1438 



HORMONAL REGULATION OF BEHAVIOR 



must, furthermore, be realized that ^uch in- 

 formation about reproductive and other 

 sexual behavior must always be placed in a 

 setting — size and type of population, tech- 

 nologic level, available food supply, etc. 

 For example, many observers have reported 

 that premarital sex relations are permitted 

 in societies where, when the actual situation 

 has been examined, it was found that there 

 Tnay be only one possible female mate for 

 five unmarried young men, and that the 

 actual practice of premarital love affairs is, 

 in fact, a function of the size of the popula- 

 tion (Goodenough, 1949). Age of marriage 

 fluctuates with wars and depressions as do 

 birth-rates; the survival of children and 

 the spacing of children is closely related to 

 the supply of food. It is only possible to 

 indicate the range of subject matter about 

 which it is necessary to have information 

 before any statement can be made, and then 

 to sketch in almost diagrammatically a few 

 types of culture patterns for which this 

 information is available, although it cannot 

 all be given here. 



Five illustrations have been selected for 

 the following reasons. They are all based on 

 modern work by field workers having a 

 background of modern psychoanalytic and 

 learning theory as well as training in mod- 

 ern American and British anthropologic 

 methods. Two studies (the Siriono and the 

 Lepchas ) were done by men alone and three 

 (Arapesh, Manus, and Bali) by a husband- 

 and-wife team, with the bulk of the work on 

 child-rearing and sex being done by the 

 wife. Economically, they cover a wide span 

 from a nomadic hunting people, a trading- 

 fishing people, a sedentary people depending 

 on horticulture, to the elaborate cultures of 

 the Lepchas and the Balinese. These latter 

 cultures contrast, however, because in one, 

 the Lepchas, the complexities of Tibetan 

 and Indian culture have been superimposed 

 upon, without penetrating into, the culture 

 of a people whose character structure and 

 attitudes toward personal relations are as 

 simple as those of the Arapesh or the 

 Siriono, whereas among the Balinese the 

 simplest peasants partake of the complex- 

 ities of the series of imported cultures. Thc- 

 matically, Siriono culture is focused on 

 getting food, and Balinese on plastic elabor- 

 ations of the human body in the form of ai't 



and ceremonial. Specifically, as far as sex 

 is concerned, the patterns vary from the 

 ample indulgence provided by the system of 

 potential spouses among Siriono and Lep- 

 chas, through the preference for affection 

 and safety over passion displayed by the 

 Arapesh, to the extreme prudery and de- 

 valuation of sex of the Manus, to the at- 

 tenuation of sexual activity into a great 

 variety of activities — art, gambling, trance 

 — among the Balinese. 



A. THE MOUNTAIN ARAPESH OF NEW GUINEA* 



The ^Mountain Arapesh, a primitive peo- 

 ple inhabiting the Torricellis Mountains of 

 New Guinea, practice burn-and-slash agri- 

 culture, do a limited amount of hunting, 

 depend on trade with other tribes for most 

 of their tools, utensils, and ornaments, and 

 purchase an immunity from physical attack 

 by their more aggressive inland neighbors 

 l)y providing hospitality to plainsmen 

 traveling to and from the beach. Politically, 

 they are organized in clusters of small ham- 

 lets within a patrilineal clan structure. 

 Activities arising from intermarriage, rites 

 de passage, gift giving, and so forth, are 

 organized among groups of individuals, 

 these activities being instigated and organ- 

 ized by individuals who have had leadership 

 roles thrust upon them and on whom the 

 others then depend. Conditions of life are 

 hard, food is scarce, the protein intake is 

 very inadequate, and members of the tribe 

 who live under primitive conditions exist 

 well below their potential energy output 

 as compared with those who have had better 

 food and care while working on plantations. 

 They speak a multiple-gender language, 

 make little use of abstractions, and are con- 

 tent to admire and trade for the superior 

 artistic and utilitarian products made by 

 other peoples. Warfare is limited to 

 skirmishes between hamlets or clusters of 

 hamlets in occasional conflicts over the 

 elopement or theft of a woman. Giving and 

 receiving food, help in obtaining food, and 

 protection against sorcery arising from 

 thefts of partly eaten food (and other 

 exuviae) are principal themes throughout 

 the culture. 



'Based on field work done in 1932 (Mead, 

 1934b, 1935, 1938, 1947b, 19491>, c). The present 

 tense refers to 1932. 



