Dream Theories
Activities & Information for November 4th (Sec28)
INFORM: Sleep Disorders Assignment Due!
Monday, Nov 4, 2013, 11:45 PM
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INSTRUCT: A Variety of Dream Theories
We dream every night. Through all the sleep cycles. During this time, our body becomes immobile, paralyzed. The reasoning for this is survival. If you were not paralyzed, you would be enacting your dreams throughout the night. So the paralysis allows us to dream, but stay safe and warm in our bed.
However, there are many theories about the meaning of our dreams. We will examine our dreams' meanings in this module by analyzing the various dream theories.
Wish Fulfillment Theory
- Manifest content is the factual content of the dream or the storyline of the dream (what you see, do, hear throughout the dream). Within the manifest content, there were symbols that represented the latent content of the dream.
- The latent content is the symbolic, underlying meaning in the dream. For Freud, the underlying meaning of every dream referred back to a repressed sexual desire that manifested itself in your dream.
Collective Unconscious Dream Theory
Carl Jung was a follower of Freud who disagreed with the emphasis on repression of sex. Jung was a psychoanalyst as well, but instead of focusing on sex, Jung focused on a collective unconscious in all people.
Jung stated that there were certain symbols that throughout all cultures represented the unconscious mind. He called these symbols archetypes. When Jung examined a dream, he examined the symbols within the dream just like Freud; however, Jung focused on the repressed sexless meaning of the dream.
- An example of an archetype is a father figure. If you have a dream with a father figure, according to Jung, the father figure represents authority.
- If you have a dream about a baby, the baby symbolizes rebirth or salvation.
Activation-Synthesis Theory
Physiological Function
This theory states that our brain develops while we sleep. So when we are young babies, we need more sleep than elderly people. The young baby’s brain needs sleep to build the neural pathways whereas the elderly person’s brain needs less sleep because their neural pathways are built already.
Information Processing
This theory states that our dreams allow us to shift through the day’s experiences. So when we dream, we dream about our day.
Cognitive Development
'Ephemeral and mysterious': an image of a brain from the Human Connectome Project. Courtesy of VJ Wedeen and LL Wald, Martinos Center, Harvard University
Check out the Educational Portal video link below!
Neural Plasticity / Sleep - Marcos Frank, Univ Penn
More Information
Email: Kathryn.Cox@ncpublicschools.gov
Website: http://moodle.ncvps.org/
Phone: 910-984-9161
Twitter: @KCox_APPsych