It is quite common to reflect on what startles you. In the most diverse social contexts and cultures, the inescapable physiology of the reflex both shapes the experience of startle and biases the social usage to which the reflex is put. This book describes the ways in which the reflex is experienced, culturally elaborated, and socially used, and offers explanations for both patterned commonalities found across cultures, and for the culture-typical differences which differing cultural systems engender.