Manifest Dreams: A Study of Primary and Secondary Processes and Gender
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1993
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
This is a study of manifest dreams focusing primarily on primary and secondary processes and gender. Subjects were college students from Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges. Five women and three men recorded their dreams for a two week period, as well as completed a Boundary Questionnaire, designed by Hartmann (1989). The questionnaires were coded and the dreams were transcribed and coded using grammatical software and a Primary Process Thinking Scale developed by Auld, Goldenberg and Weiss (1968). It was hypothesized that subjects that scored low ("thick") on the Boundary Questionnaire would use less primary process in their dream recall and would score lower on the Primary Process Thinking Scale. These subjects also would have a low reading ease score. It was hypothesized that subjects that scored high ("thin") on the Boundary Questionnaire would use more primary process in their dream recall and would score high on the Primary Process Thinking Scale. These subjects were predicted to have a higher reading ease score. With respect to gender, women were hypothesized to have "thinner" boundaries than men, therefore scoring higher on the Boundary Questionnaire. They would also have a higher reading ease and primary process thinking score. The experiment is also designed to see how variables such as the number of words, the number of sentences and the number of dreams varies from subject to subject and if it is influenced by the process they use. Manifest dreams from a previous study (Savadove, 1989) were also analyzed and compared to the manifest dreams collected in this study. Results of the dreams collected in 1989 showed a significant positive correlation between the average primary process score and the number of dreams, the average words, the average sentences, the average sentences per paragraph and the average reading ease. Negative correlations between the average primary process score and the average grade level and the average kincaid were also found to be significant. Results of the dreams collected in 1993 indicated significant positive correlations between average primary process score and average words, average sentences and average sentences per paragraph. There were no significant findings for gender.