ABSTRACT
For most of the recent past, hunger in psychology has been either a physiological or a motivational topic. Old-style behaviorism took hunger for granted in order that the animal subjects—cats, dogs, rats, and pigeons—would actively seek solutions to problems that led to relief. One of the signal achievements of mid-20th century neuroscience was the elucidation of brain mechanisms involved in controlling hunger, thirst, and other motivational states. Students of culture, however, will find only indirect paths if any between the cultural situation of hunger and the lateral hypothalamus. Similarly, chronic hunger is shown to have negative effects on both physical and mental development across subcultures in the United States. A starting point for a discussion of hunger could be to ask whether, and under what circumstances, a day's meals or more were involuntarily missed. Surveys of food accessibility modeled on the USDA short-form food security survey would augment a discussion along these lines.
