Dream Perspectives
Dream Perspectives
November 28, 2011
Abstract
This paper will explore the three perspectives of dreaming. The psychoanalytic perspective, the cognitive perspective and the biological perspective. The psychoanalytic perspective, as conveyed by celebrated neurologist and founding psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is examined through his literary work The Interpretation of Dreams. This book serves as the basis of the psychoanalytic perspective which the other perspectives will be set against. The cognitive perspective will be viewed through the writing of David Foulkes in his book Dreaming: A Cognitive Psychoanalytic Analysis and the biological perspective will be discussed through the writings of Drs. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley of Harvard University. Through these sources it will be shown how the perspectives relate to one another so that a basic understanding of them can exist in the scientific community.
The recorded history of dreams dates back to 3100 B.C. through clay tablets describing the story of king Gilgamesh who reported his recurring dreams to his goddess-mother Ninsun, who made the first known dream interpretation (Seligman, 1948). Babylonians and other ancient cultures divided dreams into good ones that came from the gods and bad ones that came from demons (Oppenheim, 1966). Various other ancient cultures believed dreams to be spiritual and or demonic depending on the dream’s content. It was not until the Greek philosopher Aristotle, around 350 B.C, who interpreted dreams to have a physiological meaning. He believed that dreams could predict disease and analyze illnesses (O’Neil, 1976). Into the 19th Century there was still no scientific approach to understanding dreams or their meanings. In the late 19th Century Austrian psychotherapist Sigmund Freud took his practice of hypnosis of patients to relieve pain, which he thought was only a temporary cure, and decided to try what he
November 28, 2011
Abstract
This paper will explore the three perspectives of dreaming. The psychoanalytic perspective, the cognitive perspective and the biological perspective. The psychoanalytic perspective, as conveyed by celebrated neurologist and founding psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is examined through his literary work The Interpretation of Dreams. This book serves as the basis of the psychoanalytic perspective which the other perspectives will be set against. The cognitive perspective will be viewed through the writing of David Foulkes in his book Dreaming: A Cognitive Psychoanalytic Analysis and the biological perspective will be discussed through the writings of Drs. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley of Harvard University. Through these sources it will be shown how the perspectives relate to one another so that a basic understanding of them can exist in the scientific community.
The recorded history of dreams dates back to 3100 B.C. through clay tablets describing the story of king Gilgamesh who reported his recurring dreams to his goddess-mother Ninsun, who made the first known dream interpretation (Seligman, 1948). Babylonians and other ancient cultures divided dreams into good ones that came from the gods and bad ones that came from demons (Oppenheim, 1966). Various other ancient cultures believed dreams to be spiritual and or demonic depending on the dream’s content. It was not until the Greek philosopher Aristotle, around 350 B.C, who interpreted dreams to have a physiological meaning. He believed that dreams could predict disease and analyze illnesses (O’Neil, 1976). Into the 19th Century there was still no scientific approach to understanding dreams or their meanings. In the late 19th Century Austrian psychotherapist Sigmund Freud took his practice of hypnosis of patients to relieve pain, which he thought was only a temporary cure, and decided to try what he
References: Kurt Seligman, Magic, Supernaturalism and Religion. New York: Random House, 1948, pp. 1-11 Leo Oppenheim, "Mantic Dreams in the Ancient Near East," in G. E. Grunebaum & Roger Callois (eds.), The Dream and Human Societies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966. A volume touching on the psychological as well as sociological nature of dreams. O 'Neil CW. 1976. Dreams, culture and the individual. San Francisco : Chandler & Sharp Sigmund Freud, The interpretation of Dreams,1899 Hobson, J.A. & McCarley, R.W. The brain as a dream-state generator: An activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, 134:1335-1348, 1977. David G. Meyers, Exploring Psychology, 2011 A.E. Aserinsky & N. Kleitman, Science.118:273-274 (1953) David Foulkes, DREAMING: A Cognitive-Psychological Analysis.Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers 1985 Hillside, New Jersey