Dream Sharing: A Case Study
William J. Davis, Marcos G. Frank
The Journal of Psychology March 1, 1994 DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1994.9712717 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 2 |
| Population | One adult heterosexual couple who reported regularly sharing dreams |
| Duration | 10 weeks of daily dream recording |
| Measures | quantitative dream-content analysis |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | Dream pairs the couple identified as shared showed greater content overlap (39.15%) than randomly matched unshared pairs (5.23%), and the authors calculated the probability of this overlap arising by chance as 1 in 5 billion. Shared dreams appeared to occur in a 30–35 day cycle, with the greatest overlap in objects, themes, and affect. |
Abstract
Dream reports were tape recorded each morning independently for 10 weeks by both members of an adult heterosexual couple who alleged they regularly shared dreams. The transcribed reports were evaluated blind by 12 trained analysts using quantitative dream-content analysis. The couple had identified 13 pairs of dreams (17% of the sample) as shared. The mean percentage content overlap score of these 13 pairs (39.15%) was significantly greater than that of 80 randomly matched pairs of unshared dreams (5.23%). The content overlap scores of each analyst correlated significantly with those of the unblinded male subject (r = .72). The mean probability that the observed overlap in putatively shared dreams was caused by chance was calculated as 1 in 5 billion. Shared dreams appeared to occur in a distinct temporal cycle of 30–35 days. Content overlap between shared dreams was greatest in three of seven categories; objects, themes, and effect.