Social media reveals population dynamics of dysphoric dreaming

Mallett, Remington; Sowin, Laura; Carr, Michelle

doi:10.31234/osf.io/zq4ka

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…In this study, the dream texts were translated and transcribed into English, and preprocessed into four super-categories-Community-oriented (by grouping the LIWC categories: social, family, moral, friend, and prosocial), Threat (by grouping the LIWC categories: conflict and death), Negative emotions (encompassing the category: negative emotions), and Anxiety (encompassing the category: anxiety). 63 and has been widely used in other word-based dream content analyses 25,64,65 .…”

Section: Dream Text Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for an emotional adaptive function of dreams: a cross-cultural study

Samson¹,

Clerget²,

Abbas³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The function of dreams is a longstanding scientific research question. Simulation theories of dream function, which are based on the premise that dreams represent evolutionary past selective pressures and fitness improvement through modified states of consciousness, have yet to be tested in cross-cultural populations that include small-scale forager societies. Here, we analyze dream content with cross-cultural comparisons between the BaYaka and Hadza foraging groups and Global North populations, to test the hypothesis that dreams in forager groups serve a more effective emotion regulation function due to their strong social norms and high interpersonal support. Using a linear mixed effects model we analyzed 896 dreams from 235 individuals across these populations, recorded using sleep diaries and the Most Recent Dream survey method. Dream texts were processed into four super-categories psychosocial constructs using the LIWC-22 dictionary. The BaYaka displayed greater community-oriented dream content. Both the BaYaka and Hadza exhibited heightened threat dream content, while, at the same time, the Hadza demonstrated low negative emotions in their dreams. The Global North Nightmare Disorder group had increased negative emotion content, and the Canadian student sample during the COVID-19 pandemic displayed the highest anxiety dream content. In conclusion, this study supports the notion that dreams in non-clinical populations can effectively regulate emotions by linking potential threats with non-fearful contexts, reducing anxiety and negative emotions through emotional release or catharsis. Overall, this work contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary significance of this altered state of consciousness.

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Section: Dream Text Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for an emotional adaptive function of dreams: a cross-cultural study

Samson¹,

Clerget²,

Abbas³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Evidence for an emotional adaptive function of dreams: a cross-cultural study

Samson,

Clerget,

Abbas

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The function of dreams is a longstanding scientific research question. Simulation theories of dream function, which are based on the premise that dreams represent evolutionary past selective pressures and fitness improvement through modified states of consciousness, have yet to be tested in cross-cultural populations that include small-scale forager societies. Here, we analyze dream content with cross-cultural comparisons between the BaYaka (Rep. of Congo) and Hadza (Tanzania) foraging groups and Global North populations, to test the hypothesis that dreams in forager groups serve a more effective emotion regulation function due to their strong social norms and high interpersonal support. Using a linear mixed effects model we analyzed 896 dreams from 234 individuals across these populations, recorded using dream diaries. Dream texts were processed into four psychosocial constructs using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC-22) dictionary. The BaYaka displayed greater community-oriented dream content. Both the BaYaka and Hadza exhibited heightened threat dream content, while, at the same time, the Hadza demonstrated low negative emotions in their dreams. The Global North Nightmare Disorder group had increased negative emotion content, and the Canadian student sample during the COVID-19 pandemic displayed the highest anxiety dream content. In conclusion, this study supports the notion that dreams in non-clinical populations can effectively regulate emotions by linking potential threats with non-fearful contexts, reducing anxiety and negative emotions through emotional release or catharsis. Overall, this work contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary significance of this altered state of consciousness.

show abstract

Social media reveals population dynamics of dysphoric dreaming

Cited by 2 publications

References 19 publications

Evidence for an emotional adaptive function of dreams: a cross-cultural study

Evidence for an emotional adaptive function of dreams: a cross-cultural study

Evidence for an emotional adaptive function of dreams: a cross-cultural study

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