ead portrays a people who are largely even-tempered, with no strong passions and with a society marked by tolerance and even indifference. The people of Samoa are seen as lacking in most of the neuroses and tensions of civilization. For Mead, this is because such tensions are not inherent but are learned, and they are not learned in Samoan society because that society has different priorities than our own. More recent researches have taken into account the possibility of cultural bias on their own part and have sought more direct evidence of links between biological and social practices.
In most societies, pregnancy is a time of vulnerability--a trait often considered particularly feminine--but at the same time, women of many cultures see their (value( in their ability to produce children and continue a familial and cultural lineage. According to Lucile F. Newman, however, this view is less strong in the United States, where women regard their husbands and the marital unit as the "nexus of emotional strength" during pregnancy (Newman 87
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