"Contemporary Chinese sex symbols in dreams": Correction to Yu (2009).

Reports an error in "Contemporary Chinese sex symbols in dreams" by Calvin Kai-Ching Yu (Dreaming, 2010[Mar], Vol 20[1], 25-41). Three Chinese characters where printed incorrectly in the article. The correct symbols are shown along with the location of each in the original article. On page 26, 3rd paragraph from the top, the second symbol in the third sentence from the bottom of the paragraph is incorrect. On page 28, 1st paragraph, the 1st symbol in line 7 of the paragraph is also incorrect. The last error on page 28, in which the 1st paragraph, 1st symbol in the last line of the paragraph is incorrect. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-05656-003.) The present study aimed to determine how often Chinese people dream of sexual metaphors and to examine the association between the dreaming of sexual experiences and contemporary Chinese sex symbols. A list of sex symbols was derived from a thorough review of the sexual analogies that Chinese people most often use in slang language. This list, together with the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised–Short Form, was administrated to a sample of 608 upper-secondary school graduates from Hong Kong. It was found that the participants rarely dreamed about food analogies for sex, such as “eating litchis” and “bananas or banana-like objects.” By contrast, sex symbols involving weapons and aggressive behavior, such as “knives, swords, or daggers” and “shooting,” occurred in dreams with moderate prevalence rates. Moreover, gender, the frequency of dreaming sexual experiences, and social desirability significantly predicted the frequency scores on the scale formed by these aggressive symbols for sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Yu (2010).

Reports an error in "Contemporary Chinese sex symbols in dreams: Correction to Yu" by Calvin Kai-Ching Yu (Dreaming, 2010[Mar], Vol 20[1], 25-41). The publishing year of the article in the correction notice was listed incorrectly as 2009. The correct publication year for the original article is 2010. The word were was also misspelled in the body of the correction as where. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-05656-003.) [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 20(2) of Dreaming (see record 2010-12874-005). Three Chinese characters where printed incorrectly in the article. The correct symbols are shown along with the location of each in the original article. An error is also located on page 26, 3rd paragraph from the top, second symbol in the third sentence from the bottom of the paragraph. On page 28, 1st paragraph, the 1st symbol in line 7 of the paragraph is incorrect. The last error is on page 28, in which the 1st paragraph, 1st symbol in the last line of the paragraph is incorrect.] The present study aimed to determine how often Chinese people dream of sexual metaphors and to examine the association between the dreaming of sexual experiences and contemporary Chinese sex symbols. A list of sex symbols was derived from a thorough review of the sexual analogies that Chinese people most often use in slang language. This list, together with the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised–Short Form, was administrated to a sample of 608 upper-secondary school graduates from Hong Kong. It was found that the participants rarely dreamed about food analogies for sex, such as “eating litchis” and “bananas or banana-like objects.” By contrast, sex symbols involving weapons and aggressive behavior, such as “knives, swords, or daggers” and “shooting,” occurred in dreams with moderate prevalence rates. Moreover, gender, the frequency of dreaming sexual experiences, and social desirability significantly predicted the frequency scores on the scale formed by these aggressive symbols for sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contemporary chinese sex symbols in dreams.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 20(3) of Dreaming (see record 2010-17362-003). The publishing year of the article in the correction notice was listed incorrectly as 2009. The correct publication year for the original article is 2010. The word were was also misspelled in the body of the correction as where.] [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 20(2) of Dreaming (see record 2010-12874-005). Three Chinese characters where printed incorrectly in the article. The correct symbols are shown along with the location of each in the original article. An error is also located on page 26, 3rd paragraph from the top, second symbol in the third sentence from the bottom of the paragraph. On page 28, 1st paragraph, the 1st symbol in line 7 of the paragraph is incorrect. The last error is on page 28, in which the 1st paragraph, 1st symbol in the last line of the paragraph is incorrect.] The present study aimed to determine how often Chinese people dream of sexual metaphors and to examine the association between the dreaming of sexual experiences and contemporary Chinese sex symbols. A list of sex symbols was derived from a thorough review of the sexual analogies that Chinese people most often use in slang language. This list, together with the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised–Short Form, was administrated to a sample of 608 upper-secondary school graduates from Hong Kong. It was found that the participants rarely dreamed about food analogies for sex, such as “eating litchis” and “bananas or banana-like objects.” By contrast, sex symbols involving weapons and aggressive behavior, such as “knives, swords, or daggers” and “shooting,” occurred in dreams with moderate prevalence rates. Moreover, gender, the frequency of dreaming sexual experiences, and social desirability significantly predicted the frequency scores on the scale formed by these aggressive symbols for sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex dreams, wet dreams, and nocturnal emissions.

This study provides an overview of the frequencies and narrative features of sex and wet dreams and investigates the incestuous behavior in the manifest content of dreams. A questionnaire specially designed for capturing both quantitative and qualitative aspects of sex and wet dreams was administered to 58 male participants. More than 80% of participants had dreamed about having vaginal intercourse with a woman. Dreaming of sexual interactions other than vaginal intercourse—such as oral sex—was also common. Consistent with the hypothesis that latent sexual motives or some variation of sexuality that people may not be aware of during the daytime would emerge at night through dreaming, both homosexual and incestuous behaviors were observed in dreams. In addition, the finding indicates that sexual thoughts and motives can be represented by symbols in dreams, and dream impressions involving no erotic scenes are capable of eliciting nocturnal emissions. It seems that sex dreams, wet dreams, and nocturnal emissions without erotic imagery or dreaming can be distinguished from each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream Intensity Inventory and Chinese people's dream experience frequencies.

The present study aimed to devise a parsimonious instrument for evaluating both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of dream experiences and to quantify Chinese people's dream experiences in ways that facilitated cross-cultural comparisons. The Dream Intensity Inventory was developed and administered to 348 Chinese university students. Individual differences in dream recall frequency were observed, with some participants recalling dreams almost every morning whereas others recalled dreams less than once a month. By contrast, the Chinese participants exhibited less diverse dream awareness frequencies. Multiple dreams in a single night and nightmares were found to be prevalent among the Chinese participants. On the other hand, fewer than half of the participants experienced regularly voluntary control over dream activities and consciousness. The factor analyses of the items in the Dream Intensity Inventory resulted in three readily interpreted factors, which were labeled as the "dream quantity," "altered dream episodes," and "dream vividness" subscales, respectively. When compared with men, women participants had higher frequencies of regular dream experiences including dream awareness, nightmares, and multiple dreams, as measured by the dream quantity subscale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehearsal of dreams and waking events similarly improves the quality but not the quantity of autobiographical recall.

Salient dreams are often discussed and ruminated upon over time, especially when they feature in dream work or therapy. The present study investigated the effects of rehearsal over time on dream memories, as compared to memories for waking experiences. Participants were instructed to complete a dream and waking episodic event diary over two weeks. A rehearsal group (n = 27) were instructed to read through their reports after recording them. A control group (n = 28) were instructed not to look at their reports. A surprise recall task demonstrated that rehearsal reduced significantly the detail of dream, but not waking event, reports. It maintained episodic richness for dreams. Furthermore, rehearsed dream and event reports corresponded significantly more closely with original reports than controls. These data indicate that while rehearsal may not increase dream recall over time, it may influence the phenomenology of memories that are subsequently recalled, such that a rehearsed memory is subsequently recalled, rather than the original experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitating dream recall in Chinese people.

The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of dream recall in Chinese people and to develop nonintrusive procedures to facilitate dream recall. Guidelines for remembering dreams (dream recall instructions) were established based on a review of the existing literature on dream recall and its associated factors. The efficacy of the dream recall experience was explored using this procedure in neurologically healthy individuals. One hundred seventy Chinese participants were included in the study: 100 received the dream recall instructions, and 70 did not. The recall instructions were shown to be effective in triggering dream recall in the participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream reports of animal rights activists.

This study examined the nighttime dream experiences of animal rights activists. The sample consisted of 284 activists who attended the Animal Rights 2004 conference. Participants completed the C. S. Hall and R. Van de Castle (1966) Most Recent Dream Survey (as cited in Domhoff, 1996). The data on dreams were compared with statistical norms on dream content developed by C. S. Hall and R. Van de Castle (as cited in Domhoff, 1996). Results indicated that activists reported animal dream characters at a much higher rate than the general population. Activists also overwhelmingly had more friendly animal dreams than did the general public. Examples of dream reports, as well as the variety of animal species, are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of session process and outcome in the Hill dream model: Contributions of client characteristics and the process of the three stages.

Forty-two therapists trained in the C. E. Hill dream model (1996, 2004a) conducted single dream sessions with 157 volunteer clients. Clients who profited most from dream sessions had poor initial functioning on the problem reflected in the dream, positive attitudes toward dreams, salient dreams, low initial insight into the dream, and poor initial action ideas related to the dream. When initial stages of the session were evaluated positively, later stages were also evaluated positively. Process (therapist competence/adherence and client involvement) was positively related to session outcome. Perspective also influenced the findings, such that clients', therapists', and judges' perceptions of process related to their own, but not others', evaluations of process and session outcome. Implications of findings for dream work and research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do we think dreams are in black and white due to memory problems?

The present study was designed to investigate whether memory processes play a role in why some persons say their dreams are black and white. The findings indicate that the percentages of black and white dreams are related negatively to color memory and dream recall frequency. When colors were recorded immediately after the dream was recorded, the percentage of black and white dream elements dropped to 2.7%. When participants were presented the option that dream colors might not be remembered, the percentage of explicit black and white dreams became very small, and the findings are thus in line with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. Future studies might use extensive training of color memory and dream recall in order to investigate whether highly trained persons still have some dreams or dream elements that are in black and white. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mechanisms of defense and dreaming.

This study examined the degree to which the phenomenological experience of dream intensity and its components are correlated with repression, splitting, and other defense mechanisms. The Dream Intensity Scale, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Splitting Scale, Defense Style Questionnaire-40, and other related measures were administered to 583 subjects. It is demonstrated that repression as a personality trait is inversely and moderately related to the quantitative aspect of dream intensity (i.e., frequencies of dream awareness, nightmares, and multiple dreams in a single night) but does not influence qualitative sensory experiences in dreams (e.g., hearing sounds in dreams). Moreover, the present findings indicate that the more repressed people are, the less likely they are to report splitting and immature defenses, and the less frequently they experience dreams, with the effect of repression on defenses being greater than that on dream intensity. Accordingly, if both dreams and defense mechanisms are the critical materials to work through in a treatment, then starting with the former may be conducive to the therapeutic progress by provoking less resistance from the client. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client Reactions to Working With Dreams in Psychotherapy.

A questionnaire about working with dreams was given to 95 clients in ongoing psychotherapy. Results indicated that clients who discussed dreams in therapy (68%) had more positive attitudes toward dreams, higher dream recall, and more therapist encouragement for talking about dreams than clients who did not. Clients reported that therapists used more exploratory than insight or action dream-related activities. The outcome of the dream session was positively related to the therapists' encouragement of dream work and dream-related activities used. Clients who had not discussed dreams in therapy indicated that they had not because there was not enough time in sessions to work on dreams or it had never occurred to them to talk about their dreams in therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in dreams: Applications to dream work with male clients.

Differences between the dreams of men and women have been a topic of interest and research in the field of dream science. This article focuses on three such gender differences in dreaming, namely, dream recall frequency, sex of dream character and dream aggression. For each gender difference, a review of literature is presented, along with a discussion of possible causes for the difference between genders. In addition, suggestions are made for applications to clinical practice with a focus on gender-specific dream work strategies for work with male clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personalized Method for Interpreting Dreams (PMID)—As Applied to Relationship Issues

The purpose of this study was to develop a dreamwork model that would help individuals deal with relationship issues. Seventy dreams, involving seven major relationships, were selected from the woman participant's dreams. A dream interpretation model, the Personalized Method for Interpreting Dreams (PMID) was developed. Well-founded concepts in the PMID are: 1) dreams reflect emotions; and, 2) pre-dream thoughts, current circumstances, and personal definitions build dream meanings. The newest dreamwork concept of the PMID is the systemic perspective that relationship issues are best understood by discovering how relationship experiences influence our thoughts, emotions and behavior in other relationships. With a dreamwork systemic approach, the individual gathers together and studies series of dreams about major relationships in his or her life, primarily the family. Results of the thesis study show that the participant's use of the model was a factor in reducing stressful relationship issues.     

Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy: The Therapists' Perspective

129 therapists completed a 70-item questionnaire about working with dreams in psychotherapy. Almost all therapists (92%) worked with dreams in psychotherapy at least occasionally. Therapists reported that 15% of clients had brought dreams into therapy during the past year. Therapists engaged more in exploratory than insight- or action-oriented activities when working with dreams. They were more likely to work on dreams with clients who had troubling dreams or who were interested in working on dreams, but were unlikely to work on dreams with schizophrenic or psychotic clients. Those clinicians who were more likely to work with dreams had more training, higher estimated dream recall, more positive attitudes toward dreams, and did more personal dream work than clinicians who were not likely to work with dreams.     

Dream Sharing as Social Interaction

A survey was administered to 241 individuals whose questionnaire responses were analyzed to determine if they told their dreams to others, to whom they told their dreams, for what purpose, and in what social contexts dreams were shared. Respondents were also asked whether there were types of dreams they would not tell and individuals with whom they would not share dreams. This exploratory study suggests that dream sharing is a part of everyday social interaction, with the primary purpose of entertainment. There are gender differences with regard to dream sharing, and this sharing involves the utilization of social practices whereby individuals may protect themselves and others through deciding whether or not to share a dream. The study describes dream sharing as a social act that is negotiated based on the social rules regarding what topics friends and other intimates share in public or private.     

Interest in dream interpretation: A gender difference.

Although several studies reported a significant effect with regard to the gender difference in an interest in dreams, the generalizability of these studies is limited because mainly students were recruited as participants. In this study, gender differences with regard to interest in dream interpretation as an indicator of interest in dreams in general have been demonstrated in a representative sample. There was, however, a significant age-gender interaction, indicating that interest in dreams might not be a potent variable for explaining gender differences in dream recall. In future studies, the course of interest in dreams over the life span and any associated gender differences should be investigated using carefully designed scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream Recall Frequency, Attitude Towards Dreams and Openness to Experience

The question whether personality dimensions explain the interindividual differences in dream recall frequency has often been investigated by dream researchers. The present findings confirm previous research which has shown that traits such as openness-to-experience and thin boundaries correlate substantially with dream recall frequency. However, correlation coefficients are small and are much larger if attitude towards dreams or a scale measuring different aspects of dream recall are considered. Thus, future studies should consider the differentiation between items measuring dream recall and related aspects and items measuring attitudes towards dreams. Schonbar's life-style hypothesis should be revised slightly: not dream recall frequency but attitude towards dreams and the way to deal with dreams are part of a broader life style.     

Reading books about dream interpretation: Gender differences.

The vast variety of books on dreamwork and dream interpretation suggests that a considerable percentage of the general population is interested in reading these books. Empirical research in this area is relatively scarce. The present representative survey (N = 2,019) indicated that about 8% of the general population have read about dream interpretation in order to learn more about their dreams, with women reading about dream interpretation more often than men. This gender difference was not explained by differences in dream recall frequency. In addition, single people as well as people with high nightmare frequencies read about dreams more often. Future research should focus on the possible benefits of reading about dream interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)