Thursday, February 9, 2012

Recent Study by Dale & DeCicco, 2012

In a recent study by Dale & DeCicco (2012) the authors examined the dreams of Canadian Male University Students. This was the first study of its kind to examine only males in order to gain insight into their unique dream imagery patterns. One finding from the study with regression analyses is that strangers appearing in the dreams predict discovery about anger. What are the implications of this finding for research and clinical practice? Also, how does this fit with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming?

22 comments:

  1. I actually took the time to read this study since I found it when looking for an article for my presentation on dreams in University students. It was found that anger was correlated with both confusion and perceived aggression and threat. This makes sense because it was found that familiar people that the dreamer loves and cares about were associated with positive emotions in the dream. So if anger is associated with strangers than this could be do to the unfamiliarity of them is perceived to be a threat, or their presence confuses the dreamer because they don't recognize the individual. This is consistent with the continuity hypothesis because males would typically feel more fear/apprehension/confusion/threat from other males that are strangers to them in waking day. The fact that these themes remain to be true in their dream content supports this hypothesis, since males generally have more aggression in their dreams than females.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Implications of a study such as this for a clinical setting would most likely be centered around therapy. For example, if it is known that strangers in the dreams of university males predict for discovery about anger, any therapy wishing to work on anger management would do well to ask male university patients for a dream involving a stranger. This would be useful in helping promote dream therapy through discovery about a subject that the individual is currently dealing with. In a research setting, it would be interesting to see if strangers predict for discovery about anger in males who are not in university.

    I think that this example of research would fit with the continuity hypothesis, as an unidentified individual within a dream seems likely to be a reflection of some part of the dreamer, such as their anger in this situation. As mentioned above, it does make sense that strangers would be associated with negative emotions as compared to positive emotions. Friends and family members are likely to have positive memories for an individual in their dreams, as in general we feel more positively towards familiar people and settings than unfamiliar people and settings.

    -Carey-Ann Bette

    ReplyDelete
  3. This fits very well with the continuity hypothesis, as it is known (Gender psychology) that males are socialized to aggression, particularily with someone who is an out-group member (social psychology). At the University age, from a developmental perspective, men are still carving an identity and are in intense competition for mates, therefore strangers can be perceived as a threat to both. Cognitive immaturity may also be a factor here. This of course depends on the temperament of the individual.
    In terms of therapy and clinical practice, this may have NO bearing, since these things are 'normal' developmental milestones. Although depressing and sad, they may not be pathological. If the client is distressed about the agressive imagery however, perhaps identifying where sources of threat/ anger in waking life could be explored. A little CBT into perception of strangers may be helpful too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Men tend to have more aggression towards other males than females which is continued into their dream state (Continuity hypothesis). Females tend to dream about more familiar people whereas males spend more time in unfriendly, or unfamiliar settings. This could lead to males feeling threatened or that they need to impress or show their masculinity to other individuals. University is a time of uncertainty and a lot of growing/maturing happens at this time so these strangers in the dreams could represent the unknown which causes males to act aggressive. Their behaviour is something that comes naturally and this may be because they don't know how to properly display their emotion. For future research, the possibility of cognitive behavioural therapy and dream interpretation/dream content analysis could be used. This could help these individuals function more positively in their waking day which can reflect their dream state. Also, the possibility of studying university males in a variety of programs, career goals, etc. could also help shed light on male university students' dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think it’s very interesting that the study found that images of strangers led to discovery about anger. We know that the images in our dreams are not necessarily literal but can be representative. Therefore, maybe the person in the dream is presenting as a stranger, even though the stranger in the dream might be representing someone the dreamer knows very well. The dreaming mind might be creating an image of a stranger for deeper reasons. Maybe it’s easier for me to get discovery about feelings of anger towards a stranger than if the image was clearly of someone they knew and cared about. I think the continuity hypothesis is relevant here as well. If the continuity hypothesis says that we dream about our waking day experiences, than it’s important to keep in mind that this sample was male university students. They encounter people all day long who are strangers to them in the hallways, classrooms and buses that take them to and from school. If we dream about what we live through the day, it doesn’t surprise me that male students would have meaningful dreams about strangers. Maybe as university students they have feelings of anxiety or being overwhelmed or scared but perhaps the males report these feelings as anger instead. As far as research goes, it would be interesting to know if men in general report more strangers in their dreams than women do or if women perceive the presence of a stranger in their dreams differently.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This particular finding fits with the Continuity Hypothesis, in that it clearly represents the male gender role in society. Men, more so than women, have always been reared toward a more aggressive approach to others, including the familiar and the unfamiliar, whereas women take a more passive approach. It is rather interesting that in the study, the appearance of a stranger in the dream predicted a discovery of anger. Possibly, this could represent a man’s natural instinct of protection. They could perceive something of value to be in danger, and aggression/anger is their way of resolving the problem/situation. As mentioned above, the stranger could be a representation of negative feelings, and this is a prominent theme that helps to predict dream imagery for men. The implications of this finding for research and clinical practice include: that there were only males involved in this study, and further, there were only 39 males, who submitted 1 dream each. As mentioned in the article, that this sample size is large enough for statistical power, it would be helpful if future research replicated the results with a larger population, with more students (or any age group) who submit more than 1 dream each. Though, as mentioned in the article, this study is the first to explore an area not yet researched, which is the analysis of dream content and discovery in male dreams. As it is the first to be conducted, this study is a starting point for this area of research, and therefore much more research needs to be conducted to prove validity and reliability of the study (results) and measures used.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Similarly to the previous comments, I find it interesting that the appearance of strangers in males' dreams predicted their discovery about anger as this speaks wonders about males' gender differences from females, as well as the associations that they make between waking day emotion and dream content. Firstly, I must say that as a female, when I dream about strangers I do not associate feelings of anger/anxiety towards them, but rather curiosity and novel excitement. Unless I differ significantly from the majority of females, this shows that men and women associate different feelings to situations where control may be lacking or unavailable. Having been gendered towards a male "protector/breadwinner", the fear of the unknown can easily be seen as a threat to men and their partners, lifestyles, reputations, etc. Whereas for females the lack of control may elicit feelings of new opportunities and change. These findings are consistent with the Continuity Hypothesis as they support the research done on males' personality characteristics (anger, independent, etc)and their exemplification of these traits through everyday actions. Of course, a stranger in waking day may cause feelings of fear/anger in a male, their dreams involving a similar stranger will follow the same pattern and provoke the same feelings. However, as this study is still in its preliminary stages, the context/situational factors should be studied more thoroughly to associate specific variables that may contribute to the feelings of anger towards novel characters in dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The implications of this finding for research and clinical practice are that, if strangers appearing in the dreams predict discovery about anger, then clinicians will be better able to judge perhaps the amount of anger the client is experiencing, whether they admit to this anger or not. Such that, the client may not be admitting that they are angry about a particular situation that is being focused on in therapy, but if the dream journal reflects many strangers, the clinician can have a better idea of the emotions the client is feeling. This is can be true regardless of whether the client is admitting or even aware of these feelings. This also helps if the client is working through their anger and therefore the strangers start to decrease in their dreams. Seeing the decrease in dream journals may allow the clinician to see the client is better dealing with these issues and their anger is decreasing.
    As per the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, I feel this finding does fit because past research does suggest that males tend to have strangers appear in their dreams more, and they also tend to have more aggression in their dream discoveries. Men and women at a University level are experiencing a lot of pressure, unknowns, failure and achievement. I think with this mix of emotion, it makes complete sense that strangers would appear in dreams of both genders, as a symbol of confusion, and unknown, but because of men’s tendency to experience more aggression, the predictability of aggression through images of strangers, fits the continuity hypothesis.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I also think that males fight with other males so that if they are feeling angry about something then they most likely will be mad at a male in their dream instead of a women. I also strongly agree with the point made about the uncertainty of the anger and that is why it is someone they don’t know and this therefore is a negative dream. I also thought about the point made above that men usually do not admit or report a lot about their dreams so if they are repressing anger the clinician can still see that there is some anger there because of the number of male strangers in the dream. This would be a way she could be aware of what he is really feeling instead of being told what he is repressing.
    Also this fits in perfectly with the continuity hypothesis and would be super helpful to clinicians all for the reasons stated above.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is an interesting finding. Perhaps males could be predicting anger in a males life because they are someone unfamiliar to the dreamer and could possibly be posing as a threat. Strangers are sometimes enemies in waking life and therefore this could be representing anger. As others have mentioned if a clinician is working on anger problems with a patient they could ask them to keep a dream journal to see if strangers are still common in their dreams. It would also be beneficial to see that a male is experiencing anger when maybe they do not want to admit it. Men in general seem to have more aggression in their everyday waking life than woman this could therefore account for why more strangers are appearing in their dreams. This is also an example of the continuity hypothesis. It is common in these years to see anger problems as there is a lot going on in their lives. Therefore everyday struggles causing may be causing anger may appear in their dreams as strangers.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The findings from this study make sense to me, and demonstrate what I would expect to find. Males usually carry more anger and aggression in comparison to women, and I believe that this anger/aggression is usually due to outside factors. Therefore it would not surprise me that anger in male dreams were represented by strangers. I also believe that these findings fall into lines with continuity hypthesis as males are usually holding anger and aggression towards people who are posing as some sort of threat to them (i.e. strangers).

    I do agree with previous posts however to have males keep a dream journal to see if the occurance of strangers representing their anger is consistent across their dreams, and keeping track of occurances going on in their daily lifes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am not surprised with the finding of this study, and that in male dreams there was a link between the appearance of strangers and anger. This fits very well with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. This is because in real life people can often become threatened and can even become angry by strangers. An implication that this could have in clinical practice would be in regards to therapy. If a male is having a lot of dreams with a lot of strangers, this could help the therapist realize that there are some anger issues that are not being addressed.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I did not find it uprising that strangers appearing in the dreams predict discovery about anger. Based on what we know of the characteristic of male dream imagery, this fits with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. We know men dream more of conflict and based on what we know about conflict, we can assume it is often associated to feelings of anger. The emotion of anger could be represented in the imagery of strangers if the individual thinks the presence of strangers could represent a coming threat or conflict.
    I agree with Chris on the clinical implications for the findings. Anger is a normal emotion to experience. Clinical treatment might not be necessary unless other pathologies are present. However, that is not to say that the individuals cannot continue dream interpretation methods that would help them with discovery of waking day issues.

    Grace Williamson

    ReplyDelete
  14. Given that dream imagery of strangers predicts discovery about anger in males, it can be implied that something about strangers is what triggers anger. Perhaps when males are continuously angry towards strangers for no particular reason, this could give them some insight that they may have a problem with anger. When one is angry at a spouse or a loved one, it is quite easy to think of a reason or excuse to be angry with something they do, especially if they are around them often. Perhaps men dreaming about strangers poses some sort of threat or feelings of anxiety. This is a good example of the continuity hypothesis because men are more likely to show aggression towards complete strangers given that women are more passive aggressive than males.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Like professor DeCicco mentioned, this study is the first of its kind. Therefore, the findings from this study will add to the growing field of dream research. Clinicians can now use this new information to help male patients (specifically male students in their twenties) find discovery and make changes in their waking day life. The clients most likely will not know that the appearance and pattern of strangers in their dreams is a sign of aggression in waking day life. In knowing that strangers in dreams predicts discovery, the clinician may want to take action and try different dream interpretation methods such as TSM or the 2A method to help with discovery. It’s important to keep in mind that this study is the first of its kind so certainly more research should be conducted. However, it’s something that clinicians can be conscious of when dealing with this specific type of client.
    This is also an example of the continuity hypothesis because stranger’s usually are symbols of something unknown or threatening. It is also characteristic of males to be aggressive towards strangers rather than people they know.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Strangers appearing in male university students' dreams predicted discovery about anger which could have implications for research and clinical practices by how psychologists can aid patients who have strangers in their dreams in finding whether or not that person is a stranger in waking day. If the continuity hypothesis is true, then what we dream about relates to our waking day troubles. Did a stranger recently come into the patient's life and make them angry (ex. family member's new significant other)? Or does the stranger in the dream represent someone who should have had a bigger role in the patient's life but didn't (absent father)?
    In a clinical setting, psychologists can be aware that male students who dream of strangers is predictive of anger and can then help to find the source of that anger.
    In research, psychologists can figure out why it is that strangers in male university students' dreams tend to predict anger.
    Tara-Lee Upshall

    ReplyDelete
  17. We have learned that men are more likely to have strangers in their dreams, and they are also more likely to engage in unfriendly behaviour, compared to females. It would make sense that having more strangers in dreams relates to anger, because these men could have been engaging in unfriendly behaviour with these strangers. In waking life, men tend to be more aggressive, which is probably why there is more anger in their dreams. According to the continuity hypothesis, it would make sense that men who are engaging in aggressive behaviour in waking day would also dream about anger or angry situations. The fact that the study found that males who dream of strangers have discoveries related to anger implies that male university students are probably undergoing a lot of stress or pressure during this time. Since men are more likely to hold things in, their dreams could be revealing some of their inner frustrations. The stranger in the dream could symbolize uncertainty in their lives, or perhaps, anxiety and fear about the future that comes out in the form of anger. Clinicians and researchers could use these results for future studies and to better understand the needs of their patients. For instance, if a clinician has a patient who sees a lot of strangers in his dreams, he/she could interpret this as a sign of anger, and move forward from there.

    ReplyDelete
  18. To me, this article’s findings imply that the dream imagery of a stranger represents or has an association to something in the dreamer’s waking life that upsets/angers them. This fits the continuity hypothesis, as Chris pointed out that males in society are brought up to be aggressive and competitive in nature in order to succeed. During the waking life, when these aggressive and competitive tendencies are in conflict with an unfamiliar threat that can risk an individual’s need for success, the individual may experience a sense of anger. While dreaming then, this emotion of anger would be associated with the unfamiliar threat, and the unfamiliar threat in turn would be represented by the dream imagery of a stranger.

    From a research standpoint, these findings reveal that there is a connection between dream imagery and emotions in the waking life, and that more research is required to understand how these emotions are being attached to or revealing themselves through dream imagery (in what other ways are these emotions showing up in dream imagery?). Clinically, these findings imply that male patients could perhaps benefit from meditation and relaxation exercises to ease their mind in a way to tone down daily life aggression (in addition to anger management). Obviously an examination of the stressors and conflicts in one’s life could also reveal perhaps why someone is upset/angry during their waking life, and reflecting these events and emotions in their dreams. Finally, dream therapy using the 2A Method would benefit from these findings, as this method is very suitable for revealing associations between dream imagery and waking day events, while also revealing possible emotions that are connected to these events and imagery.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This study makes sense in that when males dream about strangers, there is a perceived threat, which could show anger in their waking day life. If a male were to see familiar people, there would not be any perceived threat because he would know these people and know that they mean him no harm. In terms of clinical and research practice, clinicians can look into the dreams of males and if there are a lot of strangers, then perhaps this male is having a lot of anger issues in his waking day life. It could also imply that maybe he has an anger problem that he needs to deal with in his waking day life, maybe one that he did not know about prior to his dream interpretations. This study does fit the continuity hypothesis in that, having anger issues/problems in waking day life can be shown in the number of strangers that are in the male's dream images.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The finding that strangers appearing in the males dreams predict discovery about anger makes sense because as we have learned, males are particularly aggressive with other unfamiliar males in their waking day life, and they are generally more aggressive than females. This fits in with the continuity hypothesis because having anger in their waking day life would also come out in their dream imagery. Specifically, males may feel more of a threat from other males that are strangers to them in waking day, and using the continuity hypothesis these themes would also be seen in their dream content.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Males are brought up in a different way than females. They are more competitive and aggressive with strangers in waking day so this reflects in their dreams. This agrees with prior research that boys have more unpleasant dreams featuring strangers as they get older. Implications for research could be that analyzing certain characters can show hidden emotion. Anger wasn't outwardly present in the dreams but it was associated with strangers. It would also be interesting to see if there is a pattern in the stranger's characteristics and if this relates to a certain discovery (such as if it is a female or male stranger, etc.) The implications for clinicians would be that certain symbols in dreams may lead to hidden emotions that the person is experiencing. This could especially help with males because they tend to hide their emotions in comparison with females.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I do agree with these findings although there are some implications related to this research study. The researchers must look into the individual's life in order to see whether or not this "stranger" is in fact a stranger. Also, these findings can lead to the assumption that all individuals having strangers in their dreams are experiencing anger. This study fits very well with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. This is because in real life people can often experience being threatened and experience becoming angry because of strangers.
    I do believe that within the dreams of males, there will be more aggressive features and symbols in comparison to a female's dream imagery.

    ReplyDelete