Dreams are ordinarily sequences of images that are experienced by the mind during sleep. For thousands of years they were regarded as divine visitations or prophecies, wanderings of the soul, or even actual events. Only in the l9th century were dreams first scrutinized carefully and systematically.
Dreaming takes place in varying degrees in all stages of sleep. They are not necessarily visual imagery; congenitally blind people dream in auditory and sensory-motor modes. One difference between waking and dreaming consciousness is that the latter tends to be an internal hallucinatorylike experience disconnected from the external world. Dreaming is a unique form of behavior. It ordinarily occurs only during sleep and may be the only psychological activity that does occur during sleep. It is involuntary and unintentional in the usual meaning of these words. Customarily, it is not accompanied by, and does not eventuate in, appropriate, relevant, or purposeful overt activity. (Davis, 1992)
I found an interesting exerpt from Davis' The Nature of the Dream:
"Dream sleep is also called paradoxical sleep in view of the apparent contradiction of an exceptionally active brain and a virtually inactive body. The paradox of the dream is that the body becomes 'corpse-like' but the brain produces the sensation of unlimited freedom of movement. Thus, the dream is the only state of consciousness, apart from madness and hallucination, in which we have the experience of existing fully in a world that has no objective existence. It is a world in vivid contrast to daily life, which is diluted by the boredom of routine, the steady passing of time, and the relative absence of adventure. To the dreamer, however, all dreams are unpredictable adventures, no matter how mundane they seem in the retelling. In dreams our very life may be imperilled by the glance of a stranger, or 'the look' of a room. Everything counts. All events are stripped of excess and endowed with intensity. In this respect the dream is like art, in which even trivial events are animated in their triviality and brought to a strong pitch of being. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that art is like the dream, since the dream precedes art in both the history of the race and the individual psyche. The images of the poet are simply high refinements of the dream's capacity to create impossible worlds and to suspend our disbelief in their existence."
I liken the final portion of this passage to the question asked in class by Dr. Jakobovits: "Which occurs first, the dream or the skyscraper?" According to the above paragraph, it is most definitely, the dream.
Even with the profoundness of this exerpt, however, I'd like to point out a few errors also included here: (1) Inferring that dreams take place within the brain is, to me, inherently wrong--on this point I take a "Jakobovitsian" stance, seeing dreams as occurring in the mind, not the brain; (2) I also disagree with the notion that seems to point out to the brain as the originating point for dreams--adopting an interactionist viewpoint, I believe that dreams can originate in the mind and that the mind can trigger certain behaviors.
The following research surrounds my aforementioned interactionist perspective (see page 2). My thesis therefore follows as such: "Dreams are a link between mind and body, and as such, can be set in motion by either (although in my model the actual dream will always occur in the mind). Thus, I see dreams as, although related, serving a function above the mere physiological; dreams transcend any theories which exclude the existence of a mind.
This article came from a joumal called, Omega: Journal-of-Deathand-Dying. It was taken from the field of psychology, and its Library of Congress category was "Psychology, Parapsychology, Occultism." It had a research tone, and its call number was "BF 789 .D4 04." As far as the authority it has, I feel that it is in a joumal shows its authors/creators are willing to have their peers read, review, and retest their experiment, methods, and consequent findings. I also feel that this article holds substantial authority due to the author's title and institution of employment (Ph.D. at Harvard). I trust the author because everything was done according to standard experimental procedures (objective), and the material was clearly written and easy to follow. The school of thought which I consider it most closely related to in Hergenhahn would probably be the Psychoanalysts (e.g., Freud and Jung) due to the contention that much of what was dreamed related to problematic or unresolved issues involving death. This article reinforced one of my beliefs that dreams unveil our true feelings and phobias. I located the article using UHCARL, under the keyword "dreams." The reason I selected it was because it dealt with an issue which each of us must resolve at sometime during our lives, and stood out, due to its close resemblance (in many ways) to nightmares which we experience.
This article was entitled, "Through a Glass Darkly: Images of the Dead in Dreams." It was written by Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., of the Harvard Medical School at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its purpose was to examine dreams about the dead. 149 volunteers compiled 1,412 dreams during a two- to six-week period. Four categories of dreams involving the deceased were then developed (see Table 1): (1) Back-toLife; (2) Advice; (3) Leave-Taking; (4) State-of-Death. (Barrett, 1992)
The study was separated into two parts. The first part involved the 149 volunteers: 128 of them were White, nine Black, twelve Hispanic; there were fifty-eight men and ninety-one women; their mean age was twenty. In order to discern whether or not the dreams contained overt content concerning a deceased character, two readers were designated; these readers used a three-point scale consisting of: predominantly pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant; the readers also kept an eye out for any patterns between main themes and how long ago the death of the dream character had occurred. (Barrett, 1992)
The second part specifically asked 96 college students if they had ever had a dream about someone who had died "Where you knew even in the dream that they were dead" and, if so, to state the details of it including an estimate of how long after the death it took place. For this group thirty-nine men and fifty-seven women were used; their mean age was 24 years of age; there were eighty-four Whites, two Blacks, and ten Hispanics. Group two's dreams were judged on their pleasantness/unpleasantness and studied for other characteristic patterns. (Barrett, 1992)
It was found that dreams about someone who has died have a higher lifetime remembrance for dreams of the dreamer's death (39% vs. 11%). Also, many of the dreams revealed a conflict over issues about mortality and loss. (Barrett, 1992)
Besides being a very captivating article, I believe this piece of research supports my thesis on the grounds that the majority of these dreams (dealing with the very difficult issue of death) appear to represent the grappling one has with the issue. Sometimes the subject can be too much to bear:
"My mother is lying asleep in bed at home. She is covered up to the neck. She looks young and very beautiful. Yet at the same time I know she is dead. Then my father brings me a lovely blue dress. I know that my father is dead and I am horrified. I refuse the present. Suddenly my father is a ghostly skeleton that wants to embrace me and take me away with him. I know that it is Death." (Barrett, 1992)
This is an account of one of the dreams involved in the study. Dreams such as these are heavy with symbols (i.e., dead bringing forth gifts--acceptance amounts to one's death) and may be a direct result of the dreamer not coming to terms with the situation. Thus, the function of the dream appears to be an attempt to resolve the issue on an unconscious level. Sometimes, it is successful:
"I had a lucid dream about my grandmother that was probably the best dream I have ever had. In this dream I was little, about five or six years old and I was in the bathroom at my grandmother's house. She was giving me a bath in this big claw-footed tub. The old steam radiator was turned on making it very cozy. I knew that I was dreaming and that I was getting to see my Grandmother well again. After the bath, she lifted me out onto the spiral cotton rug and dried me with a blue towel. When that was done she said she had to leave now; this seemed to mean for heaven. I said, 'Goodbye, grandma. I love you.' She said, 'I love you too Mary.' I woke up feeling wonderful. She had been delirious in the last months of her life, so I'd never really gotten to say goodbye." (Barrett, 1992)
In this case, it appears the dreamer has been given "peace of mind" due to the successful resolution of a difficult subject via her dream-state.
The power of our dreams is also exemplified in this article. If one held a lower, purely physical explanation for dreaming, one could not be justified in taking evasive action based on a dream. Yet, proof of the influence of powerfully vivid dreams abounds:
"At the time of the dream I had made plans to attend a family reunion in Califomia in about a month. I dreamed I saw my grandmother who had died the year before. She was glad to see me and she hugged me and we talked. Then she said, 'Well, I'll see you in Califomia.' I was very taken aback and decided she must not realize she was dead and couldn't be at the reunion. After a long, awkward pause I said hesitantly, because it seemed rude to point it out, 'But Grandma, you're dead.' She said cheerfully, 'I know that. You'll be dead too when you get to Califomia.' At least partly because of this dream, I cancelled my plans and never went to that reunion." (Barrett, 1992)
This article, then, is proof that dreams can and do affect our lives from more than a simple physiological standpoint. I believe that the roots run much deeper.
A second joumal article was located under the call number "QP 425 .S65." It resided in the field of psychology, and its Library of Congress category was "Physiology." Its authority came from the Psychology Department's Sleep Laboratory at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. Again, since it had been published in a joumal, I had to say I held a certain degree of trust for the authors. The tone of the article was research, and the author's views were objective and impartial. According to Hergenhahn, this article would most likely fall under the classification of Neobehaviorism, as the authors attempted to remain objective while testing their theories. This article, more than any other, struck kome because it paralleled a lot of what I stated in my thesis. I found it through a CD-ROM search with a follow-up on UHCARL. I used the keyword "dreams" in the CD-ROM, and located the journal article; I then went to UHCARL and entered in the journal name (to make sure it was indeed in the library), then proceeded to locate and make photocopies of the article. I selected it because it was based on dream study and attempted to find a link between the waking and dreaming states.
This article was entitled "Dream Self-Reflectiveness as a Leamed Cognitive Skill." It was written by Sheila Purcell, Janet Mullington, Alan Moffitt, Robert Hoffmann, and Ross Pigeau. Its purpose was to detemline whether or not dreaming could be considered a higher order cognitive activity. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 attempted to discern the degree of self-reflective meta-cognition in dreams from different sleep stages. A total of 24 college students were used as subjects: 12 self-reported high-frequency dream recallers (at least five dreams a week), 12 self-reported low-frequency dream recallers (one dream a week or less). A higher degree of self-reflectiveness (SR) was discovered in REM dreams than occurred in stages 2 and 4. Also, more dream SR was exhibited by high-frequency dreamers than low-frequency dreamers. The second study examined self-reflective and lucid dreaming as a learned cognitive skill through the control of levels of intention and attention paid to dreaming. Experimental groups showed greater dream SR than the baseline group. (Purcell, 1986)
Here, we have another example of the sheer value of dreams and dream study:
"Dream recall is the most obvious example of cross-phase transference from the dream state to the awake state...A liberal interpretation of these fndings supports the hypothesis that attention paid to dreaming sets in motion the process by which waking and dreaming self-reflectiveness may become codetermining." (Purcell, 1986)
I believe this article is in direct support of my thesis in the sense that it attempts to establish the link between consciousness and unconsciousness throughs dreams (by encouraging self-reflectiveness). I think a solid start has been made here.
This next reference was a book which I found in the field of psychology. Its Library of Congress category was "Psychology, Parapsychology, Occultism," and the call number was "BF 315 .K45." In reality, this book had no authority (so I'll leave it at that); I also was not at all familiar with the author, so I couldn't say I altogether trusted him. However, his views were objective and relatively impartial. The tone of the writing was scholoarly, and I would have to classify it as belonging to the psychoanalytic school of thought. In reading this book, I developed a better understanding of the roots of dream research. I located it through the UHCARL system, using the keyword "dreams." To be honest, I selected it originally because I thought it was easier to read than the other books I was looking at; it ended up being a very valuable "safety-valve."
This third reference supporting my thesis was a book entitled Psychology of the Unconscious by William L. Kelly. The book overall contained some very interesting subjects--however, what really interested me was a section on Sigmund Freud's pioneering dream research.
For Freud, dreams were the "royal road to the unconscious." He rejected the "scientific" explainations of his day, which held that dreams were the result of some external, sensory simulus or some internal, physiological one. Freud also discounted the position of the spiritualists who saw dreams as a kind of liberation from the bonds of the senses or the constraints of nature. (Kelly, 1991)
As referred to earlier, the dream was considered a hidden form of wish-fulfillment, or the expression of unconscious infantile desires. (Kelly, 1991) The manifest content is the surface dream that which the dream actually tells us; the latent content is unconscious and can only be deciphered through associations, analysis, and interpretation. (Mavromatis, 1987) Freud stated that dreams are not trivial; rather, they exemplify unique tricks caused by the unconscious mind. According to Freud, the most important elements of a dream are not always the most significant. The dream is therefore ofter symbolic in character, representing something other than what the manifest content portrays. (Davis, 1992)
Freud thought that dreams contained logic (approximated in time and space). In dreams, alternatives such as "either-or" do not exist; "or" means "and," and opposites may coexist and represent one another. Hence, the horrible person seen as "other" in a dream may be the dreamer's own self. (Kelly, 1991)
A Freudian theory, of course, would not be a Freudian theory without the inclusion of repressed sexual or infantile desires. Freud contended that these wishes were the cause of the disguise, distortion, and obscurity of the dream. (Davis, 1992) Kelly also states that interpretation of the symbolic character of dreams is not an exact science. Freud requires association to the elements of the dream and extensive analysis constant with the personal history of the client. The symbolism found in dreams is not peculiar to them, but is to be discovered also in fairy tales, myths, jokes, and folklore. (Kelly, 1991) This notion appears to parallel Carl Jung (archetypes).
Given such extensive insight and study, I therefore see Freud's work as a valuable tool in the area of dream research, despite the fact that his theories were published nearly a century ago (1900). Freud's doctrine supports my thesis in that he acknowledges their importance (in regards to the unconscious connection) as well as elevating his theories above mere biology.