Human Sciences Press, Inc., New York City

Volume 1, Number 3, September 1991

Dreaming in Reading Disabled Children: Formal Features
S. Butler and R.T. Pivik
Page 193

Dreams, Divination, and Yolmo Ways of Knowing
Robert R. Desjarlais
Page 211

Interdisciplinary Dreaming: Hobson's Successes and Failures
Kelly Bulkley
Page 225

Dreams as Literature/Science of Dreams: An Essay
Harry T. Hunt
Page 235

BRIEF NOTES
Why Study the Dream: Editor's Note
Ernest Hartmann
Page 243

Why Study Dreaming: One Researcher's Perspective
David Foulkes
Page 245

Why Study the Dream
Milton Kramer
Page 249

Rinfret, Natalie; Lortie-Lussier, Monique; De Koninck, Joseph.
The dreams of professional mothers and female students: An exploration of social roles and age impact.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 179-191, Sep 1991.

Abstract:

In the present study the dreams of 18 single female college students and 19 wage earning mothers were studied to test the hypothesis that age and social roles have an impact on manifest dream content. Two home collected dreams from different nights were analyzed. Statistical analysis of selected dream components yielded different characteristics for the two groups: husbands, children, unpleasant emotions, achievement strivings, autonomy, and physical aggression characterized the mothers' dreams, while those of the students were characterized by familiar characters, friendly interactions with males and overt hostility. More male-typed imagery was found in the mothers' dreams than in the students', and in contrast, the latters' had more female-typed imagery. The findings suggest, as hypothesized, that age and combination of worker and mother roles have an impact on dreams and challenge the notion that biological sex determines the content of dreams. Results are also discussed within a theoretical perspective concerning the adult development of women.

Key Words: dreams; women; professional women; female students.

Butler, Ph.D., S.; Pivik, Ph.D., R. T.
Dreaming in reading disabled children: Formal features.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 193-209, Sep 1991.

Abstract:

Recent experimental dream research has suggested a relationship between cognitive capability and the sophistication of nocturnal mentation (Foulkes, 1982). The present study further examined this relationship by comparing formal and representational characteristics of REM mentation of children with a specific reading disability (n=10) with those of gender and age-matched normal subjects (n=14). All children were eight to nine years of age and were administered a battery of cognitive tests, including measures of intelligence, sequential and simultaneous processing, and language development. The reading disabled children were characterized by difficulties in the sequential processing of information and exhibited less well-developed language abilities. Sleep patterns were polygraphically monitored for six consecutive nights. Children slept without experimental interruption for the first four nights (adaptation) and content arousals were made during REM sleep periods on the final two nights. In addition to the traditional dependent measures of recall rate and word count, formal qualities of REM reports were assessed for the presence of self-representation, type of dream imagery, temporal sequence and organization, and narrative richness.
Of the 14 variables examined, only three significantly differentiated between groups. Dream reports from reading disabled children were characterized by shorter temporal sequences, were described using fewer words, and contained a higher proportion of temporal units for which a self-character was scored. On the basis of these analyses, REM dreams of reading disabled and normal subjects appear quite similar. Nevertheless, the differences which were observed can be related to the sequential processing impairments of the reading disabled children.

Key Words: dreaming; visual imagery; REM sleep; sequential processing; cognitive development; children 5-8.

Desjarlais, Robert R.
Dreams, divination, and Yolmo ways of knowing.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 211-224, Sep 1991.

Abstract:

Of key interest to the anthropological study of dreaming is the relationship between cultural ways of knowing and the interpretation and sharing of dream accounts. The paper looks at divinatory dreams among Yolmo Sherpa of Helambu, Nepal, to examine how dream images form part of a local system of knowledge which aids in the assessment and communication of personal distress and social conflict. The author explores Yolmo philosophies of dreaming, and how these philosophies are put into practice, in order to show that dream reports span an extensive, intersubjective field of experience: they are a vehicle for social understanding, for they communicate to others experiences of personal distress not readily articulated in everyday life, and are an education into self-experience, for they reveal events deemed "unknowable" through ordinary, secular means.

Key Words: dreams; anthropology; Yolmo; divination.

Bulkley, M.T.S., Kelly.
Interdisciplinary dreaming: Hobson's successes and failures.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 225-234, Sep 1991.

Abstract:

The development of an interdisciplinary approach to dreaming has become a leading project for dream researchers. J. Allan Hobson's work The Dreaming Brain (1988) is a landmark contribution to this project – both for its successes and its failures. Hobson's principal accomplishment is to assert the necessity of a neuroscientific basis for dream study. However, Hobson's claims about how to interpret dreams – by simply reading the "transparent" meaning that is plainly on the dream's "surface" – are unjustified and mark a setback for interdisciplinary studies. Yet at the same time, Hobson's research into the "synthetic" process of dream formation can give us new insight into the legitimately religious meaning of dreams – how dreams may give us a sense of fundamental orientation in the midst of existential confusion and suffering. The Dreaming Brain thus provides, perhaps unbeknownst to Hobson, important resources for integrating scientific and religious approaches to dreams. This critical study of Hobson's work will reveal the contours of the "interdisciplinary bargain," i.e., the process of dialogue and debate to which we commit ourselves when we offer our work to other fields of research.

Key Words: dreaming; dream interpretation; activation synthesis; religion.

Hunt, Harry T.
Dreams as literature/science of dreams: An essay.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 235-242, Sep 1991.

Abstract:

The issue of the meaningfulness or randomness of dream content is addressed by considering the ways in which most dream experience actually falls short of genuine metaphor and literary narrative. These "failings" allow us to address the possibility of a developmental tendency or "striving" in at least some dreams.

Key Words: dreams; creativity; imagination.

Hartmann, Ernest.
Why study the dream: Editor's note.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 243-244, Sep 1991.

Key Words: dreams; mind; brain.

Foulkes, David.
Why study dreaming: One researcher's perspective.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 245-248, Sep 1991.

Key Words: dream; cognitive psychology; cognitive sciences.

Kramer, Milton.
Why study the dream.
Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 1(3) 249-251, Sep 1991.

Key Words: dream; thinking; imagery; narrative.