A Study On Dream Recall

The study of dreams began in 1953 after Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman discovered REM sleep - a period of rapid eye movement that corresponded with vivid dream recollections (Aserinskiy and Kleitman). Since that time, psychologists have sought out what the biological purpose of dreams was. Dream psychology can be a difficult field of study due to the fact that we have not found an accurate way to record dreams, relying on the subjective recollections of the subject upon waking them up. There are some questions that we can currently answer, such as What is the content of dreams? To begin, we know that dreams vary greatly in length, from a few seconds to twenty minutes and that humans tend

One’s destiny and character in an important factor that is dependant upon dreams in both the subconscious and physical world.

On this note, the psychodynamic theory also provided psychological treatments which are still widely used today in therapy for personality disorders. These two treatments in psychodynamic theory are the Rorschach inkblot test and assessment/analysis of dreams. In the Rorschach test the subjects perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analysed using psychological interpretation, complex scientifically derived algorithms or both. These can be used to assess an individual’s personality characteristics. However this Rorschach test itself has been strongly criticised. Firstly

A survey was conducted at Texas A&M University in which the “Big Five” traits of Psychology were measured. The focus of the research is to use descriptive statistics to determine the average personality across the Texas A&M University student body and compare the results to the average personality across the University of Texas student body. Descriptive statistics describes the data that the researcher is analyzing in terms of the average and variability of the sample. Two types of descriptive statistics exist to describe the data: central tendency and variability. Central tendency describes the average of a sample by interpreting the mean, median, and mode. Variability describes the difference in the set of scores through the interpretation of standard deviation, variance, and range.

how many dreams you remember. You might want to keep a notepad by you can record these

Dream content reflects aspects of waking-life experiences. After memories are made, they are often fragmentally merged with other information to construct larger, holistic dreams. Autobiographical memories are predominantly represented in dreams in comparison to episodic and semantic memories. Among various characteristics from waking-life experiences such as places, people, and events, emotions are highly incorporated into dream content. There is also a decreasing relationship between the cognitive demand of an activity and the frequency in which that activity occurs in dreams. Dreams tend to include material from experiential memories and events from the preceding day as well as experiences from 5-7 days prior. The recurrence of memory content in dreams seems to support the hypothesis that dreaming helps with memory consolidation, or particularly the content which is reflected in dreams.

A series of thoughts, images, and sensations that occur during a person’s mind during the time that they sleep is known as a dream. Dreams go way back until the beginning of mankind, even to the BC era during the time that Egyptians and Greeks were the leading force! The Egyptians examined the meanings behind the dreams we have and analyzed the symbols. There are a numerous amount of reasons behind our dreams. People must ask all the time, what is the reasoning behind dreaming? Why do we dream? What is the meaning behind the dream I had? In an average lifetime, approximately six years is spent dreaming. Every single person on this planet dreams and just because one might not remember doing so, it was still done. One might have several dreams occur throughout a normal night of sleep that lasts from about seven to eight hours. Everyone has dreams and each experience is distinctive and personal. Some can contain vivid pictures or memorable illustrations of reality and others can be unreal or abstract. In a way, they all have certain meanings to them and there can be messages hidden that are trying to tell someone something. An abundant amount of people are always curious as to why they dreamed what they did and spend time looking for those answers.

To many people, dreams are the thoughts that occur while sleeping, having almost mystic qualities. For millennia the significance of dreams has escaped even the brightest of philosophers and intellectuals. Many people have speculated about why people dream and what meanings the dreams have but in recent times two theories have gained credibility in answering those questions. The first theory is Sigmund Freuds and the other is known as the cognitive theory of dreams also known as biological determinism.

Both Freud and Jung provided important and interesting theories on dreams; encompassing their functions, their roots, and their meanings. Freud looked at dreams as a result of repressed memories, particularly repressed sexual memories from our childhood. Jung however, believed that dreams delved beyond sexual repression during younger years, to other problems, be it trauma, anxiety etc. Jung also believed dreams changed predominately through middle adult years, while Freud believed the opposite. There is little empirical evidence to reinforce either Freud or Jung’s theories, however, their contributions to the study of dreams in psychology cannot be lessened or denied.

My psychology professor once told me, “You should always keep a journal of your dreams.” She explained to me that it is a very rare occurrence that one might remember their dream off the top of their head. I then contemplated and tried to count the number of dreams I ever remembered. I could not even count my own left hand’s worth. I still have yet to remember any dreams, until now.

As we lay ourselves down every night to put our bodies to rest, our brains begin doing something extraordinary. It begins piecing together images, creating scenarios, simulating sensory perception, and adding in emotions and fears. They can make us wake up with a smile on our face or in a cold sweat. Dreaming is such a strange and often inexplicable phenomenon, but something we all do just about every night. People have theorized the process and the utility of dreams for centuries. However, much of the accepted knowledge we have a bout dreams today is still only theory. In fact, hardly anything about the dreaming experience is concrete because it is an experience

The tests were based on emotions and different activities, like sleep paralysis, snakes, and terrorism. The results were very similar, but Liberal women had a higher percentage on most of the dreams. Liberals remembered sexual experiences better and are more open to talk about them, conservatives remembered the nightmares. Conservative men had more lucid dreams which is when you are dreaming and you know you are dreaming. Researchers interpreted that because most men will tell themselves that their nightmare was just a dream.

Thesis Statement: Dreams are successions of images, emotions, and sensations that occur subconsciously during sleep.

After a friend told me about some weird dreams he had been having I decided to research the meaning of dreams. I will focus on Sigmund Freud’s idea that understanding our dreams can help us to understand ourselves, and live a much happier and fulfilled life. Freud was known as “the father of psychoanalysis” and in 1899 he wrote his most famous work, The Interpretation of Dreams, and

Dreams are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Everyone dreams, whether they remember it or not. The real question is why some people remember their dreams and others do not? The art of remembering dreams is influenced by the first few minutes after waking, the health of a person, environmental, and biological factors. A person has a large impact on their ability to recall dreams along with what they dream about, even though many people do not know about this.