The Sanctification of Dreams: Prevalence and Implications

Many scientists and practitioners have debated about the function of dreams. Though some researchers have described dreams as purposeless random neuronal firings, others have suggested that dreams serve an adaptive function with certain dream characteristics having positive implications. Drawing on other studies of sanctification, this study examines whether imbuing a dream with qualities of the sacred relates to beneficial outcomes. Examining a college student sample of 168, it was found that the more sacred the dream was perceived, the more beneficial the outcome reported from a stressful life event which related to the dream. These outcomes include less negative affect and more positive affect, psychological and spiritual growth. Sanctification of dreams predicted these outcome variables over and above other religious measures as well as dream measures. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

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.     

Dream Recall Frequency and Dream Detail as Mediated by Personality, Behavior, and Attitude

Many studies investigated how personality, behavior, and attitude mediate dream recall, but few distinguish between measures of dream recall frequency: the number of dreams experienced in a specified time frame and dream detail: individual ratings of vividness or detailed content of dreams. This study compared undergraduates' (n = 173) self-reported dream recall frequency, and dream detail, with behaviors, attitude toward dreaming, and scores on scales of Extraversion/Introversion and Type A/B. Dream recall frequency and dream detail manifested different patterns of association in relation to behaviors, attitude and personality. Dream recall frequency was associated with the frequency of experiencing emotionally disturbing dreams and trying to interpret dreams, while detail of dreams was associated with positive attitude toward dreaming and Type B personality. Although males and females both held positive attitudes toward dreaming, females experienced more emotionally disturbing dreams and felt unable to control their dreams. Interactions between personality and gender emerged for behaviors associated with dreaming. Researchers are encouraged to differentiate between dream recall frequency and dream detail.     

Perceived change in the affect associated with dreams: The fading affect bias and its moderators.

Eighty-two undergraduate participants kept dream diaries for a month. Five dreams were randomly selected from each diary and were returned to participants. They rated the affect produced by the dream at its occurrence and at its recall, as well as a number of other characteristics of the dream and characteristics of the context in which the dream occurred. Results revealed that, like memories for real autobiographical events, the negative affect associated with dreams generally faded faster than the positive affect associated with dreams (a Fading Affect Bias, or FAB). The data also showed that the FAB did not occur for: (a) dreams that were remembered to contain information that dreamers believed came true at a later date, (b) dreamers who had reportedly taken recreational drugs prior to their dream, (c) dreams remembered as lacking sound, and (d) dreams remembered as very quiet. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotions in the Diary and REM Dreams of Young and Late Adulthood Women and Their Relation to Life Satisfaction.

Expanding on studies of the incidence and valence of emotions in dreams and their relationship with waking life satisfaction, home and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep dreams were collected from 30 late adulthood and 28 young women who had filled out a life satisfaction scale. Four positive and 4 negative dream emotions were self-rated. Both groups reported more emotions, with greater intensity, in home dreams than in REM dreams, particularly the older group. Regardless of age, intensity of negative emotions was lower in laboratory dreams than in home dreams, but there was no difference for positive emotions. The older women's home dreams had fewer negative emotions, with lower intensity, than did the young women's. Life satisfaction did not differ between age groups and was not significantly related to dream emotions. These results reinforce the distinction between home and laboratory dreams and question the relation between dream emotions and life satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between video game play and threat simulation dreams.

Revonsuo proposes an evolutionary theory of dreaming in which dreams allow an individual to prepare for real world threats in the safety of the virtual setting of the dream world. Based upon previous work examining the dreams of video game players, it was hypothesized that high-end gamers would experience fewer threat simulation dreams because of frequent threat resolution rehearsal during game play. Subjects were asked to report a night before dream and fill out surveys regarding their gaming history, media use, and dream experiences. Using a factor analysis, support for the main hypothesis was found. Individuals with a history of game play experienced fewer threat severity variables in their dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotypical Gender-Based Emotions Are Not Detectable in Dream Reports

This study reports on the number of feelings evoked in men and women by their dream characters as well as on the relative frequency of different kinds of feelings. Thirty-five subjects recorded 320 dreams over a two-week period, submitted dream reports and a dream log of all characters that appeared in their dreams as well as any feelings involving the characters. We found that feelings were pervasive in dreams and that they were evoked by over 80% of a subject's dream characters. Further, negative and positive emotions were balanced for both men and women. We found no significant differences in the number or in the profile of feelings in men and women's dreams. The reasons for this are discussed in terms of a continuity hypothesis across dream and wake states or, on the contrary, that feelings expressed in dreams may be independent of learned gender differences.     

Dream Content and Personality: Thick vs. Thin Boundaries

Using dream diary procedures and statistically controlling for age and gender, the present study investigated the relationship between Hartmann's (1991) boundary concept and various aspects of dreaming. Results with a sample of young adults confirmed earlier findings that persons with thin boundaries recall dreams (including nightmares) more often, report dreams that are more negative and emotionally intense, regard their dreams more favorably (i.e., as more meaningful and creative), and dream more frequently of verbal interaction with others.     

Significant Dreams: Bizarre or Beautiful?

The literature on highly significant dreams is filled with references to the bizarreness of their content. On the other hand, the concept of beauty is rarely if ever mentioned in relation to these dreams. Grounded in archetypal psychology's tenet that psychological life is aesthetic life, this article argues that the enduring, even life-long, influence some dreams have on the dreamer's life may be better approached through the idea of beauty than through the idea of bizarreness. The argument builds on Hunt's (1989, 1995) theoretical model of the nature of consciousness and dream multiplicity with its emphasis on cross-modal synesthesia as well as on insights provided by Scarry's (1999) recent essay on beauty. A detailed account of how one composer's work was profoundly influenced by his most significant dream is presented to illustrate this aesthetic approach to understanding the on-going significance of significant dreams.     

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.     

Dream and blog content analysis of a long term diary of a video game player with obsessive compulsive disorder.

A case study of a young man who is an avid video game player and designer is the focus of this paper. His online Website offers over 800 dreams, of which over half were content analyzed using the Hall and Van de Castle system. Also available were daily blogs. Thus, several research questions could be addressed. Did the diary evidence consistency across time? Did the dreams evidence incorporation of activities discussed in the daily blogs from the day before the dream? Did this one individual's dream diary echo former research into the dreams of video game players? A final question was addressed because of the diagnosis of the diarist as having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Did the dreams of this young man echo previous research into dreams of OCD sufferers? The findings were that the diary was consistent across time and there was incorporation of some elements of the daily blog into subsequent dreams. Some aspects of his dreams echoed previous video game players' dream findings, like more dead and imaginary characters. Finally, the OCD analysis only partly replicated the previous research into the dreams of those with OCD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Relationship of Dream Content and Changes in Daytime Mood in Traumatized vs. Non-Traumatized Children

The study examined how the mood changes from night to morning, and how dysphoric dream contents associate with this change among children who live in traumatic environment and their controls from peaceful area. The sample consisted of 413 Palestinian boys and girls of 6–15 years of age, the mean age being 11.22 ± 2.64. The participants filled in a seven-day dream diary in which they recorded their recalled dreams every morning. First, the results, confirmed that mood change from evening to morning is a general dream function: age and gender are not related to the change. The mood chance was rather associated with what and whom the children dreamt about. Second, the hypothesis of the trauma group showing less change in dysphoric dream content and in the intensity of negative morning mood across a period of time of seven days was not confirmed. On the contrary, the results showed that both dreams incorporating dysphoric themes and negative morning mood decreased only among children living in traumatic conditions. Third, it was hypothesized that there is a stronger association between presleep negative mood and dysphoric dreams, as well as between the dysphoric dreams and negative morning mood among children living in traumatic environment than among children from peaceful area. Contrary to the hypothesis, results for the trauma group revealed a reverse association between evening mood and dream contents: the more afraid, angry and worried children felt in the evening, the more Happy recreation dreams they reported, and the happier evening mood they reported, the more Threatening stranger dreams they had. However, concurring with the hypothesis, a direct association was found between dysphoric dreams and negative morning mood in the trauma group. The more children dreamt about Threatening strangers, the more afraid, angry and worried they felt in the morning. The discussion proposes a model of the correcting or balancing dream function that is characterized by an reverse assimilation of incorporating evening mood into dreams, and by a direct accommodation of dream content into morning mood.     

Children's Understanding of Dreams as Mental States

Children's understanding of dreams as mental states was examined as an instance of their development of a theory of mind. Thirty-five children between the ages of three and seven were interviewed to determine how well they understood the reality, location, privacy, and origin of their own dream, versus that of a fictional character, matched for emotional valence. Theory of mind developments in understanding appearance vs. reality and perspective-taking were evaluated as predictors of dream understanding. Results revealed significant age increases in dream understanding that occur in a logical sequence predicted by Kohlberg. Theory of mind developments were correlated with children's understanding of the reality and the privacy of dreams. These findings suggest that children as young as five, although their own dreams may be rare, are beginning to understand that Western culture deems dreams to be non-real, private, psychological occurrences.     

Genesis Dreams: Using a Private, Psychological Event as a Cultural, Political Declaration

The article examines the role of the 13 dreams in the book of Genesis. The dreams are first shortly described (following Gnuse, 1984, and Oppenheim, 1956) in their historical context: the Near-East of over 3000 years ago. The structure of some of the dreams is then discussed and compared to dreams from another historical period, that of modern Jewish Moroccan pilgrims (Bilu & Abramovitch, 1985), whose faith is based largely on the Bible. Following this discussion of the structure, the message of the dreams, regarding both the near future, and the remote, national future, is described. The article discusses the argument that all these dreams serve the purpose of establishing a common national identity, which has been historically the basis of Jewish faith. Possible reasons for using dreams in conveying the message are then discussed. The article ends with a discussion on the declining importance of the dream in the post-Genesis Bible.     

Austrian Dream Behavior: Results of a Representative Population Survey

This study was based on a survey of a representative sample of 1000 Austrians who were questioned about their sleep and dream behavior. About two-thirds of the respondents reported that they generally recalled at least one dream per month. Dream recall frequency decreased with advancing age, but did not differ between men and women. Fifty-five percent of the respondents characterized the affective content of their dreams: 29% reported neutral, 20% positive, and 6% negative dreams. Four percent of the sample reported suffering from nightmares. These respondents more frequently reported snoring, interrupted sleep, daytime somnolence, anxiety and nervousness, depression, high dream recall, recurrent dreams, and dreaming in color. Twenty-six percent of the total sample reported that sometimes they realized during their dreams that they were dreaming. These respondents more frequently reported family problems, high dream recall, positive dream content, recurrent dreams, dreaming in color, and nightmares.     

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)     

Explaining the gender difference in dream recall frequency.

A recent meta-analysis showed a substantial and robust gender difference in dream recall frequency of medium effect size, that is, women tend to recall their dreams more often than men. The question arises as to what factors might explain this difference. Two previous studies indicate that interest in dreams plays an important role. The present study found a significant effect of frequency of nocturnal awakenings and interest in dreams on the gender difference in dream recall frequency. In addition, neuroticism and depressive mood were associated with the gender difference on the aspects of a dream recall scale and interest in dreams. Longitudinal studies are necessary to validate the present findings, especially regarding their causality. (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)     

Predictors of Outcome of Dream Interpretation Sessions: Volunteer Client Characteristics, Dream Characteristics, and Type of Interpretation

105 volunteer clients completed single sessions of dream interpretation using the Hill (1996) model, with half randomly assigned to waking life interpretation and the other half to parts of self interpretation in the insight stage of the Hill model. No differences were found between waking life and parts of self interpretations, suggesting that therapists can use either type of dream interpretation. Volunteer clients who had positive attitudes toward dreams and presented pleasant dreams had better session outcome; in addition, volunteer clients who had pleasant dreams gained more insight into their dreams. Results suggest that therapists doing single sessions of dream interpretation need to be cautious about working with dreams when volunteer clients have negative attitudes toward dreams and present unpleasant dreams.