Content and discovery in the dreams of Canadian male university students: A pilot study.

Abstract

This study extended previous research by exploring Canadian male university students because only the dreams of females had been previously assessed. Dream content and discovery passages were scored using the Hall and Van de Castle (1966) content analysis guidelines. Discovery was assessed via The Storytelling Method of dream interpretation. Thirty-nine male students provided one dream each. Content categories, discovery categories, and content and discovery categories together were analyzed for significant relationships. Regression analyses predicting discovery categories from dream content were also conducted. Findings were representative of the sample of male students, with a mean age of 23.67 (SD ϭ 5.36), support the continuity hypothesis, and were consistent with previous research on the dreams of males and students with some notable exceptions. The predictive value of dreams is evident from the results of the regression analyses, which show significant relations between specific content categories and discovery categories. Significant correlations were found among content and discovery categories and the predictions. For examples, anger in dream content significantly predicts learning something about anger in waking day. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Examining the Storytelling Method of Dream Interpretation with Canadian Soldiers

“…Threat in the dreams of soldiers was associated with combat scenes, success, and failures, and dream imagery of the enemy was associated with success in dream imagery. Dale et al (2012) also found that when compared to civilian males, male soldiers' dreams contained more weapons, aggression, death, threat, and combat scenes. Research on what soldiers learn about waking day life from dream imagery through dream interpretation has yet to be examined.…”

“…Furthermore, predictions of dream discovery were made from dream content. The use of content analysis on discovery passages as well as the predictive value of dreams has also been demonstrated and found to be effective with Canadian male (Dale & DeCicco, 2012) and female (DeCicco, 2007a) university students. DeCicco and Higgins (2009) also used content analysis for discovery categories when comparing the dreams of alcoholics to non-alcoholics and each group gained discovery that was relevant to their waking day circumstances.…”

“…learn about waking life from their dream imagery and how these categories of discovery are related to one another. This method was used in previous research exploring the relationships among discovery categories for Canadian males (Dale & DeCicco, 2012) and females (DeCicco, 2007a). 2.…”

“…Discovery categories that were found to be relevant and meaningful for both soldiers and civilians were based on previous findings of discovery categories for students and for males (Dale & DeCicco, 2012;DeCicco, 2007a) as well as Hall and Van de Castle's (1966) content analysis guidelines. Categories of discovery for both civilians and soldiers included: Happiness, Sadness, Confusion, Apprehension/Fear, Anger, Total Emotions, Past (discovery of past events), Present (discovery pertaining to present events), Interpersonal Conflict (conflict with another person), Intrapersonal Conflict (inner conflict), Aggression, Death, Family/Relatives, Romantic Relationships, Males, Females, Comrades (discovery of relationships with comrades), Enemy, Tour (a specific event related to a tour overseas), Occupation, Stress, Pride/Honor (mentioning pride or honor in oneself), Friends, War (feelings and opinions on the war in general), Future Success, Altruistic desires, and Guilt/Regret.…”

Comparing the Effects of Real Versus Simulated Violence on Dream Imagery

“…[26][27][28] The Threat Simulation Theory states that there will be an increase in dreams with threat imagery that accompanies experiencing life-threatening situations, and this can be used as a survival technique. [29][30][31] With video games, it has been shown that virtual life-threatening situations do not elicit violent and aggressive dreams, 27 since there is frequent rehearsal of life-threatening situations with no real presence of danger.…”