Psychology - How Our Habits Affect Our Dreams

Hannah Murphy

PSY 110

How Our Habits Affect Our Dreams

The main point of this article is to inform us about how in real life situations there’s many ways to do things and whichever way we chose affect’s what goes on in our dreams. We feel as if we can’t control our dreams, but this article will explain that our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors while were awake influence how our dreams are made. How we react and behave in our lives influences how we behave in our dreams therefore were responsible for creating our own dreams.

In this article I didn’t read about any studies proving that this theory is true, but reading this article alone was enough evidence to prove that it’s possible. In this article it separate’s each situation such as when were awake and we come past a situation where we have many options to solve the problem and whichever solution we chose it breaks down on how that solution will affect our dreams whether it’s good or bad. For an example they use this scenario, “You are taking a hike through a beautiful national park when you come to a rickety old bridge crossing a dangerously steep canyon. Do you: A) turn around to find another path B) cringe and shuffle across, imagining you are somewhere else C) freeze in fear D) leap forward confidently?”

After they give you this scenario in the article they go on to talk about each dream as if that’s the one you would chose. For example if you chose to turn around to find a different path, they say this is a logical approach to avoiding a frightening situation, physically changing your circumstances to search for another possible solution. It’s common for such things to happen in dreams, you notice an obstacle and wish for an alternate path, then suddenly a bizarre solution presents itself, or the scenery abruptly changes. Another dream you can chose is cringe and imagine you are someplace else which they describe this technique as dissociation which can have powerful consequences in dreaming. The dissociation enabled by the dreams you have may allow the dreamer to rehearse and imagine very frightening or emotional situations which you may not be able to do in real life. For example it is not uncommon for a dream to shift from one person to third person. Or there’s an option to choose to freeze in fear, which brings negative emotions, like fear. In this case fear can create a downward spiral, where the mind magnifies the problem and amplifies the fear. As the dreamer becomes more afraid, the dream becomes more frightening. The last dream you can chose in this scenario is to leap onward. This brings positive emotions, and broadens our mental capacity, increase openness to others, and encourage you to curiosity and exploration. In this dream if you have a positive emotion towards the bridge and decide to go ahead and cross the rickety bridge a dream might allow you to fly over the bridge and make it to the other side safely?

The research here is relevant and important because if people read this article they might come across a situation that in the article will determine that whatever solution they go with will affect their dreams. So they have a guide to let them know which solution could give them a good or bad dream and from personal experience I would rather go with a solution that’ll in the end give me a good dream instead of a bad, and also whatever dream you have could affect your mood when you wake up the next morning or your sleep patterns due to how bad of a dream you have.

        Topics and chapters I’ve learned so far in this psychology class that relate to this article would be chapter two because it discusses the biology of our behavior, and this article states that our behavior is an influence on making our own dreams. Chapter three also because it has to do with sensation and perception which are the processes involved in detecting stimuli in the world around us, transmitting them to the brain, and then organizing and interpreting them, this relates to the article by how we react to the environment and interpret them will influence how we go about things which also will affect what and how we dream about things. The next chapter that I believe relates to this article is the chapter were covering now which is chapter five because it’s about learning and different kinds of learning this relates by we learn in the article different situations and outcomes towards things so we realize the consequences which could outcome to positive or negative consequences for us in our dreams.