Dream Theories

1. Dream Theories http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYSX51xBkos

2. Why do we dream? • Is there special meaning and information in our dreams? • Why do we have bad dreams? • Why do we dream at all?

3. Sleep & Inspiration • Dreaming, which occurs during REM sleep, is the one event during the hours of slumber that turns out to be more productive than it appears. • Paul McCartney claimed to have woken from a dream with the theme for The Beatles' hit "Yesterday" in his head. • Robert Louis Stevenson said the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came to him while asleep • Dmitri Mendeleev reported that he "saw" a chart of all the elements ranged in front of him while dozing at his desk on 17 February 1869. Two weeks later, he published what has become the Periodic Table of the Elements.

4. History of Sleep • Aristotle = the first person to consider sleep in a methodical way. • argued that it was caused by the heart cooling down • Other Greek philosophers and physicians said its cause lay in the isolation of the body from its senses • they mistook the heart rather than the brain to be the center of the body's sensory perception. • 2,000 years later it became possible to study the sleeping brain directly. • Nathaniel Kleitman • 1925 opened the first sleep laboratory • team was the first to discover that sleep consisted of different stages • work laid the foundation for modern sleep research.

5. When/why do we dream? • Most dreams = during REM sleep stage • Why? = you decide! • http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/why-do-we-sleep-and-dream.html#lesson

6. Three Major Theories of Dreams • Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theory— • One of the oldest & most controversial explanations for why we dream is Freud’s psychoanalytic view • way of satisfying unconscious urges/conflict • Dreams represent disguised symbols of repressed desires and anxieties • Manifest Content: symbols used to disguise true meaning of dream • By analyzing the manifest content, Freud claimed it was possible to trace the desires underlying the dream that were too painful or distressing for the dreamer to acknowledge directly • Dreams became the "royal road to the unconscious"

7. Three Major Theories of Dreams • Activation-Synthesis Theory • The cerebral cortex is activated during REM • Cortex synthesizes information • Dreams = brain attempting to make sense of the info

8. Three Major Theories of Dreams • Cognitive View • Dreams give us a chance to review and address problems • supported by the fact that REM sleep increases following stress and intense learning periods • Ex: students often report “examination-anxiety” dreams. You can’t find your classroom, you’re running out of time, your pen doesn’t work, or you’ve completely forgotten to study.

9. Gender Diversity • Do men and women dream about different things? • research shows that men and women tend to share many common dream themes • women are more likely to dream of children, family, and familiar people, household objects, and indoor events • Men more often dream about strangers, violence, weapons, sexual activity, achievement, an outdoor events.

10. Cultural Diversity • Are there differences between cultures in dream content? • Across cultures, research has found both similarities and differences in dream content. • Dreams involving basic human needs and fears (like sex, aggression, and death) seem to be found in all cultures. • And children around the world dream of falling, being chased, and being unable to do something they need to do. • Dreams around the world typically include more misfortune than good fortune, and the dreamer is more often the victim of aggression than the cause of it.