Anthropology is the science of people and culture. It has five major divisions. Physical anthropology is the study of humans as biological organisms. Social anthropology is the study of social relationships of groups. Linguistic anthropology is the study of language as used by different societies.
Archaeology is the study of past cultures.
Cultural anthropology is the study and comparison of human cultures. She studied adolescent and sexual behavior in the Pacific Southwest on Samoa, Bali, New Guinea, and other islands. The Coming of Age in Samoa was the first of her 24 books. She was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, taught at Columbia University, and was president of the World Federation for Mental Health. In 1975, Dr. Mead and another anthropologist, Dr. Frederica Annis de Laguna, were elected to the National Academy of Sciences.