There is no agreed definition of culture, but there is a consensus that it encompasses shared values, beliefs and general modes of behaviour in a population, which are transmitted with modifications through the generations. We are not conscious of living in a culture, just as a fish would not be aware that it lives in water, yet it powerfully influences us. When we travel abroad we become aware that people do many things differently, and it is not always easy to get used to that.
Experiments, and generalisations based on them, are mostly carried out with American college students. This process occurs with the assumption that all humans are the same. That is true as far as fundamental biological needs are concerned: food and drink, sleep, sex, etc. However, as one ascends the scale of complexity, from physiological psychology to social psychology, the assumption becomes less and less valid. From that perspective it is clear that American college students are not representative of the American population, and even less of humanity at large.
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