Abstract
Dreaming is an activity. People in various cultures throughout history have understood the activity of dreaming in different ways that can be categorized as: (1) visits to a different world, (2) omens, (3) meaningless, and (4) continuous with waking life. Although the way the Senoi people of Malaysia were said to value and make use of dreams has been well popularized, it is now discredited. The assumption that dreams are an example of psychic phenomena is also without credible foundation. The dominant view of dreams in the Western world is that dreams are a product of the individual dreamer’s mind and what is contained within it. Much of this comes from their waking life but depends on the differing functional reorganization of the brain during REMS and NREMS and the brain’s rhythmic influences. Sensory stimuli and experiences at times are incorporated into dreams, sometimes through “dream incubation” where a person is able to determine prior to sleep what they will dream about. Overall, the dreams of individuals tend to remain consistent over their adult life, but there are also circumstances that can produce changes such as pregnancy, divorce, and psychological trauma.
Specific references to statements in this chapter that can be found in multiple, widely available sources are not included in the text. A selection of these sources is listed below and can also be consulted for verification or more detail. (Cartwright 2010; Domhoff 1996; Moorcroft 1993; Strauch and Meier 1996).
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Notes
- 1.
Incorporation occurs when a sound or some other stimulus sensed by a sleeper when dreaming is woven into the dream rather than being ignored or causing awakening.
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Moorcroft, W.H. (2013). Dreaming. In: Understanding Sleep and Dreaming. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6467-9_8
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