sleeping and dreaming summary

Sleep

a naturally recurring state of rest where consciousness is reduced and the body repairs itself

Circadian rhythm

a 24 hour internal body clock cycle

Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

a group of cells in the hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythms by responding to light from the eyes

How the SCN works

light enters the eyes, signals the SCN, which tells the pineal gland to stop producing melatonin, making you feel awake

Pineal gland

a gland in the brain that produces melatonin to make you feel sleepy

Melatonin

a hormone that controls sleep and is released in darkness

Endogenous zeitgeber

an internal body clock that controls rhythms, e.g. the SCN

Exogenous zeitgeber

an external cue that affects body rhythms, keeping them adjusted based on external changes, e.g. light and temperature

Light as an exogenous zeitgeber

resets the body clock by affecting melatonin production

Stages of sleep

the different levels of sleep from light sleep to deep sleep to REM sleep

REM sleep

rapid eye movement sleep where dreaming occurs and brain activity is high

Non rem

stages 1,2,3,4

Dream

a series of thoughts, images and sensations occurring during sleep, usually in REM involuntarily in the mind.

Manifest content of dreams

the actual storyline of the dream

Latent content of dreams

the hidden psychological meaning of the dream

Freud’s theory of dreams

dreams are wish fulfilment and reveal unconscious desires

Wish fulfilment

the idea that dreams satisfy desires we cannot express when awake

Id

the part of personality driven by pleasure and instinctive desires

Ego

the rational part of personality that controls the id

Superego

the moral part of personality (often referenced in Freud’s work)

Dreamwork

the process where the mind disguises the true meaning of dreams

Condensation

several ideas combined into one image in a dream

Displacement

emotions are transferred from an important object to a less important one in a dream

Symbolism

objects in dreams represent hidden meanings

Secondary elaboration

the brain tidies the dream into a logical story when waking

Activation synthesis theory

Relies on brain signals to explain dreams.

Random signals

come from the pons in the brainstem and go to the cerebral cortex.

Freud’s Wolfman study

a case study where a man dreamt of wolves, interpreted as fear of his father and repressed trauma

Wolfman study aim

to explain wolf mans psychological problems through dream analysis.

Wolfman study finding

the wolves symbolised the father and fear of punishment

Wolfman study strength

detailed qualitative data and depth of insight

Wolfman study weakness

subjective interpretation and not scientifically testable

Little Hans study

Freud analysed a boy’s fear of horses as fear of his father (Oedipus complex)

Little Hans aim

to support the theory of unconscious conflict and dream symbolism

Little Hans finding

horses symbolised the father and fear of castration

Little Hans strength

supports idea of unconscious mind influencing behaviour

Little Hans weakness

based on Freud’s interpretation and lacks scientific evidence

Strength of Freud’s dream theory

explains hidden meaning of dreams and introduced the unconscious mind

Weakness of Freud’s dream theory

cannot be tested scientifically and relies on opinion

Evaluation of case studies

provide rich detail but cannot be generalised

Nature of dreaming in REM

brain activity similar to being awake, vivid dreams occur. muscles are paralysed.

Function of sleep

restoration, repair, growth and memory processing and consolidation. Keep healthy brain.

Sleep deprivation effects

poor concentration, mood changes, hallucinations

Internal body clock

controlled by the SCN and melatonin cycle

Temperature as exogenous zeitgeber

falling temperature at night promotes sleep

Jet lag

disruption of circadian rhythm due to travel across time zones

Shift work problems

disruption of circadian rhythm leading to fatigue and health issues

Why we dream (Freud)

to express unconscious wishes safely

Comparison of theories

both involve fear of fathers and sexual desires.

REM rebound

when deprived of REM sleep, the body enters REM more quickly later

Sleep cycle

repeats roughly every 90 minutes through the night

Role of the eyes in sleep control

detect light and send signals to the SCN

Darkness and melatonin

darkness increases melatonin production causing sleepiness

Brain activity in REM

high activity, similar to awake state

Rapid eye movement

REM

Purpose of dreams

debated between psychological meaning and biological process

Activation

The random firing of brain signals during rem sleep, in the pons and brainstem to brain areas.

synthesis

Brain waves / signals travel to the cerbral cortex where it tries to understand and make sense of the signals, attaching meaning to them. Causing a dream to be produced. Using memories or information

The limbic system

Controls emotions and it activated by brain signals. Makes dreams emotional.

Strengths of AST

it is objective and scientific.

Weaknesses of AST

it is reductionist- oversimplifies to brain signals.

it ignores individual differences- some people can lucid dream (control their dreams)

It relies on there brainstem- people with damage to their brainstem can still dream.

Parasympathetic nervous system

nervous system activated when we are no longer In a stressful situation. Role is to relax the body and return to normal state.

Sympathetic nervous system

nervous system activated when we are stressed. This helps us prepare for action when faced with the situation.

Repression

Pushing unpleasant thoughts into the unconscious mind, could come up again in dreams.

sleep onset insomnia

struggling to fall asleep in the first place

sleep maintenance insomnia

struggling to stay asleep.

what was the williamson study aim?

To see if there was a difference in the bizarreness of dreams or fantasies.

Sample for the Williamson study

12, American Harvard students aged between 23-45. (2 men, 10 women)

method for Williamson study

• students told to write down dreams and fantasies in a journal for a term

• 60 stories from each dreaming and fantasy were picked and examined by 3 judges, who used the hobs bizarre scale to rank the dream or fantasy.

• they later came together to agree on the decisions.

What was the bizarre scale?

stage one: locus

• a= plot

• b= thoughts

• c= emotions

• d= ad hoc

stage two: bizarre type

• 1= discontinuity

• 2=incongruent

• 3= out of place

• 4= not bizarre.

weakness of the sample for Williamson et al.

• all American- culture bias

• all go to Harvard

• between age of (23-45)- age bias

• small sample

• 2 men, 10 women (gender bias)

weakness of the Williamson et al study procedure:

• social desirability/ may change their dreams because they are embarrising.

• construct validity/ is the bizarre scale an accurate way to measure the bizarreness of dreams fantasies.

• natural environment/ could be extraneous variable that effected how bizarre the participants dreams were.

strength of the Williamson et al study procedure:

• natural environment/ participants have the same setting as they normally should to sleep, so it has ecological validity.

• repeated measures deisgn/ limits or eliminates all participant variables as each participant does both conditions of the iv.

• (qualitative data of the dreams/ provides detail)