dream journal assignment - integrated biotherapeutics psych/unit 01/newest dream journal.pdf ·...

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Dream Journal Assignment Due: 1 week before the end of this course The majority of this assignment is explained below. There are 3 explanations of dreams. Your job is to remember enough of your dreams in enough detail that you can answer the LAST question at the very bottom of this page. T do that you have to both remember your dreams in detail, AND think about them in detail. Keep a Sleep and Dreamingjournal for 7 days Must have at least 6 solid dreams. DO NOT TURN THIS PART INTO ME. Include whatever information you remember about the: 1. Setting (indoors, outdoors) 2. Characters (relatives, friends, strangers) 3. Nature of the interaction (friendly, aggressive) 4. Activities (running, climbing, speaking) 5. Outcome (success, failure) 6. Emotions (fear, happiness, confusion) 7. Relationship of the dream to the previous day’s events or to the next day’s planned activities. 8. Analysis all 3 of your dreams recorded. You may use my Dream Interpretation Books or the following websites may be helpful: www.sleep.com , www.dreamdoctor.com , www.dream- analysis.com/dreams Hints to remembering your dreams *Place a pen and pad next to your bed before going to bed. *When you awaken keep your eyes closed and run through the dream until it is fixed in your mind. *Tell yourself “I’m going to wake up after a dream” *Set your alarm for 15 minutes before you normally get up. Since dreams often occur then, there’s a good chance you will recall one. Write a two page paper using APA citation explaining which theory of best explains your dreams. Explain your conclusion and the 3 main theories. 1. Wish Fulfillment:: Freud's theory that dreams carry our hidden desires and that these dreams can be interpreted by the dreamer. 1 A release of the ID 2. Problem solving model A number of researchers think that dreams are for problem solving. One scientist in particular, named Fiss, claimed that our dreams help us to register very subtle hints that go unnoticed during the day. This explains why "sleeping on it" can provide a solution to a problem. Unfortunately, there are also arguments against this theory of dreaming. For a start, most people only remember a very small number of their dreams. So if our dreams contain important answers - why don't we remember them better? 3. Activation-synthesis: The activation-synthesis model of dreaming was first proposed by J. Allan Hobson and Robert McClarley in 1977. According to this theory, circuits in the brain become activated during REM sleep, which causes areas of the limbic system involved in emotions, sensations and memories, including the amygdale and hippocampus, to become active. The brain synthesizes and interprets this internal activity and attempts to find meaning in these signals, which results in dreaming. This model suggests that dreams are a subjective interpretation of signals generated by the brain during sleep. While this theory suggests that dreams are the result of internally generated signals, Hobson does not believe that dreams are meaningless. Instead, he suggests that dreaming is "…our most creative conscious state, one in which the chaotic, spontaneous recombination of cognitive elements produces novel configurations of information: new ideas. While many or even most of these ideas may be nonsensical, if even a few of its fanciful products are truly useful, our dream time will not have been wasted." 2 1 Freud, S. (1900). The Interpretation of Dreams. 2 Hall, C. S. (1953). A cognitive theory of dreams. The Journal of General Psychology, 49, 273-282.

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Page 1: Dream Journal Assignment - Integrated BioTherapeutics Psych/Unit 01/newest dream journal.pdf · Dream Journal Assignment Due: 1 week before the end of this course ... Analysis all

Dream Journal Assignment Due: 1 week before the end of this course

The majority of this assignment is explained below. There are 3 explanations of dreams. Your job is to remember enough of your dreams in enough detail that you can answer the LAST question at the very bottom of this page. T do that you have to both remember your dreams in detail, AND think about them in detail. Keep a “Sleep and Dreaming” journal for 7 days – Must have at least 6 solid dreams. DO NOT TURN THIS PART INTO ME. Include whatever information you remember about the:

1. Setting (indoors, outdoors) 2. Characters (relatives, friends, strangers) 3. Nature of the interaction (friendly, aggressive) 4. Activities (running, climbing, speaking) 5. Outcome (success, failure) 6. Emotions (fear, happiness, confusion) 7. Relationship of the dream to the previous day’s events or to the next day’s planned activities. 8. Analysis all 3 of your dreams recorded. You may use my Dream Interpretation Books or the

following websites may be helpful: www.sleep.com, www.dreamdoctor.com, www.dream-analysis.com/dreams

Hints to remembering your dreams *Place a pen and pad next to your bed before going to bed. *When you awaken keep your eyes closed and run through the dream until it is fixed in your mind. *Tell yourself “I’m going to wake up after a dream” *Set your alarm for 15 minutes before you normally get up. Since dreams often occur then, there’s a good chance you will recall one.

Write a two page paper using APA citation explaining which theory of best explains your dreams. Explain your conclusion and the 3 main theories.

1. Wish Fulfillment:: Freud's theory that dreams carry our hidden desires and that these dreams can be interpreted by the dreamer.

1 A release of the ID

2. Problem solving model A number of researchers think that dreams are for problem solving. One

scientist in particular, named Fiss, claimed that our dreams help us to register very subtle hints that go unnoticed during the day. This explains why "sleeping on it" can provide a solution to a problem. Unfortunately, there are also arguments against this theory of dreaming. For a start, most people only remember a very small number of their dreams. So if our dreams contain important answers - why don't we remember them better?

3. Activation-synthesis: The activation-synthesis model of dreaming was first proposed by J. Allan Hobson and Robert McClarley in 1977. According to this theory, circuits in the brain become activated during REM sleep, which causes areas of the limbic system involved in emotions, sensations and memories, including the amygdale and hippocampus, to become active. The brain synthesizes and interprets this internal activity and attempts to find meaning in these signals, which results in dreaming. This model suggests that dreams are a subjective interpretation of signals generated by the brain during sleep. While this theory suggests that dreams are the result of internally generated signals, Hobson does not believe that dreams are meaningless. Instead, he suggests that dreaming is "…our most creative conscious state, one in which the chaotic, spontaneous recombination of cognitive elements produces novel configurations of information: new ideas. While many or even most of these ideas may be nonsensical, if even a few of its fanciful products are truly useful, our dream time will not have been wasted."

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1 Freud, S. (1900). The Interpretation of Dreams.

2 Hall, C. S. (1953). A cognitive theory of dreams. The Journal of General Psychology, 49, 273-282.