Dreams in Social Psychology

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I chose to research a topic that can relate to anybody: dreams. It is something people are less inclined to think of as socially applicable; rather, they think dreams are personal. Perhaps through further analysis and study, more applications for dreams in social life can be found. Dreams may tell a lot more about how a person functions in society than might be originally thought. In this paper, I will review some of the ways people interact with others in and through dreams.

Overall, the articles supported the idea that people use dreams, whether during or after dreaming, to relate how they feel or think about other people. How they act in real situations can be mirrored in how they act in dreams (Domino, 1976). Some societies place a greater emphasis on what they think in their dreams than when they consciously make judgments and decisions. Gender and age also play a role in applying and sharing dreams (Morewedge & Norton, 2009). There may be a gender difference in the number of dreams a person shares. Who a dreamer shares their dreams with may indicate how closely they feel to a person (Szmigielska & Holda, 2007). Lastly, the gender of the dreamer may determine which sex they dream about more (Hall, 1984).

Predicting Behavior in Dreams

Domino (1976) assessed Jung’s theory that when people dream, their behavior is opposite what they usually show in an awakened state. His study included seventy-three men, ages 18-25, from a single university. They were asked to keep a dream journal for two weeks, and after the two weeks they were given multiple psychological tests. Since a majority of the participants had at least three dreams over the course of two weeks, only three dreams from each participant were used.

Domino used tw...

... middle of paper ...

... in real life. Using dreams as a way to explain society may not be as unreasonable as what was previously thought.

Works Cited

Domino, G. (1976). Compensatory aspects of dreams: An empirical test of Jung’s theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34(4), 658-662.

Hall, C. S. (1984). “A ubiquitous sex difference in dreams” revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(5), 1109-1117.

Morewedge, C. K. & Norton, M. I. (2009). When dreaming is believing: The (motivated) interpretation of dreams. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(2), 249-264.

Szmigielska, B., & Holda, M. (2007). Students' views on the role of dreams in human life. Dreaming, 17(3), 152-158.

Urbina, S. P., & Grey, A. (1975). Cultural and sex differences in the sex distribution of dream characters. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 6(3), 358-364.

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