Shannon Walter
Professor Liao
English 104 – 33
12 March 2013
Research Proposal: The Psychology of Dreams For my research project, I am investigating the abstract world of dreams and the theories behind those dreams. Why we dream what we dream, and how, and where dreams come from. There have been many different theories on where dreams come from and how to interpret the dreams of different people. I will be exploring the similarities and differences of those theories along with speculating which theories are the most accurate, taking into consideration recent research on the psychology of dreams and dream interpretation. My main focus will be the world-renowned psychologist, Sigmund Freud. His theories on dreams and the interpretation of dreams are the most widely known and socially accepted theories, but are those theories the most accurate? That is what my research paper will be discussing and examining. This paper will be objective, simply providing the facts about dreams and the different theories regarding dreams and the interpretation of them. I will go in depth with why we dream what we dream, some of the most common dreams that people have, and what the most popular theories are behind the psychology of dreams. My purpose of this paper is to inform my audience of the theories behind dreams and where they come from. I will provide information on the different interpretations of common dreams, the history of dreams, and the basics of the sleeping cycle. My readers are my class peers as well as my instructor. I think that many people know the basics of how we sleep but I think that the general public remains oblivious as to why we dream what we dream, as well as where our dreams come from in our subconscious mind. The main percentage of the population continues through life without even giving their dreams a second thought, if their dreams mean anything, or if they serve a greater purpose in their lives and their subconscious thought process. I believe that people need to have a greater understanding of dreams to be able to better understand themselves and their wants and desires in their lives. The print format of my essay will give readers a chance to really understand the information that I am providing for them by giving them the opportunity to read at their own pace and to re-read sections they don’t quite grasp the first time read. I will begin my paper with the history of dreaming and the basic information needed to understand where dreams come from and the basics of the sleep cycle. I will then go into further detail of the different theories behind the dreaming process and the interpretation of dreams from different psychologists. Finally, I will state my position on which theories I think to be most current with recent psychological findings in the dream department. My main research questions will be where dreams come from in our minds as well as what are common dreams that people have, why they may have those dreams and also what theories on dreaming are the most current with recent research findings. Also, I will be giving a broad overview of what dreams are and how they happen. The main source that I will be focusing on is Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. It is essentially the book that started all of the theories on dreams and the interpretation of dreams. After this book was published, many other psychologists came out with their own theories on dreaming, but they were all based off of Freud’s initial theories. Many of my other sources are articles and journals that critique Freud and other psychologist’s theories; the sources analyze each theory and go into depth as to which of them are better than others and which are based off of more recent research findings than others. I also have a source that argues against the validity of Freud’s theories and concludes that while he is on the right track, he does not have all of the information needed to make the hypotheses that he is making. I have a great variety of sources that cover many different aspects of the psychology of dreams but they all connect by discussing the same topics as each other, as in Freud’s theories, the background of dreams, and theories that have branched from Freud’s theories. I have sources with many different positions and perspectives on each topic that I will be reviewing. My plan to collect information is to review the sources that I have already collected and sort through them to see if there is a lot of repetitive information. If there is too much recurring information I will possibly find more sources with diverse perspectives to add to my research findings. I will also conduct a survey on various social networking websites, such as Facebook, e-mail, and Twitter, to gather information from the general public about the types of dreams that they have and what they think they mean to get an idea of how the general public perceives their dreams. Some questions that I will be inquiring upon will be if they have recurring dreams and if so what they are about, also how they think dreams occur, as well as how often they can remember their dreams. I will have some multiple-choice questions as well as some open ended questions on my survey. When searching through the Ball State databases for sources, I used the key terms “dream psychology,” “Sigmund Freud,” and “dream theories” to narrow my search window and to find credible and relevant sources. I have found many books that give a lot of in depth information on the ideas behind dreaming and the basic principles of sleeping, dreaming, and interpreting dreams. Along with my books I have found many scholarly journal articles giving their viewpoints on different psychological dream theories and their opinions on which ones are more factually sound than others. I have also found magazine articles that are more directed towards the general public that put the theories into simpler terms, which will help my explanation of each theory be as clearly understood to the general public as possible. The key challenges that I will have for my research project are picking and choosing the most important parts of information to incorporate into my paper. The psychology of dreams is a very broad subject and could include a lot of information. I will need to dissect each source and find only the most essential information that will emphasize my points to the best of my ability. I think I will have to refrain from being too detailed in what I am talking about while still giving enough information for my thoughts to be understood. I will also need to allow myself plenty of time to conduct the survey so that I can receive enough responses to have a good amount of feedback along with managing my time to be able to go through all of my sources to pick and choose the information that I want to include in my research paper. I will need to be impartial in which theories and information I include in my research paper as to give my audience the most accurate and the most information possible.

Annotated Bibliography
Bulkeley, Kelly. An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming. Connecticut: Praegar, 1997. Print.

This book’s main subjects are the basic questions of dreaming: formation, function and interpretation. It also discusses Sigmund Freud’s “secret of dreams” as well as Jung’s theories on dreaming. I think that this book is a very reliable source because it gives plenty of thorough background information on how dreams occur and why to help me provide solid information for my audience about how dreams happen. Also, the author is the president of the association for the Study of Dreams and teaches at Saint Clara University. This book relates to my “Dream Dictionary” online source because they both give good background information on the basics of dreaming.
Colace, Claudio. Children’s Dreams: From Freud’s Observations to Modern Dream Research. London: Karnac, 2010. Print.

This book mainly focuses on Freud’s theories regarding the dreams of children. It talks about his methods of studying them and samples of his methods. This source is credible towards my topic because it goes more in depth into a specific category of dreams; it focuses only on the dreams of children. This will give me a closer look at how dreams differ between ages. This book correlates with the book The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud because it expands upon his theories and breaks them down into easier terms for people not familiar with psychology to comprehend.
Dallett, Janet. “Theories Of Dream Function.” Psychological Bulletin 79.6 (1973): 408-416. PsychARTICLES. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This article compares contemporary dream theories to Sigmund Freud’s dream theories. It mainly focuses on comparing and contrasting the theories of Freud and his mentee, Carl Jung. This article is very credible for my topic because it spells out many different theories from many different psychologists and their different point of views. It also has many sources backing up the information and theories in the article. This article relates to my other sources by discussing, again, Freud’s theory as well as comparing him to other, more contemporary theorists.

Dolias, Leo. “Bad Dreams Are Made Of This.” Existential Analysis: Journal Of The Society For Existential Analysis 21.2 (2010): 238-250. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This article examines the experience of talking about distressing dreams, or nightmares in a therapeutic setting. The author discusses his own work with the subject and specifically talks about a particular patient who had a recurring nightmare and has talked about it with him in therapy. I think that this source is very credible and current, considering it was published in 2010. Also, it gives a real life example of how dreams are used in the psychological world which will help me better understand the importance of the psychology of dreams for my topic. This article relates to my article “The Psychology of Dreams” because they both discuss how to use dream psychology in real life with real patients.
Dreamdictionary.org. 4 May 2010. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This website essentially sums up the basics of dreaming. It discusses the main types of dreams like daydreaming, nightmares/night terrors, lucid dreams, recurring dreams, and false awakenings as well as the history of dreams. I am not sure how reliable this source is because there is no publisher or author given on the website. The information seems to be accurate but you can never be sure without references to check. This source connects with my other source The Psychology of Dreams because they both discuss the basics of dreaming and both add to each other’s thoughts and main points.
Empson, Jacob. Sleep and Dreaming. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Print.

This book mainly discuses the process of sleeping but it also has some segments on dreaming. It discusses what a dream is and the psychoanalytic approach of dreaming as well as the perception and memory in sleep and your behavior while you are sleeping. This book adds to my knowledge about what dreams are and how they are used in the psychological world. It will help me to understand the basics of my topic. This book corresponds with the two sources The Psychology of Dreams and “Dream Dictionary” because all three give good basic information about dreams and them main points that everyone should understand before going further into the psychology of dreams.
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. Joyce Crick. New York: Oxford, 1999. Print.

This book is the original book that Sigmund Freud wrote describing his theories on dreaming and dream interpretation. It discusses the scientific literature on the problems of dreams, the different methods of interpreting dreams, the theory that dreams are a wish fulfillment, the material and sources of dreams, and so on. This source is very credible because it includes all of the original theories on dreaming and the interpretation straight from Sigmund Freud’s mind and will be very useful throughout my entire paper because this is the source upon which all others have branched out from. This book relates to all of my other sources because it is the reference point for almost all of my references.
Gulliver, Julia H. “The Psychology of Dreams.” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 14.2 (1880): 204-218. Penn State University Press. Web. 20 February 2013.

This article covers the basics of the psychology of dreams. It talks about each theory regarding dreams and goes in depth into why we dream and different types of dreams. Although this article is very outdated, I think that it will still be useful for my research paper because it covers broadly each theory put forth by psychologists concerning dreams, which is my main focus for my research paper. This article correlates with “Theories of Dream Function” because they both touch on each theory made from many different psychologists but they give different opinions about each theory.
Hall, Calvin S. The Meaning of Dreams. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966. Print.

This book gives a general idea of what dreams are, what we dream about and how they are interpreted. It also goes in depth with why there are symbols in our dreams that correlate with our real life situations. This book is credible because it gives a lot of good examples of different types of dreams as well as thorough information as to why we dream what we dream, which is one of my research questions. The only problem with this book is that it was published in 1966, which is not very recent so some topics in this book may have more information on them than they did in 1966. This book relates to my other sources because it gives good supporting background information on the in depth theories that my other sources discuss in greater detail.
Hobson, J.A. “REM Sleep and Dreaming: Towards a Theory of Protoconsciousness.” Nature Reviews.Neuroscience 10.11 (2009): 803-13. ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This article focuses on the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and how it has helped the understanding of the neural underpinnings of dreaming. It talks about the connection between brain mechanisms with the theories of dreaming and consciousness. I think that this is a very credible source. It has many charts and facts and figures to back up what it is saying and it covers the more scientific characteristic of dreaming which many of my other sources do not do. This source connects with my book source Sleep and Dreaming because it covers more on sleeping and the neurological aspect of dreaming instead of the psychological aspect, giving a new perspective on my topic.

Jones, Richard M. The New Psychology of Dreaming. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1970. Print.
This book discusses dream interpretation and the psychology of dreaming in general as well as going into more detail with the interpretation of dreams as well as theories on the psychology of dreaming. This source is credible for my topic because it discusses the major theories regarding the psychology of dreams as well as discussing the interpretation of dreams, which will help with one of my research questions. This source correlates with my book source The Meaning of Dreams because they both discuss theories on the interpretation of dreams that either support or contradict each other.
Kozmoveá, Miloslava, and Richard N. Wolman. “Self-Awareness In Dreaming.” Dreaming 16.3 (2006): 196-214. PsycARTICLES. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This journal focuses on the process by which self-awareness or consciousness is maintained and has been associated with the waking state. This journal is credible for my topic because it provides more information about the science behind dreaming instead of only the psychology and cognitive aspect of it. The journals list of references will help expand my exploration of this topic of this journal and learn more in depth about the subject. This journal relates to my other sources because it gives a new perspective to the theories on dreaming to expand my previous knowledge of the theories of dreams and gives good examples of psychology experiments having to do with my topic.
Malaton, Nadav. “The Riddle of Dreams.” Philosophical Psychology 24.4 (2011): 517-536. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This article discusses a question that was not answered in Freud’s book The Interpretation of Dreams, this question being “are dreams analogous to riddles?” It points out an unnoticed inconsistency between Freud’s rhetoric on his method of dream interpretation and its application in practice. This article is credible because it provides information in contrast to many of my other sources. It disputes parts of Freud’s book, which gives me a new point of view to consider when writing my paper. This article relates to Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams because it discusses his theories as well as states that there may be an error in his theories on dreams.
Solms, Mark. “Freudian Dream Theory Today.” The Psychologist 13.12 (2000): 618-619. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This article gives a brief summary of Freud’s theory on dreams and why/how they occur. It then beings to argue against his theory and comes to the conclusion that it is too soon to reach a definitive verdict on whether his theory was completely true or not, but it believes that he was on the right track. It gives a lot of helpful information in a short article so that there is not so much information to sift through. It has good references that I can use and the author is a credible source. This article correlates with many of my other sources because it goes hand in hand with the sources that discuss Freud’s dream theories.
Walden, Daniel, and Helena Poch. “Psychoanalysis Of Dreams: Dream Theory And Its Relationship To Literature And Popular Culture: Freud, Billy Joel, Appelfeld, And Abe.” Journal Of Popular Culture 32.1 (1998): 113-120. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

This article creates a connection between dream analysis and literature/popular culture. It mainly focuses on Freud’s theories of dream analysis and how he connects dreams with sexual repression. I think that this article has a creative twist on dream theories and what they have provided for society. It connects the psychology of dreams with real life situations where it can be applied. This article connects to my other sources because it explores abstract dream theories while still focusing on the main theory of dream analysis of Sigmund Freud.