Psychology Chapter 5
Section 3: Exploring the
Dream World
Dreaming
• The focus of attention is inward, though
occasionally an external event, such as a
wailing siren, can influence the dream's
content.
• While a dream is in progress, it may be vivid
or vague, terrifying or peaceful.
• It may also seem to make perfect sense-until
you wake up. Then it is often recalled as
illogical, bizarre, & disjointed.
• Most of us are unaware of our bodies or
where we are while we are dreaming.
• Some people report having lucid dreams,
in which they know they are dreaming
and feel as though they are conscious.
• A few say that they can control the action
in these dreams.
Why Do We Dream?
• Why do the images in dreams arise at
all?
• Why doesn't the brain just rest,
switching off all thoughts & images &
launching us into a coma?
• Theories
–No purpose
–Carl Jung- to compensate for
those parts of our personality
that aren’t totally developed
Dreams as Unconscious Wishes
• Sigmund Freud
–Nighttime fantasies provide insight into
desires, motives, & conflicts of which we
are unaware
–Able to express our unconscious wishes &
desires (often sexual or violent)
–Every dream is meaningful
• Must distinguish its manifest content
(aspects of it that we consciously
experience during sleep & may
remember upon wakening) from its
latent content (conscious wishes
being expresses symbolically)
• Each dream had to be analyzed in the
context of the dreamer’s waking life
–NOT everything is symbolic
Dreams as Reflections of
Current Concerns
• Dreams reflect the ongoing conscious
preoccupations of waking life
–Problem focused approach- symbols &
metaphors in a dream do NOT disguise
its true meaning, they convey it
• Dreams are more likely to contain
material related to a person’s current
concerns
• Dreams also provide us with an
opportunity to resolve them
Dreams as a By-Product of
Mental Housekeeping
• Unnecessary neural connections in the
brain are eliminated & important ones are
strengthened
• Brain must periodically shut out sensory
input so that it can process & assimilate
new data & update what had already been
stored
• Divided new information into “wanted” &
“unwanted” categories
• Francis Crick & Graene Mitchison
–Dreams are merely mental garbage & there
is no point in trying to remember or analyze
them
• When deprived of REM sleep memories are
impaired
Dreams as Interpreted Brain Activity
• Activation synthesis theory
–Dreams are the result of neurons firing
spontaneously in the lower part of the
brain (pons) during REM
• The original signals have no meaning
but the cortex tries to make sense of
them by synthesizing them with
existing knowledge & memories to
produce a coherent interpretation
Evaluating Dream Theories
• Most agree that dreams are more
than incoherent ramblings & they do
have psychological meaning
–No reliable rules for interpretation
Dream Analysis
• Death
–Upcoming wedding
–Birth
–End of a cycle, something is finally
over
• Falling
–Loss of honor
–Fear of failure
–Loss of power & feeling out of
control
–If you are injured in the fall you will
lose many friends
Dreaming in color
• Black- isolation
• Blue- inner peace
• Brown- freedom, success, $$
• Gray- transitional period
• Orange- passion
• Yellow- self confidence
Do blind people dream?
• NO
• The experience of vision
needs to occur first
before it can be
translated into a dream
Tips to sleep better
• Maintain a regular schedule
• Establish a relaxing routine
• Create an environment that is dark,
quiet, comfortable, & cool
• Sleep on a mattress & pillows that are
comfortable
• Use your bedroom only for sleep
• Don’t eat or sleep 2-3 hours before
bedtime
• Exercise regularly
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine, & alcohol
close to bedtime
Bizarre Sleep Activities
• Sleep Murder
• In 1981, Steven Steinberg from Arizona
experienced a sleepwalking episode – during
which, he stabbed his wife 26 times with a
kitchen knife – he admitted to killing his wife
but pleaded “Not Guilty” in the ensuing court
case – as he was not consciously aware of his
actions – and was in a “dissociative” mental
state at the time.
• A jury found Steinberg not guilty on the
grounds that he was temporarily insane when
he had killed her. However, because he was
deemed “sane” at the time of his acquittal,
Steinberg walked out of court a free man.
• Before you get any ideas….the law has since
been changed to institutionalise “insane”
murderers
•
Sleep Emailing
• In November 2008, the Medical Journal – Sleep Medicine
reported that researchers from the University of Toledo had a
case of a 44 year old woman who had sent three bizarre emails
in her sleep.
• They were typed in a mixture of both upper and lower case text.
– Email 1 – “Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner
and drinks, 4.pm,. Bring wine and caviar only.”
– Email 2 – “What the…….”
• Details of the third were not published – but noted to be in a
strange language!
• The woman only became aware of what she had done the
following day when she received a reply to email 1.
Extreme Sleep Walking
• Sleepwalking (also known as somnambulism) is a relatively common
occurrence, particularly in children.
• Sleep walking can lead people into life threatening situations
• The case of Rab Wood from Fife Scotland
• “I had had a near miss, I was on holiday in Spain and I was nine floors
up in a hotel. During the night I got up and started sleepwalking – Just
as I got my leg over the banister my wife pulled me back.”
• In 1999, a seven year old boy miraculously survived after he
sleepwalked off a second floor balcony, whilst on holiday in Greece
• In 2006 a nine year old girls suffers minor injuries after sleepwalking
and falling 30ft out of an attic window
• In 2008 a nineteen year old man sleepwalked to his death from a
balcony in Minorca
Sleep Driving
• Sleep driving is a relatively new issue – and is associated with the
controversial sleeping tablet Ambien.
• Sleepers get into their car and drive – in numerous cases, cars have
been driven down the wrong side of the road, straight into parked
cars or lamp-posts.
• If the dangerous driver is caught by the police, they appear oblivious
to the situation – and later have absolutely no recollection of events.
• A typical case of sleep driving is set out below:• Mr Dwayne Cribb, an American long time probation and parole
officer remembers nothing after taking Ambien before bed in 2008,
until he awoke in prison to learn he had left his bed and gone for a
drive, smashed into a parked van and driven away before crashing
into a tree. Mr. Cribb is still facing charges of leaving the scene of an
accident.
Sleep Eating
• Sleep eating, or NSRED nocturnal sleep related eating disorderhas been a recognised medical condition since 1991.
• Michael H. Silber, MD, co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sleep
Disorder Centre stated the following….
• “What happens is the patients get out of bed, walk to the kitchen,
prepare food — often sloppily, and often with strange, high-calorie
ingredients….they have microwave food sometimes. They eat in a
very sloppy way, either in the kitchen or after taking the food back
to bed. And they have no memory of it. They wake to find a mess
in the kitchen or crumbs in the bed.”
• Bizarre night-time recipes include:- salt sandwiches, buttered
cigarettes and cat-meat and pickle sandwiches
Sleep Terrorism
• In 2005, during a flight from Charlotte to England, Sean Joyce (a
British painting contractor) fell asleep – the next thing he knew, he
awoke in a prison cell – facing criminal charges – which could
potentially lead to a 20 year prison sentence.
• Unbeknownst to him, during his sleep, he had stood up, ripped off his
shirt and began shouting, screaming and threatening to kill both
himself and other passengers.
• The flight had to be diverted to make an unscheduled landing in
Boston.
• Luckily the judge accepted Sean’s defence … he was not conscious
during his outburst – he had been taking the controversial sleeping
aid – “Ambien” as well as drinking wine.
Sleep Shoplifting
• This is not a common occurrence, but is linked with taking
the sleeping tablet Ambien.
• Judith Renee Lasswell, a highly respected Navy lieutenant,
stationed in Florida, was arrested for shoplifting DVDs and
a candle from her naval base. Although the items were
found in her possession, she has no memory of taking them
– and insists that she was asleep during the time of the
incident.
• Her security clearance has been revoked, and she faces
larceny charges and dishonorable discharge from the Navy.
Sleep Kicking
• Sleep kicking – or restless leg syndrome (also known as
Ekbom’s syndrome)
• Sufferers of restless leg syndrome are often unaware of the
mayhem they cause to their bed-fellows.
• Pain and discomfort builds up in the limbs of the sufferer
(toes, ankles, knees and / or hips), and the only way to
achieve temporary relief is to move the limbs – often in
quick jerky movements, but with no awareness of how
often or how aggressively they are moving.
• Partners can quite literally be kicked out of bed – bed
sheets are ripped and torn
Sleep Painting
• In one bizarre reported case associated with
the controversial sleep drug Ambien, one
woman woke up with a paint brush in her
hand and went downstairs to find that she
had re-painted her front door.