Always make sure you know what the deadline is, and work backwards from it. Your first job should be to look at your timetable and see where you can fit the jobs in. In other words, organise yourself.
THEORIES OF DREAMING: WHY DO WE DREAM?
The task:
The goal is for you to fill in the tables that follow, so that you can reach a conclusion about why we dream.
In order to complete a complex task such as this, and reach your goal, it’s necessary to set up some sub-goals that will help you reach your destination. That is what follows on the next few pages. You will need to complete all boxes which follow, in typed format, and also produce the plan. Hand the whole lot in to your teacher. You’ll need to arm yourself with some tools to enable you to meet these sub-goals, e.g.:
your salmon handouts open at the right section
a textbook or two
pen and paper
access to the internet
access to Learnwise
Timing
Timing will depend on your teacher and the timetable (when your Psychology lessons are) and whether normal timetabling applies (is there an actual lesson or is it College Development Day, where work is set). This is another good use for TBL’s: it means you don’t actually miss any lesson time, if you fulfil the task properly. This task should take the equivalent of one and a half lessons (i.e. approx. 3 hours of class time), and the equivalent outside of lessons, meaning a total of 6 hours. With that in mind, we want something meaningful handed in which shows you’ve spent approximately 6 hours on this, not some scrap of paper which you spent half an hour on, the night before it’s due.
It is expected that you will word process the final document, using the tables below. The size of the boxes does not reflect (necessarily) how much we want you to write.
How you might go about it
(Tick the boxes as you do them)
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Read at least two textbooks on the area.
- Make notes research into the nature of dreaming
- Make notes on the 4 theories that try to explain dreaming.
- Fill in the boxes below as appropriate.
- Make notes on the research that has been done into theories of dreaming
- In the boxes below fill in research that supports/goes against each theory
- Search internet for any recent, up to date research findings
- Check for any further reading on Learnwise
- Check out Psychology Review articles – make notes and keep reference
- Now write a commentary on each theory: Is it any good? Are there any problems with it? Does it work better for some types of dreams than others?
- Type up all neatly. Include a references section (see Learnwise, the section on Coursework, for more advice on this).
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Hand in the word processed document to your teacher. Include your notes that you have made, your references section and any planning notes. Hand it in by the deadline: Fill in your deadline date here: …2nd October..)
RESEARCH (theories and/or studies) INTO THE NATURE OF DREAMS:
Content:
Duration:
Types of dreams:
Activation Synthesis theory
Reverse Learning theory
Neurobiological theory
Freud wish-fulfilment Theory
Survival strategy theory
Theories of the function of dreaming
Neurobiological Theories:
Activation Synthesis (Hobson and McCarley)
Describe the theory:
Dreaming is associated mostly with REM sleep, the brain is as physiologically active as when we are awake. The theory states that dreaming is an automatic part of the brains sleep mechanisms and can be seen as an endogenous process. Dreams are as meaningful as they ca n be under the adverse working conditions of the brain in REM sleep. The reason that dream content often seems disoriented or bizarre is because the activated brain-mind does its best to attribute meaning to the internally generated signals of the brain
Research into the theory:
Study 1- Tarvis and Wade 1995 found that when signals occur that ordinarily (during wake hours) would cause us to run, the cortex may create a dream about being chased.
Study 2 - Hobson 1988 found that when sleeping volunteers were injected with drugs that increase the action of acetylcholine, REM sleep and dreaming both increased. Whereas when volunteers are injected with a drug that blocks the action of acetylcholine, both dreaming and REM were decreased.
Write a commentary on the theory:
The activation synthesis theory is based on detailed information on the physiological activity of the brain during dreaming. This also explains why smells and tastes do not appear in our dreams, since only those parts of the brain involved with vision and hearing are activated. The activation synthesis is related to REM activity, but dreaming can take place at other times in different ways. It is therefore possible that NREM dreams may be the synthesis of different types of brain activity.
Reverse-Learning (Crick and Mitchison)
Describe the theory: The brain is ‘offline’ during dreaming. During this phase it sifts through the information gathered during the days waking activities and throws out all unwanted material. The function of dreaming is to eliminate any useless information stored in the brain ton free up space in the cortex.
Research into the theory:
Study 1: spiny anteater: these mammals have no REM sleep but have a large frontal cortex. They argue that it needed this excessive cortical development in order to store both adaptive memories and parasitic memories which in more highly animals are deposed of during REM seep.
Study 2:
Write a commentary on it:
If dreaming is designed to allow us to erase our valueless information, then it makes sense that we rarely remember the content of our dreams. Dream serve a biological useful process in that they keep the nervous system functioningeffectively.
Psychological Theories:
Wish Fulfilment (Freud)
Describe the theory:
Dreams are disguised fulfilments of desires repressed into the unconscious mind which ‘protect sleep’. Freud believed that dreams have meanings and reveal important issues and conflict in a persons life, and no matter how absurd a dream appeared to be, it always has a meaning.
Research into the theory:
Study 1 – 9 patients suffering brain damage where the circuit in the forebrain had been destroyed, but they still had normal REM sleep.
Study 2 – Hajek and Belcher 1991 studied the dreams of people who smoke and whom were involved in a programme designed to help them stop smoking. Most of the participants reported dreams about smoking during the course of treatment and for a year afterwards. They explained they were having dreams where they were engaging in smoking, which were followed by feelings of guilt or panic. They confirmed that ex smokers who had dreams about smoking were less likely to start smoking again.
Write a commentary on the theory:
Although some dreams can undoubtedly be wish fulfilling, frightening dreams/ nightmares can not be regarded as wish fulfilling. Freud’s theory has been widely criticised and there is little evidence to support it.
Problem Solving (Webb & Cartwright)
Describe the theory:
Cartwright believes that dreaming helps in the adjustment to major life changes, threats and problems. Unlike Freud’s theory they do not see a reason to distinguish between a dreams manifest and latent content. But like Freud they also believe that metaphors play a role in dreaming. For example a person dreaming about being buried alive beneath an avalanche whilst carrying several books may be worried about being ‘snowed under’ with workl.
Research into the theory:
Study 1: Cartwright 1984- Woman undergoing divorce were interviewed, some were depressed and some were not. They were studied for 6nights. In the group not depressed by divorce, dreams were longer, reflected the negative emotions aroused by the situation, and story lines often involved the dreamer in marital roles. In the depressed groups, dreams were shorter and usually with no reference to divorce.
Study 2: : Mark and Cartwright - participants were given problems to solve then were allowed to sleep. Some were woken whenever they entered REM sleep . Those who were not woken during the stage of REM sleep were able to provide much more realistic solutions to the problem s the next day. This suggests that there REM sleep had given them the opportunity to work through the problems.
Write a commentary on the theory:
Many dreams are commentaries on life experiences and do not have a clear meaning.
What does all of the above suggest about the role of dreaming? Write a paragraph summarising your thoughts here:
There are many different theories and suggestions as to why we dream and what causes us to dream. Neurobiological theories suggest that REM is the key. The brains processes during sleep is interpreted as meaningful sensory data. Whereas Crick and Mitchison’s reverse learning theory suggests that dreaming is used to eliminate useless information stored in the brain. According to Freud’s Wish fulfilment theory, we dream in order to represent the fulfilment of mainly repressed desires.
Although all theories mentioned have evidence to support them, it is sometimes difficult to account for meaningful dreams and make logic sense out of them.
REFERENCE
Psychology for A2 level, Michael Eyesenck
Psychology for A2, Mark Cardwell
Created on 09/05/2007Y:\svn\trunk\engine\docs\working\acumen2\134571.doc