The Nature of Dreams

Psychological theory
1. Freud's psychoanalytical theory
  1. Freud (1990) - the unconscious mind expresses inself through dreams
    1. the content of a person's dream can reveal what is in their unconscious
  2. Dreams as primary-process thought (repression)
    1. id - associated with irrational, instinct-driven unconscious (PRIMARY-PROCESS THOUGHT)
    2. this form of thought is unacceptable to the adult conscious mind so is relegated to our dreams
      1. or, repressed
    3. if we didn't dream, the energy invested tin these desires would build up and threaten our sanity
  3. Dreams as wish fulfilment
    1. Freud - all dreams were the unconscious fulfilment of wishes that could not be satisfied in the conscious mind
    2. dreams protect the sleeper (primary-process thought) but also allow some expression to these buried urges (repression)
  4. The symbolic nature of dreams
    1. Freud - the contents of dreams are expressed symbolically
    2. the real meaning of a dream is transformed into a more harmless form through the process of dreamwork
      1. latent content => manifest content
    3. dreamwork = various processes
      1. condensation - complex dream thoughts are condensed into images
      2. symbolism - a symbol replaces an action, person, or idea
Neurobiological theory
1. dreams occur with rapid eye movements
2. Hobson and McCarley (1977) suggested that the characteristic neurobiological activity associated with REM sleep can explain what we experience as dreams
3. Activation
  1. evidence from EEG that the cerebal cortex is highly active during REM sleep
    1. although few external stimuli are being received
  2. motor cortex is also active but the impulses don't reach the muscles that control the limbs
    1. we're effectively paralysed during REM sleep
  3. Hobson and McCarley (1977) suggested that during REM sleep, the brain stem generates random signals that are essentially indistinguishable from external stimuli
4. Synthesis
  1. process that dreams are created
  2. when activation reaches the areas of the brain that normally process internal/external sensations, these areas of the brain essentially do the same job that they do when we are awake
    1. try to make sense of the stimuli being recevied
  3. synthesis proposes that the often bizarre nature of dreams is due to the mixing of the electronical signals from the brain stem with stored images in memory
  4. the activation-synthesis hypothesis assumes that dreams are as meaningful as they can be, given the fact they're generated by random nervous impulses
Evaluation - Psychological
1. Arguments against Freud's dream theory
  1. Falsification
    1. Freud's theory is difficult to falsify
    2. don't have a way of demonstrating that Freud's interpretation of a dream is correct because Freud argued that support for his interpretation of the dream could be given in 2 ways: the dreamer accepted it, or rejected it
      1. the rejection was a form of confirmation because the patient is repressing unacceptable thoughts
  2. Are dreams wish fulfilment
    1. Freud suggests that there's a class of dreams that don't seem to be fulfilments of wishes
    2. gave example of one of his own dreams
      1. regarded this dream as a 'sensible warning' rather than wish fulfilment
2. Research evidence
  1. Irrational and rational thinking
    1. Braun (1999) - if the rational, thinking part of the brain is not active during REM sleep, then how do we explain the processing that takes place to turn latent into manifest conent?
  2. Dreamwork
    1. 'condensation' is supported by research on neural networks in the brain
      1. research involves computer simulations that aim to mimic the action of the brain
        computer simulations show that neural networks deal with an overload memory by condensing 'memories'
Evaluation - Neurobiological
1. Supporting evidence
  1. some evidence that supports the activation-synthesis hypothesis
    1. Braun (1997) used PET scans to show that the brain stem is indeed active during REM sleep
  2. Solms' evidence shows that activity in the prefrontal cortex is suppressed during dreaming which could explain the bizarre nature of dreams
    1. this also challenges the synthesis portion of this theory because this part of the brain should be active for synthesis to take place
2. Challenging evidence
  1. REM activity
    1. Solm's research indicates that dreams are not necessarily linked with REM activity
    2. Foulkes (1997) - children under the age of 7 dream less that adults, although they do have REM activity
      1. challenges the activation-synthesis principle
  2. Dream content
    1. evidence from studies of dream content undermine the activation-synthesis hypothesis prediction that dreams will be fragmentary and bizarre

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