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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



most of the signs of adult behavior toward food. 

 In general, he is aggressive in all matters that per- 

 tain to food. He fights and quarrels for his share 

 of food ; he manifests a strong reluctance to share 

 food; he wolfs his food; he eats principally at 

 night; during the day he may steal off in the 

 forest to eat; he eats when he is ill or not hungry; 

 he lies about food; he even dreams about food. 

 Indeed, if the Siriono had developed eschatological 

 concepts, the afterworld would probably be a place 

 where food, above all things, would be found in 

 abundance and plenty. 



In addition to the above-mentioned individual 

 responses, which we may regard as direct mani- 

 festations of hunger frustration and anxiety in 

 Siriono society, it appears that these conditions 

 likewise occasion indirect manifestations by which 

 we may characterize the society as a whole. Cul- 

 turally, Siriono society exists on a very backward 

 level. Technology is sparse; art is almost absent; 

 social and political organization are relatively 

 simple; there is an unconcern for intellectual and 

 speculative matters. While unquestionably many 

 factors — perhaps hundreds — operate to produce 

 these conditions, yet it seems likely that the pre- 

 occupation with food problems — resulting in what 

 we have called hunger anxiety — is one of the most 

 significant ones. From my observations among 

 the Siriono most of the native's time is spent on 

 the quest for food or resting from it; under condi- 

 tions of this kind, little seems to remain for the 

 pursuit of other activities. While it is dangerous 

 to generalize about such complex problems it does 

 not seem likely that highly elaborated cultures 

 would emerge under conditions similar to those 

 found among the Siriono. Rather, cultures would 

 change slowly and remain on a backward level. 

 This is precisely what the Siriono data indicate. 



In Siriono society we note, moreover, what ap- 

 pears to be a dominance of hunger over all other 

 primary drives, except possibly that of fatigue. 

 The Siriono, of course, do not suffer from lack of 

 air or water, so such needs can be largely dis- 

 counted as strong motivating forces in the society. 

 But the dominance of hunger over sex seems un- 

 mistakable. While the drive of sex is seldom 

 frustrated to any great extent, it is mobilized 

 largely through the drive of hunger. The family 

 is founded on an economic basis. Marital partners 

 are secured by providing food and economic 

 security. Extramarital sex partners are acquired 



primarily tlirough rewards of food. The pref- 

 erence for fat women over lean women and for 

 food-gathering women over skilled potters or ham- 

 mock makers suggests that even sexual appetites 

 are based primarily on the drive of hunger. This 

 is clearly observable among the women, who prefer 

 good hunters to all other partners. 



Actually, when food is scarce there is little ex- 

 pression of sex. On one expedition which I made 

 into the forest with the Siriono for a period of 

 about 6 weeks, I observed that there was little 

 sexual activity during periods of food deprivation, 

 but that excessive activity followed periods of 

 food satiation. This, coupled with other data, 

 leads to the conclusion that periods of food de- 

 privation are generally accompanied by sexual 

 abstinence while periods of food satiation are fol- 

 lowed by sexual excesses. Such behavior seems 

 to indicate the dominance of hunger over sex in 

 Siriono society. 



While the problem of the relationship between 

 primary drives needs much further investigation, 

 both in our own and in other societies, it seems as 

 if Siriono society compensates its members for 

 suffering from intense hunger frustation by allow- 

 ing them great license in the realm of sex. I fre- 

 quently observed that children were shown greater 

 love when they were suffering from hunger, fatigue, 

 or pain than at other times. With young children 

 love was constantly used as a palliative. So, too, 

 in adulthood sex freedom may compensate for 

 hunger frustration. 



Another indirect consequence of hunger frus- 

 tration is that the strongest secondary drives 

 among the Siriono seem to be those based on the 

 primary drive of hunger. The strong appetite for 

 eating has already been mentioned. Prestige, too, 

 though not a prominent secondary drive, is based 

 primarily on a person's ability as a food getter. 

 Chiefs are always good hunters. Sexual appetites 

 are also founded to some extent on the drive of 

 hunger. Finally, the most aggressive behavior is 

 expressed in terms of and over questions of food, 

 and anxieties seem to center principally around 

 the satisfaction of hunger. 



Indeed, if the psychoanalysts are correct in their 

 interpretations of behavior in our own society, the 

 situation found among the Siriono is in many 

 respects reverse. While the strongest secondary 

 drives and anxieties in our own society arise from 

 sex frustration, among the Siriono they may arise 



