Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming: The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy.
Mark Blagrove, Sioned Hale, Julia Lockheart, Michelle Carr, Alex Jones, Katja Valli
Frontiers in Psychology June 20, 2019 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Two-part study: Study 1 correlational survey; Study 2 pre-post dyadic discussion Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 160 |
| Population | Study 1: 160 online participants; Study 2: 27 pairs of dream sharers and discussers |
| Measures | Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, Mannheim Dream Questionnaire, adapted Shen (2010) state empathy scale |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Empathy Human consciousness Social simulation Human bonding Dream sharing |
| Key findings | Trait empathy correlated significantly with frequency of listening to others' dreams, telling one's own dreams, and positive attitude toward dreams. In dream discussions using Ullman's technique, discussers' state empathy toward sharers increased significantly with a medium effect size, while sharers showed a small decrease in empathy toward discussers. The authors propose dreams act as fiction that can induce empathy, and speculate that story-like dream characteristics may have been selected for in human evolution, including sexual selection. |
Abstract
In general, dreams are a novel but realistic simulation of waking social life, with a mixture of characters, motivations, scenarios, and positive and negative emotions. We propose that the sharing of dreams has an empathic effect on the dreamer and on significant others who hear and engage with the telling of the dream. Study 1 tests three correlations that are predicted by the theory of dream sharing and empathy: that trait empathy will be correlated with frequency of telling dreams to others, with frequency of listening to others' dreams, and with trait attitude toward dreams (ATD) (for which higher scores indicate positive attitude). 160 participants completed online the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire and the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire. Pearson partial correlations were conducted, with age and sex partialled out. Trait empathy was found to be significantly associated with the frequency of listening to the dreams of others, frequency of telling one's own dreams to others, and attitude toward dreams. Study 2 tests the effects of discussing dreams on state empathy, using an adapted version of the Shen (2010) state empathy scale, for 27 pairs of dream sharers and discussers. Dream discussion followed the stages of the Ullman (1996) dream appreciation technique. State empathy of the dream discusser toward the dream sharer was found to increase significantly as a result of the dream discussion, with a medium effect size, whereas the dream sharer had a small decrease in empathy toward the discusser. A proposed mechanism for these associations and effects is taken from the robust findings in the literature that engagement with literary fiction can induce empathy toward others. We suggest that the dream acts as a piece of fiction that can be explored by the dreamer together with other people, and can thus induce empathy about the life circumstances of the dreamer. We discuss the speculation that the story-like characteristics of adult human dreams may have been selected for in human evolution, including in sexual selection, as part of the selection for emotional intelligence, empathy, and social bonding.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| A combined group treatment for nightmares and insomnia in combat veterans: A pilot study Combat veterans with PTSD | 2009 | Open clinical trial | n = 10 |
| Cognitions in Sleep: Lucid Dreaming as an Intervention for Nightmares in Patients With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | 2020 | Pre-post intervention study | |
| Managing Insomnia Using Lucid Dreaming Training: A Pilot Study. Adults with Insomnia Disorder | 2021 | Open-label trial | n = 48 |
| Dream content and political ideology. U.S. adults who identified as members of the political right or political left (28 per... | 2002 | Pilot study | n = 56 |
| Imagery rehearsal therapy for the treatment of nightmares in individuals with borderline personality disorder – A pilot study Individuals with borderline personality disorder | 2024 | Between-subjects design, pilot study | n = 44 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 11
- Dreaming during the Covid-19 pandemic: Computational assessment of dream reports reveals mental suffering related to fear of contagion PLoS One November 30, 2020
- Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience May 29, 2018
- Dreaming during Covid-19 pandemic: Computational assessment of dreams reveals mental suffering and fear of contagion medRxiv May 21, 2020
- Gauging oneiromancy—the cognition of dream content and cultural transmission of (supernatural) divination Religion, Brain & Behavior March 10, 2023
- Dreams Shared on Social Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tower of Babel or Noah’s Ark?—A Group-Analytic Perspective International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health February 17, 2023
and 6 more in the library
Cites 22
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- Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming Frontiers in Psychology August 18, 2015
- Characteristics of the memory sources of dreams: A new version of the content-matching paradigm to take mundane and remote memories into account PLoS One October 11, 2017
- Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience May 29, 2018
- Dreams, emotions, and social sharing of dreams Cognition & Emotion December 14, 2007
and 17 more in the library