Dream Study Discussion Section -
|
|
Dreams as Threat Simulations
Negative content, in the form of misfortunate events, failure at attempting to accomplish tasks, being victimized by aggression, and affect, predominates in dreams compared to neutral or positive occurrences, and this has long been documented in research on dreams. We know this from the many studies using the Hall and Van de Castle (HVDC) (1966) coding system for dream content analysis (Domhoff, 2008). We also know from Typical Dreams Questionnaires (TDQ) that thematically, the most common dreams around the world are, for the most part, of terrorizing or an otherwise uneasy nature (Garfield, 2001; Nielsen, et al., 2003). Revonsuo (2000) proposed an evolutionary function for this dark nature of somnial life in the Threat Simulation Theory for the function of dreaming. The evidence presented in the current study does show that many ERD’s, MID’s, and MRD’s of the sample population are of a threatening nature. Likewise, the current study is similar in typical dream theme endorsements to previous TDQ findings. It is also clear that not all dreams are remembered as containing threatening elements. However, we do see a rather limited thematic selection in the reported dreams. Of the reports not overtly threatening, many are sexual, describe meetings or viewings of the deceased, or portray otherwise fantasy content. |
|
Interpretative Caution
Although the sample population used in this study is comparable to many previous studies, in that university students have made for a captive and willing subject pool for many areas of psychological research – Dream Studies included – time and time again, it should not be supposed that the results herein obtained are necessarily transferable to other populations. What we have accumulated and analyzed are specifically three dream types and associated data from contemporary young adult students in the California Bay Area. With that said and combined with the relatively few dream reports obtained from each participant, the results of this study and the high level of agreement to previous findings are quite striking. The picture we have obtained suggests that certain elements of dreams are rather generic. Retrospective dream reports can include earliest remembered dreams up through most recent dream recall. Of course, as the length of time lapses between dream and recall, memory may be affected. Older dreams may lose detail or be distorted, as even recent dreams may be colored by competing thoughts. Confabulation and lying are always possibilities when considering verbal reports, as are the various testing-biases which can arise. The agreement we find between so many of our current participants and to other related research should be cause to at least downplay concerns of falsehood. If the image drawn is not exactly one of veridical dream experience, it should at least be given credence as to how and what types of dreams are remembered best. |