The Mystery of Dreams

We know that people dream. There have been many studies about when people dream and what they dream about.

The research was done with case studies. They would wake up the subject in a laboratory and ask them questions. What we learned is that most dreaming occurs during REM sleep ( RAPID EYE MOVEMENT)

According to researcher, Calvin Hall (1966), people dream quite a bit about sex, aggression and misfortune. Dreams seem to center on internal conflict...such as being risky or playing it safe. People dream less about public affairs and current events. Typically, dreams are very self-centered. Yes people dream mostly about themselves.

Dreams can be explained in a variety of ways. These are three popular theories:

Sigmund Freud (1900) Stressed the Wish Fulfillment of dreams. He analyzed client's dreams in therapy. He thought that people fulfilled ungratified needs from waking hours through wishful thinking. Example: a sexually frustrated person would tend to have highly erotic dreams. Or an unsuccessful person would have dreams of accomplishment.

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Rosalind Cartwright (1977) Emphasized the problem-solving function of dreams. She proposed that dreams provide opportunity to work through everyday problems. According to her, there is considerable continuity between waking and sleeping thought. Those who follow this feel that dreams allow people to engage in creative thinking about problems because dreams are not restrained by logic or realism.

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J.Allan Hobson and Robert McCarly (1977) Assert that dreams are merely a by-product of periodic neural activation. They believe that these are just bursts and activity coming from the subcortial areas of the brain. They argue that dreams are the side-effects of the neural activitvation that produces "Wide Awake" brainwaves during REM sleep. This theory downplays the emotional aspect of the dreamworld.

These are just three theories of at least seven theories. All seven are based more on conjecture than on research.

Still A Mystery!

In part, this is because the private, subjective nature makes it difficult to put dreams into a deeper test. So the purpose of dreaming remains a mystery.