Post on 17-Jan-2018
description
Dreams
Mr. KochAP Psychology
Forest Lake High School
Dreams• Most vivid dreams during REM sleep
– Everyone dreams every night• Daytime activities/experiences may
affect content• “lucid dreams” – aware of dreaming,
can control– Some simplistic dreaming may occur
in deeper sleep
• Questions to ponder:– What is a dream?– How is a dream made?– Why do we dream?
What do we dream about?• 95% said remember some of
dreams• 68% report recurring dream• Falling or being chased was most
common theme• Only 28% reported dying in a
dream• College students only reported
sexual content in 12% of dreams• Essentially no differences in
content of dreams when compared students from 1950 to 1980
• Have you ever dreamed of?...(college students)– Falling 83%– Being attacked/pursued 77%– Trying repeatedly to do something 71%– Schools, teachers, studying 71%– Sexual experiences 66%– Arriving too late 64%– Eating 62%– Being frozen with fright 58%– A loved person dying 57%– Being locked up 56%– Finding money 56%– Swimming 52%– Snakes 49%– Being inappropriately dressed 46%– Being smothered, unable to breathe 44%– Being nude 43%– Fire 41%– Failing an exam 39%– Seeing oneself as dead 33%– Killing someone 26%
Sigmund Freud
• Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
– Believed all dreams possess meaning, should be interpreted• Dreams are unconscious wishes
(“Wish Fulfillment Theory”)
Sigmund Freud• Dreams have 2 levels of meaning:– Manifest content – obvious dream event (the
“storyline”) – often ridiculous– Latent content – symbolic meaning, reveals events
in unconscious mind» Believed many had sexual meaning
Activation-Synthesis Theory• Hobson & McCarley– Extreme view – dreams are
meaningless byproduct of REM sleep• Hindbrain is aroused, activating brain
(esp. cortex) which uses memories/feelings to organize & make sense
Other perspectives
• Information Processing model– Dreaming helps organize,
maintain memory & thinking• Lack of REM sleep hurts
learning/memory
• Physiological functioning– Stimulation may help neural
development