-cultural psychology to be culturally and comparatively based, it must incorporate a wider range of exemplars. To support my critique I cite evidence in the current data and paradigmatic forms of cross-cultural psychology supporting the conclusion that it is embedded in a physical science positivist model and actively perpetuates ethnocentric cultural imperialism. In conclusion, changes in direction that will enable the field to counter these biases and move toward a more transculturally balanced approach are highlighted.
