Ch 4

DREAM INTERPRETATION

• The notion that dreams contain hidden psychological meaning was promoted and  popularized by Freud

• Therapist from different perspectives use dream interpretation as one of their therapeutic tools

THE MEANING OF DREAM CONTENT

• What we dream about provides clues about what's in our unconscious

• Most of our dreams are absurd

• If you describe one of your dreams to a traditional Freudian therapist, you'd likely be told that the objects and people in your dreams are symbols

• Dreams represent unconscious preoccupations

  • Unresolved conflicts we struggle with beneath our awareness surface during sleeping hours

• Investigators find the content of our dreams is not random

  • There is evidence that dream content is often influenced by the fears, problems, and issues that capture our thoughts before we go to bed

• If men are preoccupied with the unresolved Oedipus conflict at an unconscious level, this preoccupation should surface in the form of male characters in their dreams

Recurrent Dreams

• A phenomenon of interest to dream researchers

• The dream reappears night after night because the conflict expressed in the dream is important yet remains unresolved

  • Most recurrent dreams include situations where the dreamer is in danger or threatened

• Consistent with the observation that recurrent dreamers are more likely to suffer from anxiety during waking hours than people who don't experience recurrent dreams

  • Unconscious conflict surface is in the dream at night but is expressed in the form of anxiety during the day

  • However, it is impossible that these the anxiety is the cause of recurring dreams

• Seemingly innocent objects and actions are symbolic representations of sexuality and sexual activity

  • People who are anxious about sexual matters often express this through other outlets, such as dream symbols

THE FUNCTION OF DREAMS

• Unconscious impulses cannot be suppressed forever

• One of the major functions of dreams is to allow the symbolic expression of these impulses

• Dreams provide a safe and healthy outlet for expressing unconscious conflicts

• REM sleep is filled with dreams

• Non REM sleep has significantly fewer

• Researchers could look at the effects of depriving people of REM sleep

  • It is maintained that it is necessary for psychological health in deprivation can create serious psychological disturbances

  • Other research has challenged this

• Dreaming does seem to have some psychological benefits

  • Emotional disorders are often associated with sleep difficulties and reduced REM sleep

  • Individuals deprived of REM sleep have more difficulty with stressful tasks

INTERPRETING TH EVIDENCE

• The content of our dreams is not random

• Dreaming appears to serve some positive psychological functions

• However, psychologists can account for the findings without relying on Freudian concepts

DEFENSE MECHANISMS

• The ego has many tools at its disposal to fend off anxiety and guilt

• We regularly employ a wide range of defences, but have no awareness of doing so

  • This does not mean we are unaware of the behaviors stemming from these defences

• These conscious efforts to reduce anxiety are not the same as the unconscious defence mechanisms

IDENTIFYING AND MEASURING DEFENSE MECHANISMS

• Because these processes operate at a level below consciousness, we cannot simply ask people to describe their defence mechanisms

• Many of these researchers turned to projective tests

Identification: the defence mechanism that people associate themselves with powerful and successful individuals

• By unconsciously identifying with powerful others, we found our feelings of inadequacy and helplessness

Denial: consists of disavowing certain facts, from failure to acknowledge reality to distorting one's memory, thereby reducing the anxiety associated with a traumatic event

• Young children rely heavily on denial

Projection: protects us from threatening anxiety by attributing unacceptable thoughts and feelings to someone else

• Older children tend to rely on projection to alleviate their anxieties and inward viewers

• Move the anxiety provoking material outside of ourselves

• Listening the use of projection and denial is a sign of emotional maturity

DEFENSIVE STYLE

Defensive style: We rely on certain defence mechanisms more than others

• Because some defence mechanisms are more effective than others, identifying a person's defensive style may tell us something about a person's general well-being

• Defence mechanisms become maladaptive when used past an appropriate age

  • E.g., adults who use denial will probably find it more and more difficult to interact with others or to make sense of their own behavior

• Using immature defences in adulthood is often associated with interpersonal and psychological problems

  • E.g., alcohol abuse, depression, and hostility

• Adult defences are related to early childhood experiences

HUMOUR

FREUD'S THEORY OF HUMOUR

• Was concerned with tendentious jokes

  • The ones that provide insight into the unconscious of the joke teller as well as the person who laughs

• Freud describes two kinds of tendentious jokes

1. Those dealing with hostility

2. Those dealing with sex

• Aggressive jokes allow the expression of impulses ordinarily held in check

  • Insulting jokes allow us to express aggressive desires in a socially appropriate manner

• We discussed taboo sexual topics through the socially appropriate outlook of sexual humor

  • Open discussions about sex are often inappropriate in social settings, yet jokes about sex are often not only tolerated but encouraged in rewarded

• Following a hostile or sexual joke is really justified by the humor content of the joke

  • Ford explained our reaction in terms of tension reduction, or catharsis

    • Descriptions of aggressive or sexual behavior create tension

    • The punchline allows a release of that tension

    • We get pleasure from many jokes because they reduce tension and anxiety, not because they're clever or witty

HYPNOSIS

• Although considerable disagreement remains over the nature of hypnosis, most researchers agree that hypnosis includes an induction procedure in which people are told they're going to be hypnotised, followed by suggestions to perform certain tasks

• Hypnosis has potentially useful applications

WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?

• Psychologists sometimes organized various explanations for hypnosis along with continuum based on the extent to which the theory reflects psychoanalytic thinking

  • On one end,  there is a belief that hypnosis taps an aspect of there is a belief that hypnosis taps an aspect of the human mind that is difficult to reach

    • Hypnotic participants fall into a trance or that they experience an altered state of consciousness, like sleeping

  • On the other end, psychologist emphasized the role of cognitive and social processes

    • Hypnotize people operate under an altered state of awareness

PSYCHOANALYTICALLY INFLUENCED THEORIES

• Freud saw hypnosis as a passkey to a highly hypnotizable patients unconscious mind

• The barrier to the unconscious is weakened during hypnosis, allowing access to crucial unconscious material

Neodissociation theory: deeply hypnotized people experience a division of their conscious

• The hypnotized part of their conscious enters a type of altered state

  • Unaware of the observer part

• another part remains aware of what is going on during the hypnotic session

  • This is considered a "hidden observer" monitoring the situation

• E.g., ice water and writing

  • Followers of this theory argue that the part of the participant's conscious that was in the altered state was able to deny the pain

  • The hidden observer part was aware of the pain and was able to report it

SOCIOCOGNITIVE THEORIES OF HYPNOSIS

• There is nothing a person can do under hypnosis that cannot be done without hypnosis

  • E.g., people who are relaxed but not hypnotized will experience the same affect as hypnotized individuals

• But how does this explain some of the unusual things people do in hypnotized?

  • Expectancy, motivation, and concentration

• These theorists argue that hypnotize and non hypnotize people stand up and spin for the same reason

  • Because they think they're supposed to

• Argue that the psychoanalytic position sometimes can become circular

  • If we ask why hypnosis participants run around making chicken noises, we are told it is because they are hypnotized

  • But if we ask how we can tell the participants are hypnotised, we're shown how they run around making chicken noises

• Responsive participants are not intentionally deceiving the hypnotist

  • Rather, they are responding to normal social psychological influences

  • Hypnosis participants behave the way they believe people are supposed to and under hypnosis

HYPNOTIC RESPONSIVENESS

• Not everyone responds the same to a hypnotist suggestions

• Highly responsive people respond to anyone they perceive to be a legitimate hypnotist

• There are a few techniques hypnotist can use to increase responsiveness

  • Especially among people who are a bit skeptical at the beginning

•  People are more responsive to hypnotic suggestions when the situation is defined as hypnosis and when their cooperation is secured and trust established before beginning.

• People who are highly responsive to one hypnotist’s suggestions will prob- ably be responsive to another hypnotist.

• Unfortunately, few correlations between personality scores and hypnotic responsiveness were found, and replications were seldom reported

• a person’s ability to become immersed in a role predicts hypnotic responsiveness

• People who score high on measures of absorption have the ability to become highly involved in sensory and imaginative experiences.

  • They are open to new experiences and are prone to fantasies and daydreams

three important variables affect hypnotic responsiveness:

• attitude, motivation, and expectancy

• In addition, the more motivated people are to experience hypnosis, the more responsive they will be

Essentially: people tend to act under hypnosis the way they think they are supposed to act