Psychology Research Digest
Dreaming - Vol 35, Iss 4
Dreaming is a multidisciplinary journal, the only professional journal devoted specifically to dreaming. The journal publishes scholarly articles related to dreaming from any discipline and viewpoint. This includes biological aspects of dreaming and sleep/dream laboratory research; psychological articles of any kind related to dreaming; clinical work on dreams regardless of theoretical perspective (Freudian, Jungian, existential, eclectic, etc.); anthropological, sociological, and philosophical articles related to dreaming; and articles about dreaming from any of the arts and humanities.
The significance of dreams and dreaming in the traditional culture of Luo people in Kenya.
This article comprises two parts. Part I deals with Augustine Nwoye’s classification of dreams in Africa, a theoretical background that has been used here purposively to explain the significance of dreams and dreaming to the Luo people in Kenya. This article is therefore deliberately anchored on Nwoye’s African theoretical framework on dreams and dreaming. Part II of this article examines different types of dreams from the cultural perspective of the Luo traditional community, dreams that exemplify Nwoye’s tripartite division of dreams and their sources. This article is particularly concerned with the meaning and significance of dreams and dreaming and what cultural practices and beliefs about dreams and dreaming might reveal about the ethical, epistemological, and metaphysical worldview of the Luo. Culturally, dreams serve various functions such as: sourcing names, counseling, healing, communication with ancestral spirits, mourning, solving personal and societal problems, prediction, divination, and fortune-telling, among many other pertinent issues. Dreams have social, cultural, epistemological, and metaphysical functions. These functions have been articulated in this article, “The Significance of Dreams and Dreaming.” This article is one among only a few publications on the topic concerning the value of dreams and dreaming in the beliefs, customs, traditions, and beliefs of this community, the Luo in Kenya. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Publication date: Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT Access the article >>The Oneiric Circle and the Misioneros del Temporal in Morelos, Mexico.
The Misioneros del Temporal is an agricultural community of “ritual specialists” located in the state of Morelos, Mexico. For this community, dream content serves as a bridge between individual experiences and collective life, linking the ecological environment with their cosmovision. Dreams function both as a means of communication with the divine and as tools for ritual action. This research is based on semistructured interviews, participation in rituals, and participant observation. Additionally, a domain analysis was conducted, with results presented that illustrate the relationship between the most common dreams, their meanings, and associated ritual actions. The study further describes the dynamics through which dreams are shared within the community. The findings suggest that dreams become public forms through their narration and gain meaning through the community’s underlying cosmovision and collective validation. From a cognitive anthropology perspective, this study emphasizes the importance of analyzing the social, cultural, and ecological contexts in which these forms of knowledge emerge. It also highlights the need for dialogue with the individuals involved to better understand the processes of knowledge generation, transmission, and ritual action. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Publication date: Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT Access the article >>Cultural influences on dream: A comparative study of Tibetan and Han Chinese populations.
This study sought to compare the dream experiences of Tibetan and Han Chinese populations by employing the Attitudes Toward Dreams Scale, Dream Intensity Scale, and Frequency of Dream Sharing Scale, with a focus on analyzing the influence of cultural differences on these dimensions. The sample comprised 311 Tibetan and 320 Han Chinese participants. The results revealed that Tibetans demonstrated more positive attitudes toward dreams, experienced dreams with greater intensity, and shared dreams more frequently than Han Chinese. Moreover, the attitudes of the Tibetans toward dreams were more indicative of dream intensity and the frequency of dream sharing compared to Han Chinese. Additionally, dream intensity completely mediated in the relationship between attitudes toward dreams and the frequency of dream sharing in both Tibetan and Han Chinese populations. The findings indicate that different cultural contexts demonstrate unique attitudes toward dreams, including variations in dream intensity and the frequency of dream sharing. The Tibetan population, closely intertwined with nature and characterized by a unified set of religious beliefs, such as Tibetan Buddhism, likely has heightened positive perceptions of dreams. This is reflected in their elevated attitudes toward dreams, increased dream intensity, and more frequent dream sharing, as well as a stronger interconnection among these dimensions. Conversely, the Han Chinese, characterized by their widespread distribution and diverse religious beliefs, tend to prioritize material reality over spiritual practices such as dreaming, especially in the context of rapid urban development. These findings shed light on the cultural influences on dreaming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
Publication date: Mon, 02 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT Access the article >>A study on the dreams of Miao and Han college students in Guizhou Province.
The goal of this study attempts to explore the differences in attitude toward dreams and their possible cultural causes between Han (the majority ethnicity in China) and Miao ethnicity by comparing the dreams from these two groups. Both quantitative (Attitude Towards Dreams Scale and Typical Dream Questionnaire) and qualitative analysis of dream contents have been utilized to explore the dreams of Han and Miao college students in Guizhou Province, where the largest percentage of the Miao ethnic group in the world now resides. The results showed that: (a) There is a significant difference in the themes of typical dreams from Miao and Han college students, which is related to geographical and cultural factors. (b) Miao college students generally have richer dream contents, but a more peaceful attitude toward dreams; this is likely because they have more psychological resources; therefore, dreams are mostly viewed as only one of the channels for them to communicate with their ancestors and nature. Compared to their Han counterparts, Miao college students have more psychological resources because of their cultural identity. The Miao ethnic group’s unique culture is ever present in their unconscious, allowing for more ordinary attitudes toward their dreams. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Publication date: Mon, 04 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT Access the article >>Measuring dream recall frequency with questionnaire scales and diaries: Reliability and validity.
Research has demonstrated that we very likely dream every night in every sleep stage; however, the ability to recall a dream upon awakening shows large interindividual as well as intraindividual differences. Over the years, researchers studied the reliability and validity of different dream recall measures. In this study, 81 persons (59 women, 22 men) with a mean age of 24.44 ± 8.49 years completed four different retrospective measures of dream recall and a dream diary over a 4-week period. The findings indicate that all dream recall measures (retrospective and prospective) showed high intercorrelations. As all retrospective measuring (last night, last week, last 28 days) yielded comparable estimates of dream recall frequency, it can be argued that underestimation due to memory might be rather small. In addition, we found the expected logbook enhancement effect, that is, dream recall increased during the 4-week period keeping the diary. The internal consistency (reliability of measuring interindividual differences in dream recall with diaries) was sufficiently high for a 2-week period and very high for the 4-week interval. Lastly, the frequency of “white dreams” was not related to the retrospectively elicited dream recall frequency and, thus, indicates that participants do not include “white dreaming” in their dream recall frequency estimates. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Publication date: Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT Access the article >>Interpretability of rapid eye movement and nonrapid eye movement dreams.
This study examined whether rapid eye movement (REM) sleep mentation provides more pertinent material for dream interpretation compared to non-REM (NREM) sleep mentation. Seventeen participants spent three consecutive nights at a sleep laboratory, where awakenings were scheduled to collect dream reports from both REM and NREM sleep. Participants interpreted their dreams using guided questions based on the Hill cognitive-experiential model. External judges evaluated dreamers’ insight and the interpretation process. Results indicated that REM dream reports contained significantly longer and more complex narratives compared to NREM dream reports. Participants did not generate more associations from REM dreams than from NREM dreams; however, they derived more meaningful insight from REM dreams. Additionally, participants were significantly more likely to report gaining inspiration or solving problems through REM dreams than through NREM dreams, with a moderate effect size. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Publication date: Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT Access the article >>Dreaming about pain: Dreams series of a chronic pain patient.
The occurrence of physical pain in the dreams of healthy individuals is relatively rare, while patient populations report pain more frequently in their dreams. This study conducted dream content analysis on a long dream series (N = 4,254) from a patient diagnosed with a chronic pain-inducing illness at a young age. We found that 9.76% of the dream reports referenced pain, experienced by the dreamer, other characters, or as a thematic element. The dreamer frequently reported pain in her whole body, limbs, and joints, suggesting a correspondence with her waking-life experiences with pain. The emotional tone of the pain dreams was predominantly negative, though occasional positive emotions reflecting relief from pain were observed. These findings highlight the multifaceted ways of integrating pain into dream content and suggest continuity between waking-life pain and pain dreams. Future research should explore the exact relationship between waking-life pain intensity and pain dream frequency in chronic pain patients to better understand pain as a sensory characteristic of dreaming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Publication date: Mon, 09 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT Access the article >>The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.
- Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person (1961)
Reach Out