All of the primary emotions can be either primary or secondary emotional responses.

A primary emotional response (roughly) is modular. To explain modularity I'll start with an analogy to another process that is modular: Visual perception.

Take a look at the Muller Lyer illusion:http://figuresfictives.free.fr/Diver...er-illusia.gif
The lines appear to be of different lengths.
Measure the lines. They are of the same length.
But despite rationally knowing that the lines are the same length, the lines continue to appear to be of different lengths. Visual perception is a modular process in the sense that the way things appear to be is fairly impervious to our rational knowledge of what is actually the case.

Primary emotions are similarly modular. We can have a fear response to a spider or a snake. We can know that the spider or snake is harmless and poses no threat to us. We continue to feel afraid, however, because the emotional response is modular in the sense of being fairly impervious to our rational knowledge of what is actually the case.

Secondary emotional responses are thought to be responses to cognitive appraisals. The notion is that we appraise things to be a certain way e.g., 'therapist is trying to hurt me' and it is IN VIRTUE of our cognitive appraisal that we have the emotional response. Cognitive restructuring (when it works) is thought to work by altering the appraisals which thereby alters the emotional response. Cognitive restructuring only works with secondary emotional responses that are the result of cognitive appraisal. Primary emotional responses are impervious to our rational knowledge (or our counter-appraisals).

It is a bit more complicated than that but that is the general gist.

So all of the primary emotions can be top down driven (by cognitive appraisal) as well as bottom up driven (by external stimuli). The secondary emotions are thought to be top down driven (by cognitive appraisal). That is why the secondary emotions exhibit more cross cultural variability (depending on the appraisals that are common to a culture) and that is why cognitive restructuring works to alter them.

I would say... That with respect to anger... Anger is typically thought to be one of the 'primary' or 'basic' emotions. In the sense that it is fairly hard-wired such that it is common to all 'normal' (whatever that means) individuals of all cultures. It is also modular sometimes (an automatic response to some stimuli and not mediated by appraisal). Top down (rational) considerations can sometimes INHIBIT primary emotions, however.

I guess the notion is that someone who says they don't feel anger... Would be inhibiting the emotion because of fears of retaliation / abandonment...