SLEEP

AND
DREAMS
HIGHER PSYCHOLOGY

North Berwick High School August 2018

 Sleep and dreams

Biological processes relating to sleep and dreams, which must include:

— the role of the brain in sleep
— circadian rhythms
— non-REM and REM sleep and dreaming
— Oswald’s (1966) Restoration theory of sleep
— the aims, methods, results and conclusions of Dement, W. and Kleitman, N. (1957). The relation
of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: an objective method for the study of dreaming.
Journal of Experimental Psychology 53, 339–46

Cognitive processes relating to sleep and dreams, which must include:

— sleep to facilitate information processing
— Crick and Mitchison’s (1986) Reorganisational theory of dreaming
— the aims, methods, results and conclusions of Czeisler, C. A., Johnson, M. P., Duffy, J. F.,
Brown, E. N., Ronda, J. M. and Kronauer, R. E. (1990). Exposure to bright light and darkness to
treat physiologic maladaptation to night work. New England Journal of Medicine 322, 1253–59

Psychodynamic processes relating to sleep and dreams, which must include:

— conscious and unconscious processes
— manifest and latent content of dreams

Defence mechanisms
factors affecting sleep, which must include:
— impact of drugs
— impact of light

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 Individual Behaviour:
Sleep, Dreams and Disorders

On any normal day of our lives, each of us engages in two very distinct kinds of
behaviours: sleeping and being awake.
 We all need and experience sleep
 We sleep up to a third of our lives
 We devote a third of our houses to sleep
 We all dream even if we don’t always remember

Consciousness
The main difference between being awake and being asleep is that in sleep, consciousness does not
intervene. When you’re asleep it’s somewhat as if your brain were closing itself off and becoming a
sort of “temporary autonomous zone”. In reality your brain is never completely cut off from the
rest of the world even during the deepest stages of sleep. A strong enough stimulus from your
environment will be perceived by your brain and cause you to wake up e.g. a baby crying. So sleep
is a period of brain activity where external stimuli are not thoroughly attended to.

Why do we sleep? Think about this question for a moment and write down as many possible
explanations as possible.

During this topic you will need to use three different approaches to explain sleep, dreams and
disorders. We will consider the biological, cognitive and psychodynamic approaches.

 Identify the main ideas/assumptions of each approach

 Which psychologists are associated with each approach?
 How do you think each approach would explain sleep? Why would we need sleep
according to each approach?

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 The Biological Process to Sleep & Dreams

The nervous system & brain areas

As in other areas of psychology, the biological approach explains sleep and dreams in terms of which brain
areas control behaviour.

The brain in general is directly in control of sleep. During the day, a chemical called adenosine builds up in
our brain’s neurons as a natural by-product. When we sleep, this build-up is cleared, and the adenosine is
replaced by energy in the form of glycogen. Evidence supporting this view is the fact that the stimulant drug
caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, making the body less responsive to the build-up of adenosine, and
reducing the feelings of tiredness.

Biological psychologists have identified particular areas of the brain that control circadian rhythms. The
hypothalamus is responsible for homeostasis (your body trying to maintain a balance as described in the
previous paragraph) and it contains an area called the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN) that controls our
circadian rhythms.

This approach also explains dreams biologically. Rather than look up the meaning of dreams, the biological
approach thinks that dreams largely result from random brain activity during sleep and are therefore
meaningless.

Evaluation
The explanation of sleep in terms of hormones and the brain is supported by studies of other animals. Even
though sleep patterns vary between species, melatonin appears to play a key role among all vertebrates.

However, the biological approach is limited. The explanation of dreaming is particularly limited. Although
the activation synthesis theory has been influential, many do not find the idea that our dreams are meaningless
very satisfying. The theory struggles to explain some major facts such as that 70% of dreams make sense and
that experiences from the previous day tend to appear during dreams.

The reductionist nature of the biological approach is oversimplified in that we can’t obtain a complete
understanding of human behaviour by focusing only on biological factors. For example, various
psychological, social and cultural factors influence the development of mental disorders such as depression
and stress, and these factors are ignored within the biological approach. These factors may affect sleep.

Circadian Rhythms

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All species have a timing mechanism, or internal body 'clock,' that controls periods of activity and inactivity
across a day, a season or a year. These clocks can produce a circadian rhythm that fluctuates on a roughly 24-
hour timetable. Sleep is part of a circadian rhythm.

circa = about
dia = day
circadian = about one day

While many people refer to circadian rhythms as a single process, there are actually a number of body
activities that oscillate throughout the day. For example, mental alertness tends to peak twice in a day but at
different times to peak physical strength.

How Does Your Body "Keep Time?"

Information from your eyes needs to get to the back of your brain. Part of the optic nerve from each eye
crosses over to the other side of the head. This crossing-over point is called a chiasma. This happens almost
in the centre of your head above the hypothalamus. In the hypothalamus is a cluster (nucleus) of about 20,000
neurons called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).

Supra = under
Chiasma = crossing point
Nucleus = cluster of brain cells

The SCN is the main controller of many circadian

rhythms and acts like an internal pacemaker.
Changes in the environment are assessed by the
brain and used to re-set the biological clock.
Environmental cues like day length are important.
Without these zeitgebers (“time-givers”) the body
cannot entrain (re-correct) itself properly to the
day-night cycle. When are you likely to face this
sort of problem?

So how does a zeitgeber like sunlight affect your

circadian rhythms? As the sunlight decreases at the
close of the day, the visual system sends signals to
the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Next, the SCN sends
signals to the pineal gland further back in the brain
to increase the production of the hormone melatonin. This hormone increase helps reduced activity and makes
you feel increasingly sleepy.

Zeitgebers
Another factor that affects sleep is a group of environmental triggers called zeitgebers. The word is German
for ‘time-giver’; it refers to environmental signals that affect our circadian rhythms and make our brain think
that it is time to sleep or wake up.
In our evolutionary past, we would start to feel sleepy as the day got late and it got darker. Light and darkness
are both zeitgebers, telling our brain that it is time to sleep or wake up. Nowadays, of course, we use artificial
lights and often stay awake (or get up) when it is dark outside.

Recently, researchers have realised that artificial light can disturb our circadian rhythms and affect the quality
of sleep. In particular, light from some low-energy lightbulbs and screens contain a large proportion of blue
wavelengths of light that have a strong effect in supressing sleep. In particular, they can supress the
production of sleep hormones such as melatonin.

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MYTH: TEENAGERS LOVE LYING IN BED
A common assumption is that teenagers are lazy, moody and unmotivated to get out of bed in the morning.
Carskadon et al (1983, 1997) showed real biological factors explain these types of behaviour. During
puberty, a 2-3 hours delay occurs in the circadian rhythms and children of this age, particularly males,
gradually shift their activity to 2-3 hours later than their parents. They still want a good night’s sleep of 9
hours but need to get up for school and so can be tired during the day.

What Happens When There is No Sunlight?

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When exposed to environmental sunlight signals which are zeitgebers, many of
the body's rhythms operate on a very similar schedule. When all natural light
cues are removed, these body clocks begin to operate on their own schedule.
Siffre (1975) spent 6 months underground with no cues as to time. His
circadian rhythm extended to 25hrs. This suggests that zeitgebers keep us
entrained to a 24hr day-night cycle by resetting our SCN that would otherwise
free-wheel for 25hrs.

Individuals who are blind from birth frequently have difficulty with their sleep-
wake cycle because of the complete lack of environmental light cues. Why is
this? How will they cope and entrain their internal body clocks?

Points to Remember:
 Your circadian rhythms are tied to environmental cues like sunlight called zeitgebers.
 Disrupting these patterns can lead to poor or difficult sleep.
 Without light signals, people tend to operate on a 25-hour schedule.
 Circadian rhythms also impact body temperature, pain sensitivity, mental alertness, physical strength, and
the senses.

MYTH: EVERYONE NEEDS 8 HOURS SLEEP A NIGHT

We’re not all the same when it come to the amount of sleep we need in order to function optimally the next
day. About 10% of the adult population needs much more sleep a night than the average 7-8 hours. Around
5% of the population can get along fine with only 5 or 6 hours of sleep. There is no particular amount of sleep
that is ideal in itself. The only criterion for whether you’re getting enough sleep is whether you feel in good
shape during the day.

Sleep requirements also vary over our lifespan.

Stage Age Average amount of sleep

New-born 0 to 2 months 12 to 18 hours
Infants 3 to 11 months 14 to 15 hours
Toddlers 1 to 3 years 12 to 14 hours
Pre-schoolers 3 to 5 years 11 to 13 hours
School children 5 to 10 years 10 to 11 hours
Adolescents 10 to 17 years 8.5 to 9.5 hours
Adults & elderly 17+ years 7 to 9 hours
Pregnant women 8 + hours

People sleep less than they used to in the past. This is due in part to electrical lighting, which makes it easy to
increase the number of hours of available light. What would this do to the brain?
People sleep less than they used to in the past. This is also due to the increasing emphasis placed on
productivity-related values across the last century.

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Activities

1. What does the term “circadian rhythm” translate as?

2. Explain what a circadian rhythm is.
3. What are zeitgebers? Give an example of one.
4. How are circadian rhythms related to light cues, and melatonin secretion?
5. Explain the myth of the lazy teenagers and how this links to their circadian rhythms.
6. What research was conducted by Siffre and what did he find?
7. Draw your own circadian rhythm clock. Use the picture on page 4 to help you. Take a full page
in your notes to complete this.
8. Look at the figures and see if you can explain the different sleep requirements for different people.
9. What age group(s) need the most sleep? Suggest an explanation for this.
10. Why do people sleep less now than they did in the past?
11. Explain the two factors that can affect sleep.

Stages of Sleep

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Most people have an idea about different kinds of sleep – for example shallow sleep, when you’re just waking up,
and deep sleep, when you feel groggy. However most people won’t know that there are 4 distinct stages to sleep
and just to complicate things, sleep does not progress through these stages in sequence!

Sleep begins in stage 1 and progresses into stages 2, 3 and 4. After stage 4 sleep, stage 3 and then stage 2 sleep are
repeated before entering rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Once REM sleep is over, the body usually returns to
stage 2 sleep. Sleep cycles through these stages approximately four or five times throughout the night.

On average, we enter the REM stage approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep. The first cycle of REM sleep
might last only a short amount of time, but each cycle becomes longer. REM sleep can last up to an hour.

Stage 1:
Stage 1 is the beginning of the sleep cycle, and is a relatively light stage of sleep. Stage 1 can be considered a
transition period between wakefulness and sleep. In Stage 1, the brain produces high amplitude theta waves,
which are very slow brain waves. This period of sleep lasts only a brief time (around 5-10 minutes). If you
awaken someone during this stage, they might report that they weren't really asleep.

Stage 2:
Stage 2 is the second stage of sleep and lasts for approximately 20 minutes. The brain begins to produce
bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles. Body temperature starts to decrease
and heart rate begins to slow.

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Stage 3:
Deep, slow brain waves known as delta waves begin to emerge during stage 3 sleep. Stage 3 is a transitional
period between light sleep and a very deep sleep.

Stage 4:
Stage 4 is sometimes referred to as delta sleep because of the slow brain waves known as delta waves that
occur during this time. Stage 4 is a deep sleep that lasts for approximately 30 minutes. Bed-wetting and
sleepwalking are most likely to occur at the end of stage 4 sleep.

Stage 5 – REM (Rapid Eye Movement)

Most dreaming occurs about an hour after we fall asleep during the fifth stage of
sleep, known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreaming occurs during REM
sleep and is characterized by the rapid and random movement of the eyes as well
as increased respiration rate and increased brain activity. We have around three to
five REM episodes a night. REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep
because while the brain and other body systems become more active, muscles
become more relaxed. Dreaming occurs due because of increased brain activity,
but voluntary muscles become paralysed. REM sleep in adult humans typically
occupies 20-25% of total sleep, about 90-120 minutes of a night’s sleep. A new-born baby spends almost 9
hours a day in REM sleep. By the age of five or so, only slightly over two hours is spent in REM.

Regardless of whether people sleep 6 hours or 10 hours sleep per night, they all get about the same amount
of deep non-REM sleep about 100 mins. People with more total hours sleep each night devote some of the
extra time to REM sleep, but more of it to light non-REM sleep. Thus people who sleep less might be said to
have a higher concentration of deep non-REM sleep than people who sleep more.

On average, we enter the REM stage approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep. Sleep cycles through the 5
stages approximately four or five times throughout the night with increasing REM duration up to an hour.

Quick summary of Non-REM sleep

 Occurs at the beginning of the sleep cycle and the first stage of sleep cycle is a relatively light stage
of sleep lasting approximately 5-10 minutes.
 Stage 2 of the sleep cycle and lasts for approximately 20 minutes. The brain begins to produce bursts
of activity known as sleep spindles.
 Stage 3 of non-REM sleep is a transition between light and deep sleep. Stage 4 is a deep sleep when
sleepwalking or bedwetting is most likely to occur.
 The brain produces very slow brain waves known as theta waves and heart rate slows and body
temperature drops.

The graph below shows the brain activity that a person experiences during their full cycle of sleep.
These brainwaves are created using an EEG machine.

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The diagram below shows a hypnogram for the average night’s sleep.

Activities:

1. Outline what happens at each of the stages of sleep.

2. What happens after you go through stages 1-4 in the sleep pattern?

3. After REM sleep is over, what usually happens to the body?

4. How long does it usually take before entering the REM stage after falling asleep?

5. How long can REM sleep last?

6. Taking each of the stages of sleep, draw your own diagram to explain the process and
stages.

7. What most surprises you about the different stages of sleep?

8. Why are there different stages?

9. What can you say about the order of the stages experienced each night?

10. After thinking about the different stages of sleep, what effects might sleep deprivation
have on someone?

11. Why do you think we are able to remember

11 some of our dreams when we wake up in
the morning?
 Measuring Sleep Activity & Studying Sleep

 Experiments
 Polysomnography (PSG)
 Electroencephalogram (EEG)
 Questionnaires
 Observations

Nerve cells operate by sending electrical impulses. These small voltages can be detected using
electrodes on the skin as an EEG.

An Electroencephalogram (EEG) produces a hypnogram (sleep picture) of your brain waves. With
computer developments and the addition of information about eye movement under the eye lid and
muscle tone, especially from the jaw muscles, the EEG is now part of Polysomnography (PSG).
This is a comprehensive recording of the biophysiological changes that occur during sleep used in
the study of sleep and as a diagnostic tool in sleep medicine.

This is an EEG.

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To better visualise general patterns, researchers use a type of graph called a hypnogram. This is a minute by
minute graphic record of a night’s sleep, as captured by an EEG. The hypnogram thus shows not only the
sequence in which the various stages of sleep occur, but also the times at which each stage starts and ends.

If we analyse a typical hypnogram such as the one shown below, we see a few minutes after falling asleep,
we slip deeper and deeper into non REM sleep, first into light non REM sleep (stages 1 and 2) and then into
deep non-REM sleep (stages 3 and 4)

Polysomnography (PSG) a type of

sleep study, is a multi-parametric
test used in the study of sleep and as
a diagnostic tool in sleep medicine.
The test result is called a
polysomnogram, also abbreviated
PSG. Polysomnography is a
comprehensive recording of the
biophysiological changes that occur
during sleep. It is usually performed
at night, when most people sleep, though some labs can accommodate shift workers and people with
circadian rhythm sleep disorders, and do the test at other times of day. The PSG monitors many body
functions including brain (EEG) eye movements (EOG), muscle activity or skeletal muscle activation (EMG)
and heart rhythm (ECG) during sleep.

Activities:

1. What type of graph measures sleep patterns?

2. What does this graph tell us about sleep?
3. Outline which body functions a PSG measures
4. What is polysomnography used for?
5. Explain how polysomnography works
6. What is the advantage of a home study?

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 Restoration Theory of Sleep

According to the Restoration theory of sleep (Oswald 1966), sleeping is essential for revitalising and restoring the
physiological processes that keep the body and mind healthy and properly functioning after the day’s activities.
Restoration of the body Restoration of the brain
Body can carry out repairs to cells during sleep Gives the brain a rest
Sleep restores resources of energy Restores supplies of neurotransmitters
Sleep aids the removal of waste chemicals built up Restores supplies of brain proteins
during the day

This theory suggests that NREM sleep is important for restoring physiological functions, while REM sleep is
essential in restoring mental functions. This is supported by the fact that new-born babies have a high proportion
of REM sleep, where it makes up 50 to 60 percent of sleep time, gradually falling to the normal proportion of
about 25 percent as the child grows. The month before and after birth are a time of rapid brain growth and
development so that, if REM is a time when such processes occur, it is logical that the baby should show increased
REM sleep.

Support for this theory is provided by research that shows periods of REM sleep increase following periods of
sleep deprivation and strenuous physical activity. During sleep, the body also increases its rate of cell division and
protein synthesis, further suggesting that repair and restoration occurs during sleeping periods.

Sleep deprivation affects the immune system. Zager et al (2007) deprived rats of sleep for 24 hours. When
compared with a control group, the blood tests of sleep-deprived rats indicated a 20% decrease in white blood
cell count, a significant change in the immune system. Rats kept awake indefinitely develop skin lesions, loss of
body mass, hypothermia and eventually, fatal sepsis when the body overreacts to an infection. Sleep loss impairs
immune function and immune challenge alters sleep.

Evidence:
The restoration theory found support from Shapiro et al (1981), in a study of runners. After an ultramarathon, it
was found that their sleep lasted on average 90 minutes longer than usual over the next two nights. In particular,
NREM sleep lengthened, rising from 25% to 45% of total sleep.

However, Horne (1978) reported that sleep deprivation did not interfere with participants’ ability to play sports or
make them ill. It seems that sleep is not essential for physical functioning, at least in the short term.

Horne and Harley (1988) believed that a warming of the brain during exercise led to longer sleep in the Shapiro
study, not wear and tear to the body. To test this, they heated people’s faces and heads using a hairdryer! Four
out of the six participants were then found to have a longer period of NREM sleep. Their finding goes against the
idea that sleep is needed to repair the body – but it could be repair of the brain that is the key function.
Alternatively, perhaps some daytime activities such as exercise interfere with brain functions and the brain then
needs to catch up on these during the day.

Evaluation
Evidence seems to be growing that sleep is more important to restoration of the brain than the body, but this
debate has not yet been fully resolved. It is clear that sleeping too little in humans seems to result in poorer
performance (Peter Tripp). This supports restoration theory.

Sleep probably has multiple functions, and REM sleep and NREM sleep may have different functions. Therefore it
is probably over-simplistic to suggest that sleep is just about restoration but this may well be one of the main
functions of NREM sleep.

Hobson (2005) disagrees with the restoration theory. He states that sleep is entirely for the brain, noting that
bodily restoration could be achieved by simply resting.
Sleep Deprivation

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We all know how awful we feel when we have been deprived of sleep. Although there may be medical or
environmental reasons why we don’t get enough sleep, like snoring or noisy neighbours, the main cause of
sleep deprivation is most likely self-inflicted - staying up too late! Researchers in America analysed data from
more than one million people in 2002, and found that getting less than 6 hours sleep a night was associated
with an early death – as was getting over eight hours.

Studies on rats
Rechtshaffen et al (1989) deprived rats of either REM or both REM and Non REM
sleep. After a week of total deprivation they lost weight despite eating more. After 2
weeks they lost considerably more weight. After 4 weeks they died. During these 4
weeks body weight plummeted, despite increased food, and body temperature
became more unstable.

Studies on Humans
However humans do not seem to experience such marked changes in blood pressure, heart and breathing
rates and body temperature, even when deprivation is for up to 200 hours. Webb and Bonnet (1979) limited
participants to 2 hours sleep on one night and found they suffered no ill effects. They did however fall asleep
more quickly and slept for longer than usual. Longer periods of sleep deprivation are more serious, yet
people do not die like rats. Webb and Bonnet gradually reduced participants’ sleep from 8-4 hours a night
over a 2 month period with no serious consequences.

Overall sleep deprivation has been found to have the following effects:

 Memory & attention problems

 A weakening of your immune system
 Increased risk of motor vehicle accidents
 Increase in BMI (increased risk of obesity due to increased appetite)
 Increased risk of diabetes & heart problems
 Increased risk for depression & substance abuse

REM rebound
When sleep is abruptly reduced, as is often the case for people switching between day and night shift, there
are very marked effects. These include intense fatigue, being irritable, and being intellectually inefficient.
The following night an interesting thing happens – there is an increase in REM sleep to compensate for the
loss. This is called REM rebound. When volunteers have reduced sleep over a longer period of time they tend
to fall more quickly into REM sleep and reduce the amount of Non REM sleep between their dreams. When
sleep is abruptly reduced there is no time to adopt this new pattern.

Activities

1. Make a list of the ways that sleep deprivation affects you in class. You may even be experiencing
these symptoms right now!
2. Ethics alert! How do you think the researchers kept rats awake for up to 4 weeks? Do you think
this experiment is morally justified?
3. What happens to rats who are deprived of sleep after 2 weeks? What happens after 4 weeks?
4. When humans are deprived of sleep gradually what are the consequences?
5. What happens to humans if sleep is abruptly reduced in a shorter period of time?
6. Describe the phenomena of REM rebound in your own words.

Key Research into Sleep

Dement & Kleitman (1957)

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“The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: an objective method for the study of dreams”

Aim
Aserinsky and Kleitman found a relationship between rapid eye movement (REM) during sleep and reports
of dreaming. Dement and Kleitman aimed to test:

 Whether more dreaming occurs during REM sleep than non-REM sleep
 Whether there is a positive correlation between the objective length of time spent in REM and the
subjective duration of reported dreaming
 Whether there is any relationship between the pattern of rapid eye movements and the content of the
dream.

This was a laboratory experiment with a small group of volunteers (7 males & 2 females). Participants were
invited to the lab in the evening to monitor physiological changes during sleep. They were asked to perform
normal duties during the day but asked to avoid caffeine. Participants were measured during sleep using
PSG means, i.e. EEG, EOG etc. They were woken at various times and had to report on their dreaming.
Dreaming only counted if a fairly detailed and coherent dream was reported.

Study one
Subjects were awoken during either REM or non-REM sleep either deliberately during REM and non-REM
periods or randomly when they had been told they would be awoken during periods of REM sleep or at the
whim of the experimenter. Participants had to record their responses rather than answer experimenter
questions directly in order to avoid bias.

Study two
Subjects were awoken either 5 or 15 minutes after REM sleep began and were asked to decide whether the
duration of their dream was closer to 5 or 15 minutes. The length of the dream, measured in terms of the
number of words in their dream narratives, was correlated to the duration of REM sleep before awakening.

Study three
Subjects were woken as soon as one of four patterns of eye movement had
occurred for 1 minute and were asked exactly what they had dreamt.
 Mainly vertical eye movements
 Mainly horizontal eye movements
 Both vertical and horizontal eye movements
 Very little or no eye movement

Human Case Studies of Sleep Deprivation

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 1. Peter Tripp

Peter Tripp was a Top 40 radio personality from the mid-1950s, whose
career peaked with his 1959 record breaking 201 hour wakeathon
(working on the radio non-stop without sleep to benefit the March of the
Dimes). For much of the stunt, he sat in a glass booth in Times Square.
After a few days he began to hallucinate, and for the last 66 hours the
observing scientists and doctors gave him drugs to help him stay awake.
He was broadcasting in New York City at the time. Tripp suffered
psychologically, after the stunt, he began to think he was an imposter of
himself, and kept that thought for some time.

His career soon suffered a massive downturn when he was involved in a scandal of 1960. Like several other
disc jockeys he had been playing particular records in return for gifts from record companies. Indicted only
weeks after his stunt, it emerged that he had accepted $36,050 in bribes. Despite his claims of innocence,
he was found guilty on a charge of commercial bribery, receiving a $500 fine and a six-month suspended
sentence.

Tripp suffered significantly both physically and cognitively during his period of wakefulness. His wife
reported that he never fully recovered following the event and his personality changed permanently. This
case study is evidence which supports restoration theory – without sleep we will suffer physically and
mentally as we are not given the opportunity to restore.

2. Randy Gardner

Randy Gardner is the holder of the record for the scientifically documented longest period sleep deprivation
without use of stimulants of any kind. In 1964, Gardner, a 17-year-old high school student in San Diego,

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California stayed awake for 264.4 hours (11 days 24 minutes). Gardner's record attempt was monitored by
Stanford sleep researcher Dr William Dement, and a log was kept by two classmates from Point Loma High.

Gardner's experiment is often used to demonstrate that extreme sleep deprivation has little effect, other
than the mood changes associated with tiredness. For example, researcher William Dement stated that on
the tenth day of the experiment, Gardner had been, among other things, able to beat Dement at pinball.
However, there were reported serious cognitive and behavioural changes. These included moodiness,
problems with concentration and short term memory, paranoia and hallucinations. On the eleventh day,
when he was asked to subtract seven repeatedly, starting with 100, he stopped at 65. When asked why he
had stopped, he replied that he had forgotten what he was doing.

On his final day, Gardner presided over a press conference where he spoke without slurring or stumbling his
words and in general appeared to be in excellent health.

Gardner slept 14 hours and 40 minutes, awoke naturally around 8:40 p.m., and stayed awake until about
7:30 p.m. the next day, when he slept an additional ten and a half hours. Gardner appeared to fully recover
from his loss of sleep, with follow up sleep recordings taken one, six, and ten weeks after the fact showing
no significant differences. No long term psychological or physical effects have been observed.

This case study does not support restoration theory – Gardner suffered very few physical side effects
from his period of sleep deprivation and returned to normal following a period of sleep.

The Biological Process of Dreaming

The Activation Synthesis Theory of Dreaming

Hobson & McCarley (1988) developed the activation synthesis theory of dreaming. This theory states that
dreams are produced by random stimuli from the pons. The forebrain, the "thinking" part of the brain,

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receives these stimuli and then makes up stories to make sense of them. These stories are what we call
dreams.

According to the activation-synthesis theory, dreams are merely the brain's reaction to random biological
processes that occur during sleep.

Various parts of the brain - in particular the pons, part of the brain stem - continue to function and produce
stimuli during sleep and REM sleep in particular. The brain then takes these internal stimuli and attempts to
make some sort of sense of them. To do this it uses other random stimuli and memories, especially those
easily accessible in the short-term memory.

Random Brainwaves
For example, the randomly produced stimuli might resemble those produced when running. The sleeper's
mind could then interpret those stimuli as a dream of running. If, in addition, they had earlier that day been
startled by a cat then the brain might latch on to that memory and produce a dream of being chased by a
lion. The brain produces a random dream with no deep or hidden meanings or purpose.

As the pons continues to fire random stimuli at the forebrain, the brain constantly attempts to interpret
them. This is why dreams sometimes shift so suddenly in content. The forebrain is attempting to respond to
totally new random stimuli and needs to build a completely new situational model to incorporate them.

The activation-synthesis hypothesis has the advantage that it renders dreams meaningless and removes any
need to understand or interpret them. Some would argue that this is also its biggest disadvantage.

Activities

1. According to the Activation Synthesis Theory, how are dreams produced?

2. Are dreams meaningful according to this theory?
3. Summarise the theory using the following key words : pons, REM, brain
4. Why do dreams suddenly shift in content?
5. What is the biggest advantage and disadvantage of this theory?

Summary of the Biological Theories

Due to the fact that sleep duration and patterning seems to depend on different factors, it is unlikely
that any single biological explanation could account for all the functions of sleep and dreams. While
each theory has support, there is still no clear-cut single theory of why we sleep. Sleeping impacts
many biological processes, so it is very possible that sleep occurs for many reasons and purposes. It
is possible to use each of these theories to explain it.

The Cognitive Process to Sleep & Dreams

Computer Analogy
The cognitive approach focusses on the role of sleep in memory and thinking. According to this viewpoint,
the mind is a processor of information and sleep largely exists in order to facilitate this processing. During
sleep, the mind can clean up files, pruning out unnecessary items and strengthening the link between
memories.

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Stickgold (2009) has investigated the processes by which memories develop during sleep. According to his
research, sleep can be of benefit to every type of memory, but he suggests that those that have a medium
(rather than strong or weak) memory trace gain the biggest benefit.

Sometimes a nap is just as good as an overnight sleep when it comes to consolidating learning through sleep.
Seehagen et al (2015) found that when babies are learning a new action, those who had taken a nap showed
a better recall of the skill than those who had not.

Walker et al (2003) used a finger-tapping task to study the role of sleep in memories. They found that sleep
helps memories to be reliably encoded but that recalling an item the following day reactivates the memory,
allowing a skill (such as playing a musical instrument) to be refined.

Schemas
A schema is a set of ideas, or a pattern of thought about a particular concept or situation. The key idea is
that information is not stored separately, but is linked together with other relevant information. We may
have a schema for a school building for example, which will be drawn from our direct experience of school
buildings, as well as buildings that we have seen or read about. The result is a concept that includes a typical
image or average features.

Schemas play a role when it comes to jokes or stories. If someone tells a joke which begins “a man walked
into a bar…” this deliberately activates the schemas for a typical man and a typical bar. Of course, each
person will have slightly different schemas for both of these things – because everyone has different
experiences, everyone’s schemas will be different. However, it is very likely that your schemas will be similar
to those of other people with a similar upbringing, and someone from a different culture from yourself will
have very different schemas.

Sleep Schemas
The cognitive approach looks at dreams in terms of normal thought processes such as schemas. According
to Domhoff (2011), a dream is what happens when the mind does not have any other task. He draws
comparisons between the dream and waking experiences, such as daydreams and fantasies, saying that they
are very similar in content and occur when the mind is not set a particular task to do. From this point of
view, the mind’s usual processes of schemas, beliefs and emotions will play a large role in dream content.
Therefore, this view studies dreams using knowledge of waking thought processes as a start point.

The cognitive approach to dreaming would predict links between what we think about during the day and
what appears in our dreams, and is partly supported by evidence that dreams usually have a story that
makes sense, rather than being a random mixture of memories.

Irrational Thoughts & Beliefs

The traditional view of the human mind was that it was rational. Although Freud recognised that irrational
thought processes can affect us, he considered these to be childlike unconscious forces and regarded the
ego as the rational aspect of the mind.

Later cognitive psychologists have identified several ways in which human thought processes are biased or
irrational. One basis for this is that we are guided by beliefs about the world, and that these beliefs may at
times be wrong and harmful. Ellis (2003) argued that a lot of anxiety can arise from distorted beliefs such as:

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  Personalisation – a tendency to relate all events to oneself. For example, if someone doesn’t talk to
you in the corridor, personalisation would be thinking “she must be in a bad mood with me” rather
than for example “she must be busy and distracted”.

 Overgeneralisation – taking one thing and applying it to many or all situations. For example, after
failing a test a student may overgeneralise and think “I’m useless at everything”.

 Selective abstraction – tendency to focus on one small part of an even. For example, after a date
that went well overall, the person may focus on one thing that went wrong (e.g. maybe they tripped
over and felt clumsy) and ignore all of the positive events, therefore remembering it as having been
a really bad evening.

Humans don’t actually work everything out like a computer, but instead rely on simplistic assumptions.
These help the mind to save on limited mental resources such as attention. Essentially, people’s behaviour is
not always rational, but is instead often guided by intuition.

Beck's cognitive triad, also known as the negative triad, is an irrational and pessimistic view of the three key
elements of a person's belief system present in depression. It was proposed by Aaron Beck in 1976.

(i) Negative view of myself (I am a failure)

(ii) Negative view of my situation (It is a disaster and my fault)
(iii) Negative view of the future (It is never going to change)

As a result of these views, we exaggerate the negatives in our lives and do not recognise the positives. This
negative view of ourselves can affect the content of our dreams; according to approach views of ourselves
and learning from that day will be the focus of dreams.

Evaluation
The approach is supported by a large body of experimental findings showing that thought processes are not
always logical and can be distorted. However, much of the research is based in the laboratory. In particular,
research into the key cognitive areas of memory and perception has tended to be very artificial.

The approach assumes that thought processes cause people to have negative feelings and behaviours, but
thoughts may be the result rather than the cause of conditions such as stress.

Research has tended to ignore the underlying brain processes involved. This is changing, however, as brain
scanning technology improves.

Information Consolidation Theory of Sleep

You may have heard of this theory, which suggests that the function of sleep is to process
information that has been acquired during the day, so we are better prepared for the day to come.

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There is also compelling evidence that a function of sleep may be to support the formation of long-
term memory. The idea is that memories are temporarily stored in short-term memory (in a part of
the brain called the hippocampus), then gradually get transferred to a long-term memory store, or
are forgotten. It is during sleep that this transfer from short-term to long-term memory happens,
specifically deep (nREM) sleep.

The implications of this are that without good quality sleep, we would be unable to function
properly during the day. If you think about it, we are our memories - they form our consciousness.
Without the memory consolidation function that sleep provides, we would not form long-term
memories, which would affect our sense of self. Support for this idea stems from a number of sleep
deprivation studies demonstrating that a lack of sleep has a serious impact on the ability to recall
and remember information.

Reverse Learning Theory of Sleep

The reverse learning theory says that as we learn and grow, connections are made in our neocortex
in a semi-random way. As the number of connections increases, the network becomes less and less
efficient. If there were no mechanism to control the number of connections, "parasitic" memories -
memories that combine parts of real memories and are falsely associated with many different
inputs - would develop eventually. Crick and Mitchison predicted that if this were to happen,
people might develop bizarre thoughts (from mixed up memories), hallucinations (from memories
being associated with the wrong inputs) or obsessions (from the same connections being made
over and over).

According to the reverse learning theory, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the sleep stage that is
associated with dreaming, prevents this from happening. During REM sleep, the neocortex's major
connections to the external world are shut off. The brain stem then sends random stimuli to the
neocortex. Crick and Mitchison hypothesized that this would cause some of the connections in the
cortex to weaken, which would eliminate some of the thoughts and random associations that aren't
useful to keep. They commented on the fact that dreams are often bizarre and illogical, like the
expected outputs of parasitic memories.

Adaptive memories: things that will be useful for us to retain

Parasitic memories: useless or harmful memories that waste resources

Reorganisational Theory of Dreaming

Crick and Mitchison (1986) developed the Reorganisational theory of dreams. They famously wrote that
“we dream in order to forget”.

They devised a theory that stated that the main function of dreams is reorganisation, in order to improve
memory storage. The theory is based on the concept of reverse learning, meaning that learning can be

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undone during REM sleep. They believed that dreams are just a side effect of de-cluttering process that
takes place in the brain – the cortex becomes overloaded with information during the day, and that during
REM sleep, unwanted memories are deleted in order to improve organisation and make space.

Adaptive memories: things that will be useful for us to retain

Parasitic memories: useless or harmful memories that waste resources

They feel that the brain benefits from reverse learning of parasitic memories and that this is the purpose of
REM sleep. Therefore, the theory states that sleep is for cognitive reorganisation. As these unconnected
memories and ideas are activated, a random selection of thoughts and memories form into a dream.

Research Evidence
To support their theory, Crick and Mitchison refer to other species that lack REM sleep – the echidna and
two species of dolphin. These animals also have larger brains than might be expected for their overall body
size. The researchers conclude that the ‘pruning’ of memories during REM sleep allows the brain to be
smaller and more efficient in other species.

The researchers have also run neural network computer models of learning. In these, they have found that
memories are easily overloaded but that this can be reduced using reverse learning.

Evaluation
A strength of the reorganizational theory is that it gives a clear theory about why REM sleep could be
important. By making memory more efficient, Crick and Mitchison argue that better use is made of the
available space in the brain.

The spiny anteater is a primitive egg laying mammal who has no REM sleep, but does have a huge enlarged
frontal context. Crick and Mitchison claim this is to store unnecessary memories which humans dispose of in
REM sleep.

However, a major weakness of this theory is that it is based on computer models of memory, and lack
research support on human participants. Numerous studies have shown that rather than destroying
memories, sleep is beneficial to memory.

This theory also does not explain why dreams have a narrative (storyline) – our dreams appear to make
sense the majority of the time. This doesn’t seem to fit well with the idea that random memories are being
activated and destroyed.

Problem Solving Theory of Dreaming

Ever had a bad day? The idea of starting fresh every morning with a sunny outlook has some modern
scientific backing. According to Cartwright’s theory (1984), dreamers sort through and accept emotions
associated with yesterday's misfortunes. While researchers such as Crick and Mitchison dismissed dreams as

23
a disorganized scrap pile of recent experiences, Cartwright conducted studies linking dreaming to the
emotional state of waking life.

One of Cartwright's studies concluded that a good night's sleep can cause the dreamer to wake up on the
right side of the bed. Upon arousal, Cartwright's study subjects who began dreaming earlier than others in
their sleep cycle dreamed for longer time periods, woke up able to remember dreams and demonstrated a
better mood. Adversely, Cartwright found that subjects who reported hardly any dreams felt even worse in
the morning.

She demonstrated dreams as actual treatment to reach remission. She determined that the content of
dreams was a product of the dreamer’s waking emotional state and that working through those dreams was
therapeutic. As the study concluded, there were certain exceptions.

Evidence to Support Problem Solving Theory

Barrett 1993 studied students who were instructed to solve a problem. Over a week a panel of independent
judges found 50% dreamt a solution.

Stickgold (2000) found Tetris players dreamt solutions to problems connected to the game.

Cartwright (1984) found couples separating had dreams relating to their waking coping strategies

Stress and Anxiety Can Interfere With Sleep

Seven out of ten adults in the United States say they experience stress or anxiety daily, and most say it
interferes at least moderately with their lives. About one-third report persistent stress or excessive anxiety
daily or that they have had an anxiety or panic attack. Seven out of ten of those adults say they have trouble
sleeping.

These are among the findings of the 2007 Stress & Anxiety Disorders Survey, a report examining the effects
of anxiety disorders and everyday stress and anxiety on sleep. The survey was commissioned by the Anxiety
Disorders Association of America (ADAA).

Stress and Sleep Problems

The majority of adults with a stress-induced sleep problem experience it at least once per week, and more
than half experience it at least several times a week. Three-fourths of adults whose sleep is affected by
stress or anxiety say that their sleep problems have also increased their stress and anxiety: 54 percent say
that stress or anxiety increased their anxiety about falling asleep at night, and 52 percent of men and 42
percent of women reported it affected their ability to remain focused the next day

Results

Study one
Regardless of how participants were woken, more dreams were reported in REM than non-REM sleep. When
they recalled dreams from non–REM sleep it was most often close to the end of REM.

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Study two
Participants were correct in matching the duration of their dream to length of time they had shown REM
sleep. All showed a significant positive correlation between the length of their dream narratives and
duration of sleep.

Study three
There was a very strong association between the patterns of REMs and the content of dream reports e.g. the
vertical REM periods were associated with dreams of looking up and down at cliff faces, ladders and
basketball nets.

Evaluation
- Dreams may be recalled more easily in REM than NREM sleep because the latter is a deeper stage of
sleep - perhaps dreams occur in deeper sleep, but are more difficult to recall from it.

- The study used a limited sample with more men, therefore showed a lack of generalisability.

- Lab experiment so there was low ecological validity. The participants may not have experienced
their average sleep – performing the experiment as a field experiment would allow for higher
ecological validity.

- Ethical issues – waking people from their sleep is considered as unethical by the BPS.

+ The research provides support for the idea that dreams can be studied in an objective way. This then
opens up areas of research for the effect of environmental stimuli on dreaming.

Activities:

1. Outline the study conducted by Dement and Kleitman in your own words (note that you will
need to write the conclusion!).
2. What measures were taken by the researchers to ensure bias did not influence their
participants/results. Why did they do this?
3. What can you say about the sample of participants used?
4. The experiment conducted was a lab experiment. Evaluate this method and suggest how this
study could be improved in it’s methodology.
5. Outline the main strengths and weaknesses of the study.
6. Suggest one further strength and one further weakness not mentioned above.

Exposure to Bright Light and Darkness to Treat Physiologic Maladaptation to

Night Work

Name: Czeisler et al (1990)

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 Aim: to identify the conditions that ensures rapid entraining of the circadian pacemaker - suprachiasmatic
nucleus (SCN).

Sample: eight healthy men aged 22 to 29. They had no medical, psychiatric or sleep disorders as
determined by their medical histories, physical examinations, chest radiographs, electrocardiograms,
biochemical screening tests, and psychological screening questionnaires. None had worked regularly at
night on a permanent or rotating night shift within the preceding year and none had travelled to another
time zone during the previous 6 weeks. They were not taking any medications and were instructed to
abstain from alcohol and caffeine during the study. Urinary screening verified that they were drug free at
the time of the study.

Method: a lab experiment in which eight young healthy males were subjected to night-shift work
conditions. The control tests were under ordinary room light at night (150 lux) and daylight in transit to
home where they slept. Those in the treatment condition were exposed to bright light at night (around
10,000 lux) and blacked-out dark conditions on return home to sleep during the day. Physiological and
behavioural assessments were made across 7 days.

Results: men under the treatments were sleepier during the day and slept 7.7 hrs compared to controls of
5.7 hrs. Alertness and performance indices improved during the night shift for the bright-dark treatment.

Conclusion: The control group failed to adapt to an inversion of the daily routine even after a week.
However the bright-dark condition induced a complete adaptation to night work. So the circadian
pacemaker (SCN) can be shifted using bright-dark conditions.

Meaning: The ability to adjust the circadian phase and improve the sleep of night-shift workers could
have important implications for both industrial productivity and safety.

Evaluation
+ This had good control of conditions in a lab experiment when most prior research has been field
experiment.
+ Multiple physiological and behavioural assessments were used to provide robust findings that were in
agreement with each other.
However the study used a very small sample that does not generalise to the whole working

Activities

1. Outline the research by Czeisler et al (1990). Describe the aim, method, procedure, results.
2. Evaluate the study in terms of design, method, sample, procedure, and ethics.
3. What extraneous variables did these researchers control in their study, in terms of participants?
4. What extraneous variables did they control in the environment?
5. Case study: You are an organisational psychologist visiting your local hospital. They have paid you
£4,000 for spending the day with them to observe their work practices and suggest improvements.
What are the implications of this study for shift workers who are tired and make mistakes? How
would you advise managers in the NHS?

The Psychoanalytic Process to Dreams

Freud postulated that dreams are the symbolic expression of frustrated desires that
had been relegated to the unconscious mind. He used dream interpretation in the
form of psychoanalysis to uncover these desires.

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Before we can understand Freud's theory of dreaming, we must first understand his view of how the mind is
organized. Freud initially thought that the mind could be divided into two main parts (conscious and
unconscious). But in his later writings he explained that there are three main parts (id, ego, superego):

1. The ego is the conscious mind – the part that you

are aware of and that controls all of our rational
thoughts. It includes everything that we are aware
of. This is the aspect of our mental processing that
we can think and talk about rationally. A part of this
includes our memory, which is not always part of
consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any
time and brought into our awareness. Freud called
this ordinary memory the preconscious.

2. The superego is partly conscious and partly

unconscious. It is our awareness of society’s rules,
and therefore provides us with a moral sense of
right and wrong. If we do things that our superego
does not approve of, we get feelings of guilt.

3. The id is the unconscious mind. It is the first to

develop in childhood. It is a reservoir of feelings,
thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our
conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant, such
as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict. According to Freud, the unconscious continues to influence
our behaviour and experience, even when we are not aware of it doing so. These feelings, wishes
and desires are in the unconscious mind and, according to Freud, would drive us to madness if we
were aware of them!

Psychological problems can arise from conflicts between the conscious and unconscious. The rational ego
may be urging a person to do one thing, but the irrational id is prompting them to do something different.
Like an iceberg, the largest and most powerful part of the mind – the unconscious – was thought to be
beneath the surface.

Id, Ego, & Superego in Relation to Dreams

Freud saw the process of sleep as motivated – the mind desires to withdraw from the external world and go
into a foetus-like state without troubles and worries. In this view, dreams are seen as a problematic
interruption.

The psychoanalytic approach states that during sleep the id becomes dominant, and the id’s main motivation
is pleasure; dreams reveal our unconscious wishes and fantasies. Freud believed that dreams involved wish
fulfilment – we dream about what we want – especially about wishes that have been denied in real life.

Psychoanalysts believe that only some thoughts are truly inaccessible. There are others that we may be
unaware of at a particular moment but can become conscious if we make the effort under the right
conditions – our preconscious thoughts. Most memories about ourselves and our lives are, therefore,
preconscious, as are memories of our dreams.

Activities
1. Explain Freud’s iceberg analogy. What happens within each part of the mind?
2. Give examples of what is experienced in each part of the mind.
3. Explain how the parts of the mind are used to explain sleep and dreams.

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Psycho-Sexual Stages of Development
Freud developed a controversial theory of how people’s minds develop through childhood. He thought that
just as adults get physical pleasure from sex, children get pleasure from their bodies too, but from different
body parts. He thought that a baby derives pleasure from its mouth (being fed) and called the associated
stage of development the oral stage. He also thought that toddlers get
pleasure from controlling their bladder and bowel movements when going to
the toilet/potty. He called this the anal stage.

This theory was not just about explaining behaviour during breast-feeding or
toilet training – Freud thought that these stages had an important on your
later personality. He explained that some people develop a fixation in these
stages, leading to effects on their personality later
in life. Fixation might result from getting too little stimulation during these stages,
or from being harshly punished, such as a child being strictly told off for having an
accident during toilet training. The idea of people having an ‘anal personality’
derives from this idea – an anally retentive personality is fussy and strict, with an
obsession with neatness. Someone with ‘oral personality’ may habitually bite their
nails, smoke or overeat.

Perhaps more important still was Freud’s view of what happened next. Inspired by a dream he had about his
own mother, Freud stated that boys at around the age of five move into the phallic stage, and develop the
Oedipus complex, where they become romantically attached to their mother as an idealised role model of
the opposite sex. The boy then feels guilt and fears being punished by his father. Freud’s case study of Little
Hans is a key example of this stage from his research. Hans was seen as an example of the Oedipus complex.

A similar theory was developed which applies to girls – the Electra complex. This is the idea that the child
experiences a process of falling in love with her father.

Freud said that this stage is resolved when the child appeases the same-sex parent by copying their
behaviour, and therefore, at this stage, the boy starts to behave in a more traditionally masculine way and
girls adopt traditionally feminine behaviours, such as the clothes that they choose to wear and that the
activities that they are interested in.

According to Freud, the experiences we have during our childhood shapes our personalities. The
experiences that we endure throughout the stages of development will have a direct impact upon the adult
that you become.

Psycho-Sexual Stages & Dreaming

Freud thought that dreams contain a series of symbols, with the true meaning of the dream hidden from the
conscious mind. In particular, anything disturbing or embarrassing can be hidden by the unconscious mind
using a symbolic image. These symbols may be based on the psychosexual obsessions of the person’s
psychological stage of development. For example, Little Hans dreamed about his penis during the phallic
stage.

Defence Mechanisms
Freud believed that the ego tries to defend itself by distorting reality. According to this approach, a lot of
problematic or disturbed behaviour may be caused by defence mechanisms that the mind uses. Freud
believed that some uncomfortable thoughts are a threat to the ego, so they are repressed – pushed out of the

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conscious mind and into the unconscious. This concept of repression is one of the most important defence
mechanisms.

In a famous case, Freud’s patient, Anna O, suffered from paralysis on her right side and she felt sick when
eating or drinking. Freud believed that her discomfort with drinking stemmed from a repressed memory of a
dog drinking from her water glass. Freud claimed that when the repressed memory was made conscious
through therapy, the problem was solved.

Sometimes thoughts and memories are thought to have been repressed, meaning that they have apparently
been forgotten, but in reality have been pushed out of the ego and into the id because they are too painful or
disturbing.

As well as repression, there are a further five defence mechanisms that you should be aware of:

Regression Regression means acting in a more child-like way. This links to Freud’s theory of
psychosexual development – comfort is found in a more childlike state rather than
the threatening and conflict-filled present. Examples could be sucking your
thumb/biting your nails or chewing on things when anxious, having a childish
tantrum or just curling up in your bedroom like a young child might do.

Denial This is when people distort reality, typically by stating that something is less of a
problem than it is. They may ignore the risks of behaviour such as smoking or
unprotected sex, or fool themselves into believing that their behaviour is normal or
harmless.

Displacement This is where it would cause anxiety or simply be impossible to direct our emotions
towards their true target, so instead we begin to focus the same emotion on another,
more accessible target. Examples could be feeling very angry with a strict parent
but being too afraid to say so, and so bullying another child instead. Little Hans
was thought to have displaced his fear of his father onto horses. Romantic
attraction can also be displaced.

Projection This is where we claim that our feelings belong to someone else. Have you ever
heard someone say “I think my friend is worried about her exams” or claiming that
a friend is attracted to someone? Projection could include negative feelings about
ourselves. “You think I’m stupid, don’t you?”

Reaction This is when someone’s behaviour is the opposite of their true feelings. For
formation example, if someone is attracted to another person, they may be rude and hurtful
instead of showing affection. Similarly, sexual desires may be warded off by
exaggerated disgust towards sexuality. The behaviour is as far as possible from
their true feelings, so that the ego does not have to consciously accept the true
feelings that cause anxiety.

Dreaming
According to Freud, there are two functions of dreams:

1. To allow the expression of primitive urges e.g. sex and aggression

2. To use disguised images (symbols) to protect the sleeper from becoming aware of their latent
thoughts.

Freud believed that the content of dreams is related to wish fulfilment and suggested that dreams have two
types of content: manifest content and latent content. The manifest content is the actual literal subject

29
matter of the dream, while the latent content is the underlying meaning of these symbols. The latent
content of a dream is the hidden psychological meaning of the dream.

Manifest Content Latent Content

School Learning or being judged
A storm Emotional turmoil
Teeth falling out Worries or lack of control
Pregnancy New aspects of the self

The latent content has to be disguised in symbols as it would it would be threatening to our sense of self if
expressed directly from the id. Dreaming is therefore an ego defence mechanism.

Freud answered that symbols appear in dreams because the referents for which the symbols are
surrogates are distasteful to the censor. The dream work can smuggle unacceptable things in to a dream
by transforming them into innocuous (harmless) symbols. So for example we might dream of climbing a
tree instead of masturbating because climbing trees (the symbol) is condoned and masturbating (the
referent) is condemned. In short, symbols are disguises for referents.

Understanding a dream involves a process of interpretation of the manifest content in order to understand
the latent content, and therefore, the true meaning. In addition, Freud thought that several processes occur
that distort the true meaning of the dream, making the content harder to understand. Two key processes
include:

 Condensation – several ideas or symbols get merged together

 Secondary elaboration – the dreamer’s own interpretation or things that they add when telling the
dream. This makes it harder for an analyst to recognise the latent content.
 Displacement - disguises the emotional meaning of the latent content by confusing the important
and insignificant parts.

The Interpretation of Dreams

The psychoanalytic approach is known for the case study method, which for studies of sleep could involve
interviews and dream diaries used to record individual patients’ experiences. One of the best examples of
this is Freud’s case study of Little Hans, in which the interpretation of Hans’ dreams was crucial.

In the early days of psychoanalysis, Freud used the technique of dream analysis, believing dreams reveal
unconscious thoughts and motivations. As time went on, Freud found free association to be a more reliable
technique. This involves letting the patients speak in an uninterrupted stream of ideas, with one idea
leading to the next. Freud felt that this allowed ideas from the unconscious to be revealed. Free association
also aimed to strengthen the ego and help patients to develop a clearer idea of reality, and to make the
pressure from the superego more humane and less focussed on punishment and guilt. During sessions, the
therapist would stay relatively quiet and take notes while the client did most of the talking. Freud’s
preference was for patients to lie on a couch, not looking at the therapist.

However, Jung (1964) disagreed with Freud’s method of interpreting dreams. He said that dream symbols
are unique to the individual and they cannot have a general meaning. He also stated that dreams should
only be interpreted based on what actually appears in the dream, and not translated by the therapist – so
for example, he would not say that a dream about giraffes was actually a dream about your parents.

Problems with Freud’s Theory of Dreaming

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 1. Freud’s theory of symbols-as-disguises is difficult to prove when one night a person has a symbolic
dream and the next night they may have an explicit sexual dream. Why are wishes sometimes
concealed and sometimes they are not? Freud has no answer to this.

2. Many people have a real talent for dream interpretation although they may have little or no
information about Freudian symbolism. Why would we bother to deceive ourselves by dreaming in
symbols when dreams can be translated so readily by the dreamer themselves? Again Freud had no
plausible answer.

3. People have been using symbolism in their speech for centuries using slang, many of which are
sexual in character. How can these symbols be effective as disguises in dreams when they are used
in waking life?

4. It assumes that the mind during sleep is capable of performing exceedingly complex operations.

If one were seeing a therapist, it can be said that that individual is experiencing or has experienced some
level of stress. This level of distress may influence the way in which they re-tell their dreams.

Dreams are subjective; they are heavily influenced by feelings and emotions. This will inevitably have an
impact on the way in which the dreamer describes their dream. Dreams are impossible to study in an
objective way through the psychoanalytical approach. Dream interpretation cannot be scientifically
tested.

As dreams are an ego defence mechanism, will the patient (unconsciously) ego defend in analysis and only
report what is acceptable? – selective and reconstructive memory may be used to ensure their descriptions
of their dream are socially acceptable.

Psychoanalytic Research into Dreams

Freud’s Case Study of Little Hans (1909)

Aim
Freud wanted to provide evidence for his controversial Oedipus complex. When he was approached by a
friend, Herr Graf, whose son suffered from a severe phobia of horses, Freud decided to see if the boy’s
behaviour fitted his theory.

Method
Freud’s study was a case study, although it was unusual compared to modern case studies in that he did not
study the patient, “Little Hans”, directly, but instead exchanged letters with Herr Graf, discussing the boy’s
behaviour, and in particular, his phobia of horses.

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Findings
Hans had been frightened by seeing a horse collapsing in the street, and had developed a strong phobia of
horses (horses were common on the streets of Vienna at this time). He was anxious about the birth of his
baby sister Hanna, and apparently, made a connection between her birth and a loaded cart pulled by a
horse. Freud was very interested to hear about Hans’s dreams and fantasies, because he thought that these
were evidence of unconscious processes. Hans had three key dreams:

In one, he dreamed that he was married to his mother and they had their own family. This was interpreted
by Freud as showing Hans’s romantic desire for his mother.

In another dream, a crumpled giraffe was being squashed by a large giraffe – Freud thought giraffes
represented Hans’ parents, and that this dream showed Hans’s fear and hostility towards his father.

In a third, a plumber came to the house and removed Hans’s penis, replacing it with a larger one. Freud said
that this showed Hans’s desire to be a grown up man and marry his mother, as well as linking to the penis
obsession of the phallic stage of development.

He also had certain fantasies and dreams about urinating. He was caught playing with his penis and his
mother threatened to have the doctor cut it off! This provoked some anxiety.

Evaluation
Freud saw the issues as being evidence for his Oedipus complex, but it is possible that he and Hans’s father
distorted the evidence to fit the theory. It is hard to generalise from one patient in a case study – in this
case, Hans’s issues do not prove that all boys fear their fathers.

There are difficulties with Freud’s evidence. Hans’ father, who provided Freud with most of his data, was
already familiar with the Oedipus complex and interpreted the case in the light of this. It is therefore
possible that he supplied Hans with clues that led to his fantasies of marriage etc.

If Hans did have a fully-fledged Oedipus complex, it shows that it exists not how common it is. Freud
believed his complex to be universal. A limitation of the case study method is that it cannot be generalised
as it only applies to one person/small group of people.

Freud often based his research on a very limited sample.

Evaluation of the Psychoanalytic Process to Sleep & Dreams

The concept of the unconscious mind and that idea that we may be unaware of reasons behind some of our
motivations has returned to popularity. However, many of Freud’s theories of the mind are controversial, and
even 100 years on, there is a lack of research evidence to support them. Psychoanalytic theory as a whole is
too vague and broad to be testable, and can therefore be called unscientific.

A strength of this approach is its impact in terms of popular understanding of dreams. It has had a major
effect on society, in particular in terms of the idea that dreams have hidden meanings.

However, psychoanalysts do not all agree on how to interpret dreams. In particular, Freud and Jung took
different approaches. Another obvious challenge for Freud’s idea of wish fulfilment is that many dreams are
unpleasant! The approach struggles to give a satisfactory explanation of nightmares.

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In general, this approach to sleep and dreams relies too heavily on case studies such as the case of Little Hans.
The findings of such studies are hard to generalise to other people.

Factors that Affect Sleep:

Drugs

One factor that can affect sleep is the use of recreational or prescription drugs. Stimulant drugs have the
effect of making people more alert or keeping them awake and can reduce the quality of sleep. One example
of a stimulant is caffeine. This is the world’s most popular psychoactive drug and it is present in food and
drinks such as coffee, tea, chocolate and most energy drinks. It can also be in tablet form. People drink
coffee to keep them alert, but taking it in the evening can make it harder to get to sleep. Many people don’t
realise that it can take over 5 hours for the level of caffeine in the blood just to drop to half of the level it was
at after taking caffeine (Statland & Demas, 1980). Amphetamine (often called ‘speed’) is another stimulant –
although it is a class B illegal drug, it is widely used for socialising and by some workers on long overnight
shifts.

Alcohol can also affect sleep – usually making people feel sleepier. Many people like to drink alcohol in the
evenings to help them get to sleep, which changes the proportions of REM and NREM sleep. However,

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tolerance to alcohol develops quickly, resulting in normal patterns of sleep for healthy people consuming
moderate amounts of alcohol (Roehrs & Roth, 2001). Therefore, it is unlikely to be of any long-term use in
treating insomnia.

Prescription drugs can interfere with sleep patterns as an undesired side effect, either by making it harder for
us to sleep or by making us drowsy. Some drugs such as anti-histamines (taken for allergies) come in ‘non-
drowsy’ versions.

Light

While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light does so more powerfully. Harvard
researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to
blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about
twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).

 Use dim red lights for night lights. Red light has the least power to shift circadian rhythm and
suppress melatonin.
 Avoid looking at bright screens beginning two to three hours before bed.
 If you work a night shift or use a lot of electronic devices at night, consider wearing blue-
blocking glasses.
 Expose yourself to lots of bright light during the day, which will boost your ability to sleep at night,
as well as your mood and alertness during daylight.

Mobile Devices and sleep deprivation

More and more people are staying up late working or using social media on computers, tablets and
smartphones. This is causing an epidemic of poor sleep and creating less productive workers/pupils the
following day. Research has now shown that light at the blue end of the spectrum is more likely to keep
people awake because it suppresses the production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. Therefore,
blue light emitted by mobile phones and tablets stops the body knowing that it’s time for sleep. Richard
Wiseman suggests the following remedies:

 Limit exposure to this light a few hours

before bed
 If you must use your smartphone, tablet
or computer late in the
evening, turn down the brightness
 Ensure that the device is at least 12
inches from your eyes

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  Use an app that dims the lighting on your screen at night

 If you really can’t control your impulse to surf the net, wear amber
tinted glasses that block blue light.

Activities:

1. Explain why using mobile phones etc. before bed has an impact on sleep. Refer
to what you know about circadian rhythms!

2. Make a list of the ways that you use your mobile device in the evening. What
time do you tend to switch it off? What is the last thing that you do before you
sleep?

3. If someone was to regularly use their mobile device before sleeping, what effect
might that have on them the next day?

4. Create a questionnaire to see how other members of the class use their mobile
devices in the evening. It should contain at least 5 questions. These can be open
questions (with a space left for answers) or closed questions, (meaning tick box or
circle answers).

5. Read the article by Richard Wiseman from the Guardian newspaper (14 May
2014). In your own words summarise what effects exposure to blue light before
bed is having on people.

6. From the article, write down any pieces of advice you could give a friend who
uses their phone in the last minutes before sleep.

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