Many researchers claim that emotions arise either from human biology (i.e., biological reductionism) or as products of culture (i.e., social constructionism). Are human emotions best characterized as biological, psychological, or cultural entities? Zoltan Kovecses demonstrates how cultural aspects, metaphorical language, and human physiology are part of an integrated system. This book challenges the simplistic division between the body and culture by stressing how human emotions are to a large extent "constructed" from individuals' embodied experiences in different cultural settings.

Language and emotion concepts -- Metaphor of emotion -- Emotion metaphors: are they unique to the emotions? -- Events and emotions: the subcategorization of emotions -- The force of emotion -- Emotions and relationships -- Folk versus expert theories of emotion -- Universality in the conceptualization of emotion -- Cultural variation in the conceptualization of emotion -- Emotion language: a new synthesis.