Who are the people in my dreams? Self-awareness and character identification in dreaming
Dagna Skrzypińska, Monika Słodka
International Journal of Dream Research 2014 DOI: 10.11588/ijodr.2014.1.12121 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study (dream report and questionnaire study) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 153 |
| Population | People asked to report their most recent remembered dream |
| Measures | Hall/Van de Castle Coding System, dream character recognition questionnaire |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key findings | The work addresses how the dreamer and other dream characters are recognized, proposing that identification draws on autobiographical and episodic memory, emotional and evaluative systems, and perceptual cues. Dream reports from 153 participants were coded with the Hall/Van de Castle system alongside a dream character recognition questionnaire; the abstract does not report specific results. |
Abstract
Dreaming is an important state of consciousness that complements the awake state. Self-awareness, as well as the ability to recognize other people, are essential characteristics of everyday life. The recognition of Self and others is based on, among others, autobiographical and episodic memory, and emotional, and evaluative systems, or perceptual cues. The goal of the paper is to answer a question of how characters (the dreamer and others) that appear in dreams are recognized. The research was conducted to determine the main features connected with dream character identification, as well as the main modalities that could be helpful in this process. 153 subjects were asked to write down the last dream they remember and to fill out the questionnaire about the dream character recognition. The Hall/Van de Castle Coding System was used to examine the dream content. Results concerning self-awareness and dream character identification are presented. Moreover, future research directions, and limitations of the study are discussed.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insomnia Symptoms, Nightmares, and Suicidal Ideation in a College Student Sample Undergraduate students at a large, public university in the southeastern United States | 2011 | Observational cross-sectional survey | n = 583 |
| Prevalence and Correlates of Frequent Nightmares: A Community-Based 2-Phase Study Middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese adults from the community, mean age 40.9 years (SD 5.5,... | 2010 | Cross-sectional survey with subsequent clinical evaluation (two-phase design) | n = 8,558 |
| Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Adults (general population sample) | 2003 | Cross-sectional survey with structural equation modeling | n = 444 |
| The Phenomenology of Lucid Dreaming: An Online Survey Respondents to an online survey about lucid dreams | 2014 | Online survey | n = 684 |
| Frequency of Lucid Dreaming in a Representative German Sample Representative sample of German adults | 2011 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 919 |