Personality structure and the content of dreams
Douglas Ross. Cann
eScholarship@McGill 1979 DOI: 10.82308/31887 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Content analysis study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Non-clinical population (students, general public) |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key points | The author argues that Jung's theories of dreams and personality are consistent with recent dream-function theories and neurophysiological research, and reports that content analysis of dreams from a non-clinical population provided good support for Jung's model linking personality typology and neuroticism to dream recall and manifest dream content. |
Abstract
This research investigated Carl Jung's theories as a means of understanding dreams and their relationship to personality structure. Jung's theories are shown to be consistent with recent theories of dream function and with research findings concerning dreaming sleep. Building on previous research, a general dimension for classifying dream content--degree of archetypality--is discussed, and hypotheses are derived from Jungian theory concerning the relationship of his personality typology and neuroticism to dream recall and manifest dream content. Dream samples gathered from a non-clinical population (students, general public) were subjected to content analysis, and the results provide good support for Jung's model of dreams and personality. The findings are discussed in terms of dream research, recall processes, dream content analysis, personality, and individual adaptation. Jung's theories are integrated with recent models of the neurophysiology of dreaming, and new directions in dream research are suggested, using Jung's model as an integrative paradigm.