Representation of the self in REM and NREM dreams.

The authors hypothesized that representations of the Self (or the dreamer) in dreams would change systematically, from a prereflective form of Self to more complex forms, as a function of both age and sleep state (REM vs. non-REM). These hypotheses were partially confirmed. While the authors found that all the self-concept-related dream content indexes derived from the Hall/Van de Castle dream content scoring system did not differ significantly between the dreams of children and adults, adult Selves were more likely to engage in "successful" social interactions. The Self never acted as aggressor in NREM dream states and was almost always the befriender in friendly interactions in NREM dreams. Conversely, the REM-related dream Self preferred aggressive encounters. Our results suggests that while prereflective forms of Self are the norm in children's dreams, two highly complex forms of Self emerge in REM and NREM dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Home Dreams and Waking Fantasies of Boys and Girls Between Ages 9 and 15: A Longitudinal Study

In this longitudinal developmental study, 12 boys and 12 girls provided home dreams and waking fantasies at 3 age levels: 9–11, 11–13, and 13–15. A total of 299 dreams and 286 fantasies were coded by 2 independent raters using Hall and Van de Castle (1966) content categories. In addition, word counts and bizarreness ratings were completed. There were very few changes in the dreams or waking fantasies of either boys or girls, but dream reports were longer at ages 13–15, the aggression/friendliness percent increased over the course of the study, joint-sex peer groups became more frequent, and girls showed a decline in animal percent. The tendency in a wide range of societies for men to dream mostly about other men and for women to dream equally of women and men was found in both the dreams and waking fantasies. Dreams and fantasies differed markedly, with dreams containing more outdoor and unfamiliar settings, and more bizarreness. In dreams the children tended to portray themselves as victims of aggression and recipients of friendliness, but in fantasies they took a more active role as aggressors and befrienders. It is suggested that the children in this study portrayed themselves in their dreams as they conceived of themselves in everyday life, while in their waking fantasies they imagined themselves as they would have liked to be.     

Dreams of female university students: Content analysis and the relationship to discovery via the Ullman method.

This study extended the research on the dreams of students by examining the actual content of female students' dreams and to what extent the content related to discovery via the Ullman method. Further analyses were conducted to examine what content categories significantly predicted discovery. Participants were 56 female undergraduate students who provided a dream and participated in the Ullman method of group interpretation. Dream content was analyzed via the Hall and Van de Castle method of content analysis. Many significant correlations were observed among dream content categories, discovery categories, and dream content and discovery categories together. Findings were representative of the sample being examined and provided evidence of the continuity hypothesis. Results both support and extend previous research on the dreams of students. Furthermore, specific categories of dream content were found to significantly predict discovery categories. Limitations and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medication and Dreams: Changes in Dream Content After Drug Treatment

This case study examines the effects of sertraline (Zoloft ^TM ) on the dream content of a young woman with generalized anxiety disorder and panic attacks. The study used the major categories of Hall and Van de Castle's (1966) system of content analysis to compare dream reports before and after drug treatment. Prior to diagnosis and treatment, the dreamer had high levels of aggression and low levels of friendliness in her dreams. The post-medication dreams more closely approximate the female norms. This pilot study suggests a new direction for research on the effects of medication on dream content.     

The Most Recent Dreams of 12–13 Year-Old Boys and Girls: A Methodological Contribution to the Study of Dream Content in Teenagers

The present study shows that the Most Recent Dream Method developed for the efficient and economical collection of dream reports from adults can be extended to suburban Caucasian 12–13 year-old boys and girls. A content analysis of 162 Most Recent Dreams from girls and 110 Most Recent Dreams from boys using the Hall and Van de Castle (1996) coding system revealed the same general pattern of gender similarities and differences found in the dream content of young adults. A comparison of the present results with those from participants between the ages of 11–13 and with a similar social background in two longitudinal studies showed several similarities in dream content. The overall findings thus suggest that the Most Recent Dream Method may provide a reasonably representative sample of dream reports from teenagers if at least 100 to 125 Most Recent Dreams are collected for each age group, making cross-sectional developmental studies of teenagers' dreams feasible if the cooperation of a school system can be enlisted. Suggestions for other kinds of studies using Most Recent Dreams from teenagers are also discussed.     

The Dreams of Blind Men and Women: A Replication and Extension of Previous Findings

Drawing on a sample of 372 dreams from 15 blind adults, we present two separate analyses that replicate and extend findings from previous studies. The first analysis employed DreamSearch, a software program designed for use with dream narratives, to examine the appearance of the five sensory modalities. It revealed that those blind since birth or very early childhood had (1) no visual imagery and (2) a very high percentage of gustatory, olfactory, and tactual sensory references. The second analysis found that both male and female participants differed from their sighted counterparts in the same ways on several Hall and Van de Castle (1966) coding categories, including a high percentage of locomotion/transportation dreams that contained at least one dreamer-involved misfortune. The findings on sensory references and dreamer-involved misfortunes in locomotion/transportation dreams are interpreted as evidence for the continuity between dream content and waking cognition.     

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)     

The relationships between dream content and physical health, mood, and self-construal.

Research is presented that examines the relationship among dream content, physical health, mood, and self-construal. Participants were 27 undergraduate students who completed the Medical Outcomes SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36), the Profile of Mood States Scale (POMS-SF), and the Self-Construal Scale (SCS). Each participant handed in four dream reports, which were analyzed according to the Hall and Van de Castle (1966) system of content analysis. Multiple significant correlations were observed between dream content and the SF-36, the POMS-SF, and the SCS. Most notable were the findings between physical health and dream content. Participants displaying poor physical health reported more bodily misfortunes, injuries and illnesses, medical themes, and body parts in their dreams. Findings support continuity between dreams and waking life physical and mental functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream Content and Political Ideology

This pilot study focuses on the relationship of dream content and political ideology in a contemporary U.S. context. The study involved 56 people, 28 (14 male and 14 female) who identified themselves as members of the political right and 28 (14 male and 14 female) who identified themselves as members of the political left. Most recent dream reports from these subjects were analyzed using Hall and Van de Castle content analysis categories. Following that quantitative analysis, each dream was analyzed in terms of its narrative qualities (themes, images, emotional patterns, etc.). Although the small size of the study makes it impossible to offer definitive interpretations, the findings are suggestive: people on the political right had more nightmares, more dreams in which they lacked personal power, and a greater frequency of lifelike dreams; people on the political left had fewer nightmares, more dreams in which they had personal power, and a greater frequency of good fortunes and bizarre elements in their dreams. These findings have plausible correlations to certain features of the political ideologies of people on the left and the right, and merit future investigation in larger-scale studies.     

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)     

Content analysis does not belong in any theoretical category: A comment on Hartmann's "meteorite–gemstone" continuum.

This brief comment provides a detailed critique of the inclusion of the widely used Hall and Van de Castle (1966) coding system for the study of dream content in the “meteorite” category in a recent article by Ernest Hartmann (2010), a category for theorists who presumably believe that dreams come from “somewhere else.” The critique notes that content analysis is a methodology, not a theory, and that it has been used to study newspaper articles, speeches, and many other mundane texts. In the case of dream studies, it has produced results that have led many dream researchers to conclude that dreams belonged in Hartmann's “gemstone” category, a category for cognitively oriented theorists who see dreaming as 1 point on a continuum that includes daydreaming, reveries, and more rigorous focused thought. Several other problems with Hartmann's discussion of content analysis are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream recall after night awakenings from tonic/phasic REM sleep

Eleven healthy subjects, 9 females and 2 males aged 21-23, were submitted to all night polygraphic recording and awaken in REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep, randomly upon tonic or phasic REM. Immediately upon awakening subjects were asked about possible dreaming according to the standardized questionnaire. Seventy-seven dreams, i.e. 79% of all 97 REM awakenings, were reported and analyzed. There were no significant differences in reported frequency of dreamings after awakening, mood and dream content due to phasic/tonic REM sleep. Dreams from phasic REM were a bit more colorful. Predictor of morning remembering of dreams was meaninglessness, not meaningfulness of dreams, and, in lesser extent, good mood, colorfulness, dreams with words and phasic REM sleep.     

Content analysis of dreams and waking narratives.

This study investigated the specificity of dream content and its continuity with waking life. For each subject (125 men and 125 women, between the ages of 19 and 29 years), a dream and a waking episode were collected according to “the most recent dream” method (Hartmann, Elkin, & Garg, 1991), which was also applied to “a recent life episode.” Both kinds of narratives were analyzed through the application of the Hall–Van de Castle System (1966) and a typical content analysis (a compendium of the most important typical dream taxonomies). In dreams, typical situations involved the dreamer trying to perform some physical action, most frequently with difficulties in mastering the task. Affective relationships and hostile interactions with an enemy were shared by both narratives, but cognitive activities were uncommon in both cases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream content of 10- to 11-year-old preadolescent boys and girls.

This study examines the content of dreams of 10 to 11-year-old boys (n = 80) and girls (n = 102) gathered using the Most Recent Dream Method (Hartmann, Elkin, & Garg, 1991) and analyzed through the Hall and Van de Castle Method (1966; Domhoff, 1996). The study compares the dreams of the Italian sample with those of a normative adult sample and other research on the dreams of preadolescents of various countries (United States, Spain, and Switzerland). In the main it confirms the results of such preadolescent dream analysis research (Avila-White, Schneider, & Domhoff, 1999; Oberst, Charles, & Chamarro, 2005; Saline, 1999; Strauch & Lederbogen, 1999), highlighting in particular the importance of aggressive physical interaction in the participants under study. The data that emerge from dream analysis may be compared with the results of research into problems of aggression and transgression in boys and girls at this age (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2007). Dream analysis may represent a significant contribution to the study of preadolescence, allowing the characteristics and prevailing themes of preadolescents to be compared with those of participants from other age ranges. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Big dreams: An analysis using central image intensity, content analysis, and word searches.

The authors provide empirical data to help answer the question of what distinguishes “big dreams” (Jung, 1974) from ordinary dreams. Reported here are the results of a multifaceted quantitative analysis of 162 most recent dreams and 162 most memorable dreams gathered from the same group of individuals. This matched collection of recent and memorable dream reports was analyzed by a novel combination of three quantitative methods: Hartmann's (1998, 2008) research on central images, Hall and Van de Castle's (1966) content analysis, and Bulkeley's (2009b) word search approach. Using these different methods of analysis on the same two sets of dreams provided an unusually detailed portrait of the basic patterns of big dreams. The results suggest that big dreams are distinguished by a tendency toward “primal” qualities of form and content: more intense imagery, more nature references, more physical aggression, more family characters, more fantastic/imaginary beings, and more magical happenings, along with less high-order cognition and less connection to ordinary daily surroundings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive differences in dream content between Argentine males and females using quantitative content analysis.

This study asked the question, "Are there significant content differences between male and female dream reports obtained in seminars conducted in Argentina?" Each of the 100 female and 100 male participants contributed one recent dream report during dream seminars held in Argentina between 1990 and 1998. Dream reports were scored using Hall and Van de Castle's System of Content Analysis. Major findings revealed that Argentine males reported significantly more aggressions per character and a higher percentage of dreamers as the aggressor than reported by females. They also reported more dreams with at least one success than reported by females. In contrast, females scored significantly higher on both the Self-Negativity index and the Negative Emotions index compared to males. Although some findings were similar to past studies using American participants, others were unique to this study and may be attributable to the particular sample used, or may suggest actual underlying cultural patterns of contemporary Argentine men and women. Results are discussed in terms of Hall's continuity hypothesis and Domhoff's cognitive model of dreaming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Revision of the good fortune scale: A new tool for the study of "big dreams."

This article proposes a revision of the good fortune (GF) scale of the Hall and Van de Castle (HVDC; 1966) content analysis scoring system. In place of the original one-point GF scale, this proposed revision offers a 6-point scale that conceptually matches the HVDC system's 6 types of misfortune. The GF scale is then applied to the 1000 HVDC norm dreams to generate a new estimation of the average frequency of the 6 types of good fortune. These findings are discussed in relation to the study of highly memorable and impactful dreams, what C. G. Jung (1948/1979) called "big dreams." The new GF scale strengthens the ability of the HVDC system to contribute to the interdisciplinary study of those rare but unusually significant types of dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the dream-lag effect for REM and NREM stage 2 dreams

This study investigates evidence, from dream reports, for memory consolidation during sleep. It is well-known that events and memories from waking life can be incorporated into dreams. These incorporations can be a literal replication of what occurred in waking life, or, more often, they can be partial or indirect. Two types of temporal relationship have been found to characterize the time of occurrence of a daytime event and the reappearance or incorporation of its features in a dream. These temporal relationships are referred to as the day-residue or immediate incorporation effect, where there is the reappearance of features from events occurring on the immediately preceding day, and the dream-lag effect, where there is the reappearance of features from events occurring 5-7 days prior to the dream. Previous work on the dream-lag effect has used spontaneous home recalled dream reports, which can be from Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM) and from non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREM). This study addresses whether the dream-lag effect occurs only for REM sleep dreams, or for both REM and NREM stage 2 (N2) dreams. 20 participants kept a daily diary for over a week before sleeping in the sleep laboratory for 2 nights. REM and N2 dreams collected in the laboratory were transcribed and each participant rated the level of correspondence between every dream report and every diary record. The dream-lag effect was found for REM but not N2 dreams. Further analysis indicated that this result was not due to N2 dream reports being shorter, in terms of number of words, than the REM dream reports. These results provide evidence for a 7-day sleep-dependent non-linear memory consolidation process that is specific to REM sleep, and accord with proposals for the importance of REM sleep to emotional memory consolidation.