The purpose of the following study was to show that earliest, most important, and recently recalled dreams contain predictable threatening themes, building upon Revonsuo’s (2000) Threat Simulation Theory of dreaming. Participants were 101 university students in San Francisco (M age = 25.35, SD = 6.89). Participants completed an online survey, submitting reports of the above dream types, in addition to a Typical Dreams Questionnaire (TDQ) (Nielson, et al., 2003) and other related items. Frequency comparisons of the TDQ responses and content analyses of the dream reports using a Dream Threat Scale (DTS) (Revonsuo & Valli, 2000) resulted in many similar findings to previous literature (e.g., endorsement rankings of most typical dream themes, high description of threatening dream content). For the first time, a TDQ and DTS comparison could be performed within a sample population; the two approaches of scrutinizing dream content supported each other with both resulting in parallel typical themes even though the former used forced-choice and the latter an open format (dream reporting). Sex differences in threatening dream content included a higher proportion of verbal hostility in females’ than in males’ dreams. The current approach of retrospective reports for three dream types found a higher percent of dream material dedicated to describing threat than in previous studies which employed dream journaling immediately after awakening, inferring a recall bias for threatening content over time. Further studies using various age, cultural, ethnic, and other cohort populations are recommended to examine the TST.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction Typical Dreams Questionnaire Earliest Remembered Dreams Most Recent Dreams Most Important Dreams Threat Simulation Lucid Dreaming Goals of Current Study Method Participants Dream Threat Scale Dreams Questionnaire Analyses Results Supplementary Questions Dream Reports All Dream Types Earliest Recalled Dreams Most Recent Dreams Most Important Dreams Zero-percent and 100% Threat Threat Targets and Threat Severity Frequencies Sex Differences Discussion Typical Dreams Questionnaire Dream Reports Comparing the Typical Dreams Questionnaire to the Dream Threat Scale Alternate Interpretations Dreams are often Threat Simulations, so What? Directions for Future Research References TABLES 1. Percentage of Total Participants Endorsing Ever Having Experienced Themes from the Typical Dreams Questionnaire (Nielsen, et al., 2003) 2. Theme Frequencies in Dream Reports 3. Threat Targets and Threat Severity Frequencies FIGURES 1. 2003 Typical Dream Questionnaire Results (Nielsen et al., 2003) 2. “Most Often” TDQ Themes 3. Earliest Recalled TDQ Themes APPENDICES A. Dreams Questionnaire B. Sample Dreams Analyzed with the Dream Threat Scale |
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