Hunger: Physiological Conditions as Sources of Simpler Motives

The simpler types of motivation are based on the fundamental physiological processes of the organism. Although often overlooked or undervalued, these factors are of great importance in human life, and especially so in childhood. Much of the restless activity of the young is motivated by these simple drives, and even some more complex forms of motivation are learned elaborations of them. Among the physiological motives described here are hunger, thirst, elimination, temperature control, rest and sleep, and sex.

Hunger

Hunger is caused by contractions of the smooth muscles of the walls of the stomach, which seem to appear and disappear at regular intervals. That they provide a fundamental drive is well known. The hungry person is restless; the hungry infant likewise is restless and given to much overt activity which tends to subside as hunger is satisfied.

The importance of this drive in human history can hardly be overestimated. Food supply, with "fat" and "lean" years, is a fundamental problem in any national economy. In one primitive group fish was very scarce. Stealing fish was punishable by death, although stealing various other things such as another person's wife was not a capital offense. The hunger drive is equally important in the life of the child, with its implications for overt behavior and general bodily vigor.

The whole mechanism for the intake and digestion of food is ready to function at birth. With growth and maturation come changes, as well as through social control. Sometime around the sixth month the teeth begin to erupt, and when this process has proceeded far enough solid foods are included in the diet. Three phases of the hunger rhythm are found from birth. The period of restlessness, already referred to, is evidence of an organic need. Among infants this may be marked also by crying or other evidences of discomfort. This is followed by the responses of feeding -- sucking and swallowing. Then follows the period of quiescence during which the infant sleeps or is active in some way not related to hunger. In children and adults these three phases also are found. The feeding schedule and other features incident to the satisfaction of hunger (use of spoon, cup, etc.) are arranged not only to meet the child's requirements but also to meet those of society. As children develop, problems of poor adjustment may arise over eating, such as eating between meals, poor or irregular appetite, dislike for or refusal to eat certain foods, refusal of any food, refusal to drink from a cup or to feed self, etc. Lack of regular routine probably is responsible more than anything else for wanting to eat between meals and for poor or irregular appetite. On the whole, maladjustments like these seem to be due primarily to poor training; the child has learned the particular undesirable behavior from the training he has had.