All societies see the human body as more than just a physical organism.
It is also the focus of a set of beliefs about its psychological and social significance. The culture in which we live determines the manifold ways bodily experience is perceived and interpreted. Current European ideas about the body are largely influenced by a Cartesian dualism in which it is seen as separate from the mind. Emotions are generally located in the body in Euro-American culture, in opposition to the rational mind. Other societies do not make the same distinction.