Effects of Population Density on Food Concerns in Three East African Societies

To investigate the validity of anthropological statements about the effects of subsistence problems on fantasy life, study was made of dense population conditions in East Africa. High density was associated with food imagery in folktales, with short-term memory for objects of food (e.g., maize) and food words (e.g., meat), with a story-theme choice emphasizing importance of food, and in dream reports, in distinction to other findings, with a low frequency of food consumption. The food concerns shown under high-density conditions in subsistence-level societies may indicate previously unsuspected effects of strong population pressures.