Chapter 7
Dreams and Hypnosis
What is a Dream?
• Dream – a sequence of images and
emotions that pass through the mind
during sleep.
Dreams
• Q. Who had a dream last night?
• Q. Why don’t we remember dreams?
• Q. negative or positive themes?
• Q. most common emotion?
• Q. lucid dreaming…controlling one’s
dreams (27% report this ability)
• Lucid Dreams on Discovery Channel
Dream Facts
• Dreams- Begin with common dream
themes (from Myers),
• Q. How many remember some dreams
(95%) , recurring dream? (67%) negative
v. positive, most common emotion, male v
female and sexual content 12%-4%,
effect course of dream (lucid- 28%)
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The content of our dreams…
• Manifest content – the storyline of our
dreams
– Oftentimes containing traces of the previous
day’s experiences. Ex. Laura Spears(ex-stud.)
Charlie pushes a piano into
the ocean.
The content of our dreams…
• Latent content – the
underlying meaning of
the dream, according to
Freud.(interpretation)
– The manifest content of a
dream is the censored
version of the latent
content.
• The dream represents
more than just a story.
– Our dreams represent inner
conflicts (Freud)
• Freud used recurring
dreams to uncover than
which is repressed
Piano – Charlie’s Life
(Charlie’s mom got
the family a piano so
that Charlie’s music
could save the
family)
Ocean – Newness?
Death?
Symbolism in Freud’s dreams
• Ex. I’m driving really
•
fast in my car trying
to slam on the brakes
but it’s not doing
anything and my
girlfriend is trying to
push me out of the
car.
Freud’s symbol list
Activity: Find the
symbolism in this
manifest content of
the dream.
Q1 Which aspects of the
dream need to be
interpreted?
Q2 What might they
mean?
Freud’s Theory of Dreams:
• Centered on his contention that dreams
represented our desires that we couldn’t
fulfill. He particularly concentrated on
sexual and aggressive desires. He
believed that dreams contained a
manifest content (the symbols surface
meaning) and latent content (the
symbols real hidden meaning).
Freud’s Theory of Dreams
• Latent Content generally focused on
sexuality, with elongated objects such as
pens, trees and knives representing the
male sexual organs and enclosed objects
such as rooms, cups, and baskets
representing female sexual organs.
Symbolism in Dreams according to Freud
• A house or building =the self
• A hat =a man
• Rooms in a house =a woman
• Tree trunks, sticks, and umbrellas =a male
sex organ
• Boxes, cases, ovens =the uterus
• Being poisoned =becoming pregnant
• Small animals =small children
Freud’s Symbolism in dreams
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Climbing stairs =having sexual relations
Soldiers =authority figures
A haircut =fear of castration
Rescue from water = giving birth
Robbers =male authority figures
Upward movements = success
Downward Movements = failure
Movement to the right = righteousness
Movement to the left =immoral behavior
Interpret the dream from a 25 year old that
just broke up with his girlfriend
• I was jogging in the park. The sun was shining and I
was very content. Suddenly the sky turned dark and
there was a large snake in my path. It hissed at me and
tried to bite me. I kept running, but I looked back and it
was following me. It seemed as though I was running in
circles. I could not get away from the snake. I stopped
and began defending myself against its blows. The
snake split in half and then seemed to die. What does
my dream mean?
Why do we dream?
• Activation
Synthesis Theory –
dreams are a
meaningless
byproduct of REM
sleep
– Random images are created
by the brainstem which
activates the cerebral cortex.
– Cortex attempt to synthesize
these random messages
– Dreams arise to make sense
of meaningless stimulation
during sleep
– Q Concept that says the brain
tries to create meaning from
what it perceives ?
– What sometimes happens in
dreams that might support this?
Why do we dream?
• Information Processing Theory –
dreams help sift, sort and fix the day’s
experiences in our memory
Evidence supporting the
Information Processing Theory
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REM Rebound
Q. “I’m going to sleep on it”? (decisions)
Stress/Learning and REM sleep
Association test results when awoken during
REM.
Quality REM sleep correlated with scores on
tests of material learned that day.
Most dreams reported relate to daily concerns.
What's in a Dream -6:45 OR entire for
review
Dreaming Review
What's in a Dream
Hypnosis
• Hypnosis – Greek word
“hypnos” means sleep but
hypnotized people are not
sleeping.
• Hypnosis is an altered state of
consciousness that is brought on
by special techniques. The subject
responds, to a certain extent, to
suggestions of a hypnotist.
Hypnosis.. Is it real?
• Comic Hypnotists
• Equivalent to Deep sleep.
• Q Why do psychologist use it?
• Bringing out repressed thoughts,
memories, feelings issues from the
unconscious mind. Ex. Kristen G’s aunt.
• memories are not considered reliable
Posthypnotic Suggestion
• Posthypnotic Suggestion – implanted by the
•
hypnotists for the subject to behave a certain way after
he/she is brought out of hypnosis. (substance
abuse,dieters, shopaholics, addictive behaviors.)
VIDEO: Consumer Survey Mind hidden and Divided
The hypnotist could suggest that
the patient will dislike smoking
once awakened. From then on the
patient will avoid smoking. - this
is usually a temporary successful
therapy. Many patients report that
this temporary relief was what
they needed to
Pain Control
• Chronic pain sufferers
• Child Birth
• Dentristy
• Video with Laura/Mark arms in ice water
Posthypnotic Amnesia
• Posthypnotic Amnesia – supposed
inability to recall what one experienced
during hypnosis.
Explaining Hypnosis
• State Theory – hypnosis is an altered
state of consciousness
Explaining Hypnosis
• Role Theory (aka social influence theory)
– hypnotized people act according to the
hypnotists requests to fulfill social
expectations.
Explaining Hypnosis
• Dissociation Theory – Hypnosis causes
us to divide our consciousness voluntarily.
One part of our consciousness responds to
the suggestions of the hypnotist while the
other part of our consciousness is aware
of reality.
Hilgard’s Hidden Observer
– Hilgard’s Hidden Observer
• Subjects are hypnotized and asked to place their arm in ice
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water.
Overall, subjects report feeling far less pain than subjects not
hypnotized
When asked if “some part” of them feels pain, they report
yes. Laura/Mark in ice water
This suggests that there is a dissociated consciousness –
that some part of them is aware of their experiences.
Textbook explanation of consumer survey results. P.292-3