Three Basic Questions about Dreaming 3
During the 20th and early 21st centuries, the psychological investiga-
tion of dreams has expanded tremendously. Using a variety of new
methods and techniques, psychologists have studied different types and
forms of dreaming, examined the relations of dreaming to other mental
processes, and explored the various connections between dreaming and
waking. The result of all this research has been nothing less than a
revolution in how we view human nature. Anyone who wants to under-
stand the essential qualities of the human mind and its potential for
growth must now take into account modern psychological research on
dreaming.
This book is an introduction to the major theories of modern psychol-
ogy regarding dreams and dreaming. It offers a brief history of how these
theories have developed from 1900 to the present, along with an extensive
bibliography of key books and articles on the contemporary study of
dreams. Although the focus is specifically on psychology, some attention
will also be given to approaches taken by other fields of study (e.g.,
anthropology, literature, religion). Attention will also be given to the social,
historical, and biographical factors that have shaped this area of research
and influenced why psychologists first became interested in dreams, how
they have pursued their studies, and what they have discovered.
The major approaches to dreams and dreaming are presented here in a
roughly chronological order in order to give readers a sense of how each
new approach depends—in complex and varying ways—on those
approaches that preceded it. The work of Sigmund Freud is described first,
in chapter 2, as he gave the pioneering modern statement on a comprehen-
sive psychology of dreaming. Freud developed an approach to dreams that
every subsequent theory has had to acknowledge. The modern psychology
of dreaming simply cannot be understood without a solid grounding in
Freud’s work. Next comes the dream theory of Carl Jung in chapter 3.
Although originally a student of Freud, Jung split from him and went on to
formulate his own approach to dreams. In many ways, Jung’s work has
become even more influential than Freud’s on modern dream psychology.
Chapter 4 discusses the many alternative clinical views of dreams that
have developed out of the therapeutic practices of different psychologists.
These approaches offer responses, revisions, and occasionally vigorous
challenges to the theories of Freud and Jung. The fifth chapter outlines
the body of physiological research generated by the discovery of rapid eye
movement (REM) sleep in the 1950s by laboratory researchers at the Uni-
versity of Chicago. This research indicated that the subjective mental
experience of dreaming is closely related to complex physiological pro-
cesses occurring in the brain during sleep. Chapter 6 describes the work
