Are emotions essentially an individual‐subjective phenomenon, or are they broader in scope? Do emotions mainly represent what the individual feels ‘inside’ or do they also carry implications for the social context? Questions such as these were in the background of the present research that has examined the way emotions are viewed, understood, and experienced by young and older adult men and women (ranging in age from 18 to 50) in two cultural environments, Germany and the US. Overall, the results revealed distinctly different patterns of age and sex differences in the evaluation and experience of emotions for Americans and Germans. In addition, the study identified specific emotions (e.g. gratitude, despair, rage) that seem to have different connotations and associations for individuals in the two cultural groups. Interpretation of the findings emphasizes connections between the emotional life and emotional understanding of the individual and broad sociocultural themes. It is argued that social context is an important feature of emotion requiring more extensive consideration is psychological theory and research on em