Dreaming

Flashcards about the psychology of dreaming

Dreaming

Encompasses a series of thoughts, images, and sensations that occur within the mind during sleep

Frequency of Dreams

Mental activity that occurs every night, averaging about one to two hours

Intriguing Features of Dream Content

Dreams often unfold involuntarily, evoke strong emotions, and mirror aspects of our waking lives.

Psychoanalytic Approach to Dreams

Dreams to serve to fulfill our unconscious wishes

Manifest Component (Freud)

The apparent story of the dream

Latent Component (Freud)

The disguised meaning of the dream

Cognitive Theory of Dreaming

Dreaming aids in information processing, helping to sift, sort, and fix the day's experiences into our memories

Robert Stickgold's Research

Nighttime brain processing may aid in mastering tasks and integrating experiences into our memory networks

Activation-Synthesis Theory

Dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of neural activity during sleep and serve no purpose.

Activation-Synthesis - Explanation

REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories

Cognitive Development - Explanation

Dream content reflects dreamers’ cognitive development, their knowledge and understanding.