StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Dreams in Psychology - Term Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "Dreams in Psychology" tells us about state of consciousness characterised by sensory, cognitive, and emotional events. According to The Psychology Of Dreams, the dreamer has less influence on the information, visual images, and memory activation…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.9% of users find it useful
Dreams in Psychology
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Dreams in Psychology"

The topic of dreams in psychology cannot be discussed without mentioning one renowned personality called Sigmund Freud. As mystical and unique as it may seem, the world has been left wondering about what dreams are and what they constitute. There are a few questions to ask when it comes to understanding the ‘dream phenomenon’. Psychology has come to explain the aspect of dreams basically as a cognitive process that occurs in the mental faculty with the interplay of various processes. Interesting tales have been told about people who act in weird ways as they dream.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

While it is agreed that the brain does not completely stop functioning when one is asleep, physiologically, it slows down in its operations. Thought, speech, reactions, and responses are all generated by the brain, and dreams, therefore, are consequences of some thought processes. Freud, a great theorist from a psychoanalytic perspective, attributes and explains the brain in terms of unconscious functioning (Robins, 2005). From this school of thought, it is conceptualized that dreams are unconscious desires and it is through dreaming that they are vividly revealed. People in everyday life have goals and missions that they aim at achieving and fulfilling. These goals are, in most cases, repressed into the unconscious mind and it is only through sleep that they are organized making them reoccur.

Cognitive Perspective

Consequently, psychologists who subscribe to the cognitive viewpoint would consider dreams to be a process of mental states that sorts itself to complete a general functioning. Dreams have been theorized as cognitive processes in which memory is regulated. They are images and reflections of what constitutes one’s thoughts and memory systems. The perceptions, judgments, and opinions that we have about the world and the people in our ‘practically’ are revealed in dreams such that what we construe and how we conceive ourselves and the world can be manifested in our dreams. For example, if one has low self-esteem and low self-image about themselves, they may dream negatively portraying themselves as losers, unattractive or incapacitated. This, therefore, implies that dreams are a reflective mirror through which one can do an accurate introspection (Robins, 2005).

Other Schools of Thought

There are several other perspectives in psychology discipline that look at differently but within the ‘mental and behavior’ aspect. A humanistic psychologist would analyze dreams to be choices that people make; either to dream about what intrigues them or not. The behaviorist perspective conceptualizes dreams to be a consequence of the environment in which one is living such that the dreams one person in one area would have is totally different from those that another individual from a different area. This perspective views dreams as an environmentally-influenced phenomenon. Biopsychology/neuropsychology on the other hand considers dreams to be a response generated in order to protect oneself from threatening circumstances, for example, dreaming that one is running from danger when their neurotransmitter levels are high (Robins, 2005).

Psychology has a multidimensional outlook of viewing and accounting for dreams as human behavior. It is worth noting that a common point has not been reached in regard to what exactly are dreams and where they originate from. It is an aspect of behavior that greatly fascinates researchers and it is just better to have a multi-perspective view of it so as to have a comprehensive understanding of what dreams are.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Dreams Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Dreams Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/psychology/1678367-dreams
(Dreams Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
Dreams Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1678367-dreams.
“Dreams Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1678367-dreams.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Dreams in Psychology

Dream Interpretation

uman psychology is a concern of intensive investigation.... It is unanimous that dreams are psychologically significant and meaningful expression that meant the implication of the life of the dreamer and connotes a specialty of the occurrences of life.... 'The Interpretation of dreams' by Freud has added a new dimension in the development of psychoanalytic explanation requiring the successful dream analysis.... Due emphasis is stressed on the neurotic symptoms in interpreting the dreams as the thoughts and ideas of people in awakening hours become visible in dreaming....
13 Pages (3250 words) Essay

Psychology of Sleep and Dreams

This paper, psychology of Sleep and Dreams, analyses ten different dreams.... In this scripture Elihu states that God gives us sealed instructions in the form of dreams.... The themes of dreams may have some connection with the things stored in the unconscious mind.... The author of the paper stresses that according to Bible, God communicate mostly with the people through dreams.... As he says " Hamon has mentioned that 'the Bible contains more than 50 references to dreams and visions in which God delivered messages'....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

On Dreams by Sigmund Freud

From the paper "On dreams by Sigmund Freud" it is clear that the author has put together many interesting insights of the study to help the readers seek advantage of the tools and techniques to under the phenomenon better, which can be utilized to reap maximum benefits.... The book under consideration, on dreams, is also the product of one of his psychoanalytical investigations.... In this book, Freud systematically places the dreams into various steps explaining the entire process....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Psychology of Dreams

From the paper "psychology of Dreams" it is clear that the book stands as a significant illustration of both method and content in religious psychology.... It is also a vital model for pastoral psychology and pastoral theology.... The puzzling and disordered events that drove the ideas of Jung are reinterpreted through his overarching psychology theory lens.... The book also reflects Jung's travels and other experiences of his life that shaped his understanding of the psyche and religious psychology....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Lucid Dreaming and Consciousness

Going through the various issues, and characteristics relating to this subject assists in improved understanding of this section of psychology.... Non-lucid dreaming is the state in which an individual sleeps dreams but does not recognize that he/she is dreaming.... It is vital to understand that these processes only take place in the case of lucid dreams (Rolim, 2013).... One of the traits portrayed by people going through lucid dreams is the high rate of arousal....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

Psychology of Dreams or The Interpretation of Dreams

The term paper "psychology of Dreams or The Interpretation of Dreams" points out that Dreams are sequences of involuntary mental images, thoughts, and feelings that occur during sleep.... According to Sigmund Freud and the Dynamic Theory of Dream-Formation, dreams are formed in the brain.... Being human, I have had dreams of varying sorts.... I have had reoccurring dreams concerning emotional problems that I was having during the time....
8 Pages (2000 words) Term Paper

The Existentialist-Phenomenological Approach to Working With Dreams With an Emphasis on Bosss Ideas

Dreams quite often confuse dreamers and can require input and explanations from experts in psychology.... I will argue in this paper that this approach to working with dreams corresponds with the theoretical underpinnings of the existential-phenomenological therapeutic relationship since existential phenomenology stresses subjectivity in that the experiences of an individual.... If the existential-phenomenological therapeutic relationship is constructed around allowing the patient to find his or her own solutions, self-exploration can be compromised in working with dreams....
17 Pages (4250 words) Essay

Lucid Dreaming: What It Is and How It Works

Green and McCreery (2001) argue that lucid dreams are the types of dreams in which one becomes fully aware that he or she is dreaming.... dreams occur after the shutdown of the conscious mind after one gets into a paralysis of sleep.... One may then begin to hear unusual noises or weird images and opening the eyes may generate hallucination, a state in which one dreams with the eyes open.... Nonetheless, a significant amount of empirical studies point towards the same ideological thinking concerning lucid dreams....
8 Pages (2000 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us