Discussion Section -
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The TDQ supplies a “dirty” method for summarizing theme frequencies in large collections of dreams, while the DTS, in previous research and as modified for the current study, provides a more thorough (yet laborious) system for quantifying the thematic structure of dreams. As expected by review of the literature, both of these indices on dream content revealed in the current study that threat simulations are the predominant themes during dreaming, accounting for the most frequent, the earliest, and even the most important themes in dreams across the life-span (at least, for university students). Also revealed in this study is that there is a limited thematic catalogue for those dreams which are not exactly threatening. The modified DTS used in this study took previous main and sub-categories from Revonsuo and Valli’s (2000) DTS and from Hall and Van de Castle’s (1966) dream coding system, and added themes which warranted inclusion as determined by the sample reports, while removing those which found no instances in our samples. However, the TDQ retained the 55 items as used in the Nielsen, et al. (2003) study. Therefore, the TDQ themes and DTS themes are not perfect for comparison. Then again, some associations between the two systems can be drawn from our results. The TDQ Earliest dream themes were led by Chased (without injury), followed by Falling and flying, respectively, and these were the same ordinal themes found by using the DTS. In descending order, the next most frequent TDQ themes were Teeth Falling Out, Trying Again and Again to Do Something, and being Physically Attacked (which was tied in sixth-place with four other themes). Being attacked was the fourth most common DTS theme for Earliest Dreams (tied with Falling), followed by Threat of Aggression. Threat of Aggression only appears as a DTS theme and Trying Again and Again is a TDQ-only theme, so these cannot be directly compared. Not including the Teeth Falling Out dreams, which were manifest in the dream reports but not very common, we see remarkable parallels for Earliest Dreams, whether through the lens of the TDQ or the DTS in this sample. TDQ frequencies were collected for Most Often dream themes, as well as for Ever Across Life-Span, and both of these are similar in concept to tallying total themes frequencies for all three dream types (Earliest, Most Important, Most Recent) analyzed with the DTS. Being Pursued was the predominant DTS-coded theme when combing all dream types, and Being Chased (not injured) was the second most common theme for both Most Often and Ever TDQ results. Sex or Dating related themes were the second most common DTS sub-category, and this was the first and fourth most commonly scored Ever and Most Often TDQ theme, respectively. Falling was the number-one Most Often TDQ theme, the third most common Ever TDQ theme, and ranked fourth on the DTS. Loss of Loved One was the fifth most frequent DTS item, but only the 11th ranking TDQ Most Often theme (and tied at that position with 11 other themes). In brief, Falling, Pursuit, and Sexual themes were very common, regardless of the used analysis method. |