Compare And Contrast Theories Of Dreams

1019 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Psychoanalytic paradigm in psychopathology

Dreams are states of consciousness, known as the stories and mental images our brains create during certain stages of sleep. Even though these are a common feature of humankind, they continue to remain a mystery. For many years, psychologists have come up with different theories as an attempt to explain why this phenomenon, we have not been able to understand, takes place. While some researchers believe dreams have no purpose nor greater meaning, others believe dreams are imperative for mental and emotional health. Nonetheless, although there are numerous theories, these are all primarily based on speculations rather than actual research, which gives anyone the opportunity to form a theory as to why dreams occur. Consequently, since dreams are open to wide arrays of interpretations, individuals can create their own dream theory to understand more about who they are. For me, dreams are reflections of inner problems and fears in our lives, as well as demonstrations of the events that take place in a day and those that are to come. After studying some of the different theories, I have come to the conclusion that mine is a mixture between two dream theories, which are both influenced by a major one. These are, Rosalind Cartwright’s dream theory, who proposes that dreams are problem-solving …show more content…

Additionally, by taking these three dream theories, I believe they overlap to demonstrate the ongoing emotional concerns of individuals. By taking a look at how a person stores daily concerns into their memories, to later dream about these events in order to then manifest the persona they want to portray but do not in real life, one can reach a solution as to why dreams take

Show More
Related

  • Finding Dreams. Comparing the Different Functions and Meanings

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud proposed that dreams serve as a gateway between a dreamers’ conscious and his subconscious thoughts (Mccurdy, 1946). Many ideas and information were condensed into a single dream. The dream displaced important parts and insignificant parts of the dream to confuse the dreamer. Certain objects would be introduced into the dream to symbolize the embryonic substance of the dream (Sprengnether, 2003). The dreamer would then comprehend the dream, thus generating the content of th...

    Read More

  • Stephen King Symbolic Language Of Dreams Analysis

    438 Words  | 1 Pages

    My ideas resemble a mixture of Rosalind Cartwright and Sigmund Freud’s theories on dreams. Freud believed that the purpose of our dreams is to attain a

    Read More

  • Dreams Analysis: Dream Analysis By Sigmund Freud

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    This theory is from Sigmund Freud, an interesting psychologist with a different aspect of the human psyche. Part of Freud 's theory I find most intriguing is the dream analysis portion. I believe that dreams are the link to the unconscious. Which makes it easier to understand where Freud is coming from with his logic in using this technique to analyze what a person is feeling. The psychoanalytic theory looks closely into the unconscious portion of a person 's mind, which I agree can reveal multiple troubles that would not be found if you didn 't look deep into the patients thoughts and memories. The theory had some downfalls as well as these great aspects.

    Read More

  • Psychoanalytic Theory Of Dreams

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...heory, reverse learning theory, and activation synthesis model, others focus on the mental exercise and simulations that dreams bring to us in the evolutionary theory of sleep. While many of the theories agree that dreams are a representation of ideas and thoughts from the unconscious mind, no single theory has been formed as the single primary authority on the matter of dreams despite more support for some of the theories. The fact of the matter is that despite the rampant research and discourse on the concept behind dreaming, these theories are merely speculations. But these speculations feed the curiosity on dreams and will hopefully lead to the expansion of dream analysis to not only better develop the current understanding of dreams, but also to help people around the world by possibly expanding dream analysis to become an early identifier of mental illness.

    Read More

  • Dreams: The Mental Pictures

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    The average person spends over one-third of their life sleeping, and over this period of time he or she can have over 1,825 dreams (Wicklinski). By definition, dreams are mental images, thoughts, or emotions that are experienced while sleeping. In the beginning, dreams were thought to be messages sent from the gods or spirit world. Researchers now have many theories explaining why people dream. Many of these theories explain that dreams can resemble an individual’s sensory experiences or even secret wishes. All people dream, but only 42% of people can recall their dreams from the night before (“Dreams”). The study of dreams is a topic that is constantly being debated by researchers for many reasons. Dreaming is important because it can impact people’s health, provide insight into what they are feeling, and reveal information about their behavior.

    Read More

  • Dream Interpretation and Dream Therapy

    2060 Words  | 5 Pages

    There are many facts that are unknown about dreams and their meanings. For centuries, philosophers and scientists have tried to understand the meaning of dreams. They have all been fascinated by the fact that the content of dreams may have meanings relating to one's life. Are dreams just thoughts in people's minds, or are dreams in fact representations of different areas in people's lives? Dreams represent many different areas of one's life in physical, emotional, and mental ways. Dreams can relay to people facts about their lives that they are not even aware of. There are also many ways that dreams can help cure different physical, emotional, and mental problems in one's life. This paper will discuss dreams and their meanings, and ways of interpreting a dream using such methods as hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis therapy that can help a person in physical, mental, and emotional ways. The first fact that will be discussed is what dreams are and how they work for people in allowing the person to discover more about himself. Dreams can be defined as "a conscious series of images that occur during sleep" (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are usually very vivid in color and imagery. They reveal to the dreamer different wishes, concerns, and worries that he or she has. Dreams usually reflect every part of who the dreamer is. The content of the person's dream is usually made up according to how old the dreamer is and how educated the he or she is (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are not planned out or thought up. The unconscious part of the mind brings out bits and pieces of information in the dreamer's mind and places them together. According to Encarta, dreams are almost always visual. Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses (Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into his mind and himself in a quest for self-discovery. Dreams can be used to solve all different types of problems. In Sigmund Freud's book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud states: "As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping state […]" (Freud 113). They relay things about a person that the person may not be able to see.

    Read More

  • Exploringn a Neurobiological Theory of Dreaming

    487 Words  | 1 Pages

    However this theory does not provide a convincing argument of the fact that some dreams possess clear meaning and coherence. This theory has little value in explaining why some time dreams are repetitive. Describe and evaluate one psychological theory of dreaming?

    Read More

  • Dream Interpretation: Sigmund Freud

    1522 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dreams have been thought to contain significant messages throughout many cultures. A dream is an unfolding sequence of perceptions, thoughts, and emotions that is experienced as a series of real-life events during sleep. The definitions of dreams are different among studies, which can also lead to quite different results. Perhaps, the dream interpretation has becoming increasingly popular. In this paper, I will talk about what I have learned about three different views of dream interpretations. One theory made by Sigmund Freud who believed that dreams are triggered by unacceptable repressed wishes, often of a sexual nature. He argued that because dreams we experience are merely disguised versions of people real dreams. The other theory called activation–synthesis theory, made by Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley, based on the observation that during REM sleep, many brain-stem circuits become active and bombard the cerebral cortex with neural signals. The last theory, proposed by William Domhoff, is called the neurocognitive theory of dreaming, which demonstrates that dream content in general is continuous with waking conceptions and emotional preoccupations. Thus, dreaming is best understood as a developmental cognitive achievement that depends upon the maintenance of a specific network of forebrain structures. While each theory has different belief system and approach method, it is a great opportunity to know how former psychologists contributed to the field of dream interpretation.

    Read More

  • Unraveling the Intricacies of Dreams

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hall categorizes dreams into five principles. The first is concepts of self which refers the number and type of roles one plays in their dreams. The second concept is of other people. This mentions the roles others play in one’s dream and how one interact with them. Concepts of the world is the third principle. This represents the dreams surrounding and landscape. Hall believes that this concept describes how one views the world. The fourth is the concepts of impulses, prohibitions, and penalties. This concept refers to the way behavior is governed by both impulses and punishments. The last concept is the concepts of problems and conflicts. This concept symbolizes ones struggles and difficulties of the waking life. Hall believes that by utilizing all five concepts, one is able to evaluate dream content and better understand the unconscious mind (Dream Theories,

    Read More

  • Spellbound, By Sigmund Freud

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    When humans wake up from sleeping, we do not always recollect our dreams, yet the brain is still dreaming of what has actually happened. Dreams are formed through various processes, with the past being transformed into content that is thought to be not creative. Freud mentions in the On Dreams that dreams do not make things up that the psyche has not already experienced. As Freud states our dreams are not creative works, “…dream-work is not creative, that it develops no phantasies of its own, that is makes no judgements and draws no conclusions…” (Freud 162). In his terms, dream-work is known as the transformation process that dream-thought shifts to dream-content; consisting of both latent content and manifest

    Read More

  • Theories About Dreams

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    All over the world different people, scientists, and civilizations have different dream theories. For instance, the Senoi tribe in Malaysia has a fascinating tradition of dream telling. Every morning the people of the tribe begin their day by discussing and interpreting their dreams with each other. The children, as they grow older, actually learn to control their dreams by simply wishing bad dreams into positive ones. It is observed that, by paying tribute their dreams, the people of the Senoi tribe learn to have faith in themselves. Also, they have very few, if any, mental problems “could working constructively with dreams be part of the answer” to mental issues? (Peirce)

    Read More

  • Dreams in A Midsummer Night's Dream

    2238 Words  | 5 Pages

    Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during a slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares.

    Read More

  • The Meaning Of Dreams

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...eams has intrigued and puzzled society and psychologists for the entirety of human existence. Although we have a better understanding today because of influential psychologists such as Freud and Hall, we still do not have any concrete reasoning for or complete agreement on dream’s true purpose. Some people side with the Freudian ideals of dreams as a practical necessity for existence while others side with Hall’s opinion that dreams serve as learning devices. After completing my research I believe that dreams not only serve both those purposes, but most likely have many more purposes and roots as well. The complexity of and intricacy of dreams leads me to believe they are not meaningless exercises performed by the brain, but deeply meaningful and useful keys to our existence. I think there are many more secrets to be unlocked and revealed by the studying of dreams.

    Read More

  • The Psychodynamic View Of Dreaming Essay

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Psychodynamic view of dreaming suggests that the content in our dream is symbolic of something. Also, that the content in our dreams are based on unconscious desires as well as internal conflict.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Freud And Freud's Interpretation Of Dreams

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Theories Of Dreams

Open Document