Table of Contents
The Psychology Of Dreams
Here in this post, we are discussing “The Psychology Of Dreams”. You can read more about psychology-related material on our website. Keep visiting Psychology Roots.
Award-winning musician Billie Eilish asks the big question on her first album, “When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” The dream itself is the determining factor. Dreams, at first glance, may be amusing, dramatic, and even terrifying. But the psychology of dreams—the why and how of the nightly productions our subconscious puts on for us—is always intriguing to study.
The Psychology Of Dreams
Here, we explore the major psychological theories about dream occurrence and function.
When we sleep, what exactly occurs?
When moving from an awake to a sleeping state, almost everyone experiences dreamlike states (though only a small percentage of person remember their dreams come morning). And as wonderful as they may seem, we now know that dreams are equal parts psychological and neurological, emerging in reaction to heightened activity in the outer layer of the brain, called the cortex.
Dr. Michele Goldman, a psychologist and media adviser for the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, says that the cortex is responsible for higher-order thinking and processing. Goldman argues that our cortices “produce a conscious-like experience” while we sleep, one that often includes recognisable elements from our waking lives. Feelings, ideas, and sensations are all possible outcomes of these encounters.
As for when dreaming happens throughout the four sleep phases, Goldman tells mbg that dreams typically show up during the rapid eye movement phase—aka REM sleep. “This is a period of sleep in which our brain activity mimics an awake brain, which helps explain why REM dreams are vivid and story-like,” Goldman adds.
Lucid dreaming, in which the dreamer exercises conscious control over the dreamscape, occurs when the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for executive functions including decision making, attention, and cognitive flexibility, is engaged during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. However, Goldman told mbg this form of dreaming is unusual. According to a recent poll, the Sleep Foundation showed that only 55% of individuals would have had one lucid dream in their lives.
Goldman argues that certain dreams do occur during the REM phase of sleep. This may lead to us being cognitively aware that we’re dreaming, yet unable to wake up.
Why do we dream? What’s going on in their heads
Several explanations have been proposed for why we dream and what they imply. Some hypotheses, with supporting research, are presented below.
Your dreams are your brain’s method of organising and processing data.
Some people think that dreams help consolidate memories while you sleep, which is one of the many things your body does to relax and recharge while you’re asleep.
Goldman likens it to a type of mental clean-out. She explains: “The notion is that when we dream, the brain is processing information, deciding what to remember and what to discard.” The process is aided by the fact that the human brain is capable of generating vivid mental pictures and elaborate narratives to help organise all of this information.
Research does show the existence of sleep-dependent memory consolidation, and that memory processing occurs throughout both REM and non-rem (NREM) sleep, according to a 2019 review of dream theories published in the journal Brain Science Advances.
Dreams are thought to represent the resting brain collecting, processing, and learning from the day’s events because of the common belief that they mirror waking consciousness. Memory deletion, revision, and editing are thought to occur at this time as well.
Your dreams are a window into your most private thoughts and experiences.
Sigmund Freud, an American neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, revealed his theory on dreaming and its significance in his 1899 book The Interpretation of Dreams. Dream specialist Ashleigh Sacks from Just Answer says that Freud’s theory that dreams are a “roadmap to the unconscious” and that they represent “our innermost needs and ambitions” is accurate.
Though this may be true sometimes, the American Psychoanalytic Association has disproved Freud’s claim that all dreams are motivated by sexual desire. A 2018 research published in Frontiers in Psychology argues, instead, that dreams result from the brain’s information processing and self-organization while we sleep, even if their origins aren’t always pleasant (aka trauma and anxiousness).
That is to say, whether we’re feeling happy or sad, our dreams probably reflect some aspect of our inner state.
Third, your subconscious uses your dreams to train your brain to solve problems.
In the year 2000, Finnish cognitive neuroscientist and psychologist, Antti Revonsuo, Ph.D. introduced what is now known as the Danger Simulation Theory (TST) of Dreaming, indicating that dreams are our brain’s method of practising survival techniques, without having to fight against an actual threat.
Sacks tells mbg that Revonsuo’s hypothesis says the dream world provides a safe space for the brain to experiment with different behavioural and social techniques without negative outcomes. The purpose of this mental exercise is to help us “better handle conversations, events, dangers, and relationships” in our waking life by giving us a taste of what it’s like to be in social settings.
Back in 2005, Revonsuo and a team of researchers investigated this notion by assessing the dreams of youngsters. The findings revealed that children who had less stressful life situations also had fewer distressing nightmares. Coincidence? Not according to Revonsuo.
In an episode of Shrink Rap Radio, Revonsuo compared dreaming to a computer simulation of the world. We experience something like to a virtual reality every night when our biologically coded virtual reality is engaged.
Revonsuo continues to explain that, contrary to what certain dream theories would imply, he thinks the brain’s simulation is too complicated to be random. Instead, he compares the brain’s perception of VR to flight simulation, a specific kind of VR designed to train pilots for emergency scenarios.
For “extremely perilous circumstances that would be too risky to practise and rehearse in real life,” he adds, “I thought well, if dreaming truly is a simulation, maybe the brain is utilising them in the same way.”
Dreams allow you to experience feelings you may be denying in waking life.
Some theorists, Goldman says mbg, think we dream to better process our emotions. “The assumption is that the dream serves to enable emotions to be felt, experienced in the body, and then move through or be digested,” Goldman says.
Positive feelings, on the other hand, are seldom the ones that need extensive processing in the dream state. According to Diane C. Marti, Ph.D., the reason negative emotions are more prevalent in our dreams than pleasant ones is because the brain is compelled to work through them while you’re asleep if you don’t do so while awake.
“When you fail to address your unpleasant feelings when you’re awake, the brain works on countering the negative emotion without you throughout the night,” writes Marti for the Williamsburg Behavioral Psychology practice’s blog. Because of this, “those feelings bubble up” in your dreams.
Nightmares are a clear manifestation of the indigestibility of dread. Goldman told mbg that it’s “as if something in the body is trapped.” It’s “an feeling the nightmare can’t help to calm.”
Dream interpretation.
No two sleep researchers have reached the same conclusion on the purpose of our nocturnal adventures, but they do agree that our dreams have symbolic significance. However, dream interpretation may help us make sense of even the most outlandish dreams when we can’t for the life of us figure out why we had them.
In order to make sense of one’s dreams, dream interpretation must be performed. Dream interpreters believe that each dream has hidden symbols within the sights and narratives unfolding inside your mind, and that these symbols have different meanings for different people based on their own unique experiences and histories. Kelly Sullivan Walden, author of the best-selling book It’s All In Your Dreams, claims that knowing how to interpret these symbols can help you make sense of your dreams.
We often hear people nowadays say things like, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” “That guy is a pain in the neck,” “You’re pulling my leg,” and “How many frogs will I have to kiss before I find my prince? Pigs will fly when they learn to fly, right?
This is what Walden has to say. When we hear these figurative expressions, we don’t give them a second thought. By using the symbolic method of communication, we may begin to understand the language of dreams.
The ability to interpret dreams might be useful for those who want to gain insight into their everyday experiences or suppressed emotions. Sacks tells mbg that dreams are like a mirror in that they reflect a person’s personality features, qualities, feelings about their experience, and sense of self. “It’s a facade that hides the struggles and self-perceptions of the person behind it.”
The good news is that you can learn to decode your dreams without going to college. A notepad and pen are literally all that’s required. If you keep a dream diary and write down as much as you can remember about your dreams as soon as you wake up, you may be able to determine why you keep having the same dream over and over again, or pinpoint a certain time of day when you have this dream. According to Sacks, this may be a good first step in becoming more aware of the warning signs your subconscious is sending and, perhaps, in identifying areas of your life that might need some work.
Summary
Dreams are equal parts psychological and neurological. They emerge in reaction to heightened activity in the outer layer of the brain, called the cortex. Dreams typically show up during the rapid eye movement phase, aka REM sleep. This may lead to us being cognitively aware that we’re dreaming, yet unable to wake up. Sigmund Freud’s theory that dreams are a “roadmap to the unconscious” and represent “our innermost needs and ambitions” is accurate.
Your subconscious uses your dreams to train your brain to solve problems, even if their origins aren’t pleasant (aka trauma and anxiousness). Sacks’ hypothesis says the dream world provides a safe space for the brain to experiment with different behavioural and social techniques without negative outcomes. The purpose of this mental exercise is to help us “better handle conversations, events, dangers, and relationships” in our waking life. Dream interpreters believe that each dream has hidden symbols within the sights and narratives unfolding inside your mind. Knowing how to interpret these symbols can help you make sense of your dreams. The ability to interpret dreams might be useful for those who want to gain insight into their everyday experiences.
Help Us Improve This Article
Have you discovered an inaccuracy? We put out great effort to give accurate and scientifically trustworthy information to our readers. Please notify us if you discover any typographical or grammatical errors.
Make a comment. We acknowledge and appreciate your efforts.
If you have any scale or any material related to psychology kindly share it with us at psychologyroots@gmail.com. We help others on behalf of you.
