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ABSTRACT Psychological significance of Korean women’s "conception dreams" Nah-Ree Doh, MS. Roger M. Knudson, Ph. D. Nah-Ree Doh is a second year graduate student in the Ph. D program in clinical psychology at Miami University. She grew up in Korea and was exposed to both Korean ways and Western ways of understanding dreams. She became interested in differences between the cultures in terms of experiencing dreams. Her research interests include cultural differences in the experience of dreaming, acculturation, and minority mental health. Roger Knudson is Director of Clinical Training in the Ph D program in clinical psychology at Miami University in Ohio and a member of the ASD Board of Directors. He has taught courses on dreams for 25 years at Miami. After several papers on the on-going significance of significant dreams, his research is now focusing on dreams in relation to eating disorders.
Summary of Presentation East Asian cultures believe that either a pregnant woman or a close family member will have a conception dream for their baby. This paper investigates how Korean women’s "conception dreams" affect their feelings, attitudes, and expectations toward the child during the pregnancy and after the birth as well as how the "conception dream" influences relationships in the family.
2. Why do traditional cultural beliefs have less influence on Asian people nowadays? 3. In what ways are Korean women living in the U.S. influenced by their dreams?
Abstract Asian cultures have believed that either a pregnant women or some other close family member will have a conception dream for each of their children before the baby is born. This belief is from China and has influenced Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and other Asian countries. People believe that the birth dream tells them whether they are pregnant or somebody close to them is pregnant, the gender of the baby, and the future of the baby. According to Seligson (1989), conception dreams are gradually disappearing nowadays due to modern life styles, western psychology and religious beliefs, and communism. However, conception dreams are still taken seriously by many Korean people and many Korean people still report having conception dreams. Although Asian conception dreams have a long history, there has been little research on conception dreams; and none of this focuses on the psychological influence of such dreams. In this study, we have interviewed 10 Korean women living in America who report having a conception dream for their child/children to investigate the way they understand, have experienced, and were influenced by the conception dream. The majority of Korean women were only interested in finding out the gender of their child from their conception dreams, and only a few of them report the influence of conception dreams on their feelings, attitudes, and their expectations for their child. In this paper, we discuss the psychological significance of the conception dream for some Korean women and differences in experiencing conception dreams among Korean women. In addition, we discuss Western influence on Korean women’s beliefs and attitudes toward the conception dreams.
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