Emotions are like cultural artifacts. / They're things / that are passed down / over time / from one individual / to the next, / like art / and religion / and the language that you speak. / Now, I should clarify, / this is not to say that there isn't a biological basis / for those things. / All humans are born with the basic hardware that helps the brain create emotions. / But it's not just biology / that produces the process of evolution. / Cultures evolve too. / Culture / very much defines / who we are, / who we / see ourselves as, / who we want to be. / And the experiences that you've had, / which are very much nested in culture, / can trickle down / to the operation of single neurons that are processing / visual sensations in the world around you. / One of the / most prominent focuses of this work has been on cultures that are high in what's called individualism / versus cultures that are high in what's called collectivism. / As a case in point / in the United States, / which is / a highly individualistic society, / anger is about / making yourself / different from the people around you. / It's about showing that some sort of violation has occurred, / setting a line in the sand and saying, / "You did something wrong to me." / And / when individuals in the United States / experience / anger, / we see an increase in inflammation. / Too much inflammation, / too much stress / ends up / creating things like cardiovascular disease and many other disorders. // In Japan, / anger does not / show a robust increase in inflammation. / In Japan, / anger is a signal that harmony in the group / has been disrupted / and a signal to mend bonds. / A different physiological response / to the same exact emotional experience. / But emotions / like anger / and sadness / and fear / seem / so basic, / so / critical to our survival. / And surely people from cultures / around the world / experience threats / and experience their hearts beating quickly / when their lives are in danger. / And that is not in question. / The question / is how it is that their brains are making meaning of those instances / and experiencing them / as something separate / from other types of mental states. / In much of the early theorizing about emotion, / it was assumed that / facial muscle movements were automatically triggered / means of signaling somebody's internal state / to other people. / The theory has progressed on this over time / to suggest that / it may be that people are / communicating what they feel with their facial expressions, / but not automatically and reflexively, / in much the same way that they would use language. //