Emotions, Cultures and mind-reading

"Mind reading" in the title refers to our inferring the emotional state of others through contextual clues. Apparently, When It Comes To Emotions, Eastern And Western Cultures See Things Very Differently: "

'East Asians seem to have a more holistic pattern of attention, perceiving people in terms of the relationships to others,' says Masuda. 'People raised in the North American tradition often find it easy to isolate a person from its surroundings, while East Asians are accustom to read the air 'kuuki wo yomu' of the situation through their cultural practices, and as a result, they think that even surrounding people's facial expressions are an informative source to understand the particular person's emotion.'

So now you know...