Why do we get dreams? I know in bible times , God would send dreams as messeges( or angles ) to people. But I still don't know why we get dreams. Anyone have any logical answers?
We most commonly get dreams during REM sleep (rapid eye Movement). Our bodies become paralysed to prevent us acting out our dreams. (Our eye movement can be correlated to our dreams e.g. if you dreamt you were an umpire at a tennis match your eyes would go side to side).
some psychologist believe our dreams and nightmares are practise for real life. A study carried out several years ago recorded peoples score on a ski simulator. The participants went to sleep and their dreams were recorded. The next day they played the game again and the results of the study showed that people who dreamt about performaing the task were more succesful at it the second time round.) Although some dreams are obviously just random thoughts many dreams especially nightmares have some grounding in the real world. It is thougt that our ancestors "cave men" dreamt about wolves attacking them in the way that a modern adult may dream about car crashes.
My favourite theories behind dreams are by Freud. He stated the brain had a super-ego (the conscience), the ego (pre-conscious) and the id (subconscious). The super-ego wants to act in a socially acceptable manner and aims for perfection. The id is basic it wants simple pleasure at any cost. The ego "seeks to please the ids drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bringing grief.". The id and super-ego are opposites. while the ego is like a peace keeper. Dreams therefore are what the super-ego allows through to the conscious mind as an interpretation of what the id wants.
There's also the theory about dreams that holds that all dreams are just the brains interpretations of random and sporadic impulses that occur at night. Meaning, dreams hold no significance to anything except that the brain interprets them in a way that is meaningful to the person having the dream. However, all the ideas on dreams as of now are just theories, no one's really sure.
The participants went to sleep and their dreams were recorded. The next day they played the game again and the results of the study showed that people who dreamt about performaing the task were more succesful at it the second time round.)
That's because muscle memory is consolidated during sleep. All the motions you have gone through during the day become more of a pattern to your body. This is part of the reason why it's good to get a decent amount of sleep when training for a sport.
Dreams are bits and pieces of your daily experiences churned out in a bizarre incident or incidents while you are asleep. I get alot of nightmmares on zombies, must be because of all those zombie shows and games. xp
I have experienced some scary and weird nightmares and 50% of them have been about the future. Like I dream about running away from a wolf, and the next day I was running away from one. And other odd stuff.
Dreams therefore are what the super-ego allows through to the conscious mind as an interpretation of what the id wants.
Despite the fact Freud's ideas seem to be rather fashionable it is rather convenient that his theories are based on the sub conscious, something which cannot be proved or disproved. Personally I find his ideas rather flawed in many aspects, especially as they are so androcentric, which is amplified when one considers the era in which he came up with these theories.
Freud was usually very careful in the way he "roved" is theories. Look at little Hans so much is based on the reports of Hans father who was a fan of Freud (<cough> bias) I agree with you the theories are flawed but they are great none the less even if many assumptions have to be made.
Even if the Little Hans case study was unbiased, it is still only a case study, and so lacks ecological validity.
I think the main reason it remains popular is due to it's wide spread usage in psychopathology.Although, modern Freudians tend to be more conservative in the application of his ideas, so it is understandable why it is still so popular, even if its origins weren't 100% valid.
I think dreams are random thoughts that go through your mind while alseep. These thoughts may not actually be comepletely random, though. They could be based on what has happened previously, like something you're dwelling on, or just some random thing that's happened.
It can also be an unbiased prediction of the future. Without your what-ifs when you're awake and thinking consciously, your brain is thinking logically and putting together what something might occur as with the knowledge you have.
As for the random future events that come true, it could be anticipation to an event that you think may occur the next day because of something you know is going to happen.
Lol there's my rambling for the day. Just my thought on the matter. What I just said may not have made any sense at all, but dreams don't either. :P
