Josie E Malinowski
University of East London, Psychology, Faculty Member
- Consciousness, Dreams (Psychology), Dream work, Sleep and Dreaming, Dream research, Continuity Hypothesis, and 16 moreIndividual Differences, Emotion, Stress, Psychotherapy, Sleep, Sleep disorders, Lucid Dreaming, Anthropology of Dreams and Dreaming, Dreams (History), Philosophy of Mind, Mindfulness, Memory Studies, Memory (Cognitive Psychology), Metaphor, Emotion Regulation, and Dreamsedit
Word count: 8607 excluding acknowledgments and references Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the Dream Science Foundation for funding this research. Data were collected whilst authors were affiliated with the original institutions (a, c).
Research Interests:
Is dreaming a nightly psychedelic experience? The comparison between night-time dreaming and psychedelic consciousness has been made widely, but only recently begun to be explored in psychedelic and dream science. A recent review paper... more
Is dreaming a nightly psychedelic experience? The comparison between night-time dreaming and psychedelic consciousness has been made widely, but only recently begun to be explored in psychedelic and dream science. A recent review paper (Kraehenmann, 2017) systematically compared the two states, concluding that “psychedelics acutely induce dreamlike subjective experiences” (p.1032). There are two main aims of this chapter. First, we review again the comparison of dreaming and psychedelic consciousness, adding some new insights, especially in light of recent research into the phenomenology of dimethyltrptamine (DMT) and narrative analyses of psychedelic experiences. Second, we consider some theoretical implications of this comparison, especially in terms of the therapeutic potential of dreams and psychedelics, and some wider social/cultural implications of the similarities between the two states.
Research Interests:
Suppressing thoughts often leads to a “rebound” effect, both in waking cognition (thoughts) and in sleep cognition (dreams). Rebound may be influenced by the valence of the suppressed thought, but there is currently no research on the... more
Suppressing thoughts often leads to a “rebound” effect, both in waking cognition (thoughts) and in sleep cognition (dreams). Rebound may be influenced by the valence of the suppressed thought, but there is currently no research on the effects of valence on dream rebound. Further, the effects of dream rebound on subsequent emotional response to a suppressed thought have not been studied before. The present experiment aimed to investigate whether emotional valence of a suppressed thought affects dream rebound, and whether dream rebound subsequently influences subjective emotional response to the suppressed thought. Participants (N=77) were randomly assigned to a pleasant or unpleasant thought suppression condition, suppressed their target thought for five minutes pre-sleep every evening, reported the extent to they successfully suppressed the thought, and reported their dreams every morning, for seven days. It was found that unpleasant thoughts were more prone to dream rebound than pleasant thoughts. There was no effect of valence on the success or failure of suppression during wakefulness. Dream rebound and successful suppression were each found to have beneficial effects for subjective emotional response to both pleasant and unpleasant thoughts. The results may lend support for an emotion-processing theory of dream function.
Research Interests:
The continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that waking life is continuous with dreams, but many of the factors that have been postulated to influence wake– dream continuity have rarely been studied. The present study investigated... more
The continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that waking life is continuous with dreams, but many of the factors that have been postulated to influence wake– dream continuity have rarely been studied. The present study investigated whether certain factors— emotional and stressfulness intensity, and certain types of experiences— influence the likelihood of a waking-life experience being incorporated into a dream. Participants (N 32) kept dream diaries and waking-life experience logs for 14 consecutive days, and waking-life experiences were matched to dream reports. Waking-life experiences that were incorporated into dreams were significantly more emotional, but no more stressful, than those that were not incorporated into dreams. Major daily activities were incorporated significantly less than the combination of personally significant experiences, major concerns, and novel experiences. Results are discussed in terms of dream functionality, particularly in relation to a postulated emotional memory assimilation theory of dream function.
Research Interests:
The present study aimed to explore autobiographical memories (long-lasting memories about the self) and episodic memories (memories about discrete episodes or events) within dream content. We adapted earlier episodic memory study... more
The present study aimed to explore autobiographical memories (long-lasting memories about the self) and episodic memories (memories about discrete episodes or events) within dream content. We adapted earlier episodic memory study paradigms and reinvestigated the incorporation of episodic memory sources into dreams, operationalizing episodic memory as featuring autonoetic consciousness, which is the feeling of truly re-experiencing or reliving a past event. Participants (n = 32) recorded daily diaries and dream diaries, and reported on wake–dream relations for 2 weeks. Using a new scale, dreams were rated for their episodic richness, which categorized memory sources of dreams as being truly episodic (featuring autonoetic consciousness), autobiographical (containing segregated features of experiences that pertained to waking life) or otherwise. Only one dream (0.5%) was found to contain an episodic memory. However, the majority of dreams (>80%) were found to contain low to moderate incorporations of autobiographical memory features. These findings demonstrate the inactivity of intact episodic memories, and emphasize the activity of autobiographical memory and processing within dreams. Taken together, this suggests that memories for personal experiences are experienced fragmentarily and selectively during dreaming, perhaps in order to assimilate these memories into the autobiographical memory schema.
Research Interests:
Studies have found relationships between dream content and personality traits, but there are still many traits that have been underexplored or have had questionable conclusions drawn about them. Experimental work has found a ‘rebound’... more
Studies have found relationships between dream content and personality traits, but there are still many traits that have been underexplored or have had questionable conclusions drawn about them. Experimental work has found a ‘rebound’ effect in dreams when thoughts are suppressed prior to sleep, but the effect of trait thought suppression on dream content has not yet been researched. In the present study participants (N=106) reported their Most Recent Dream, answered questions about the content of the dream, and completed questionnaires measuring trait thought suppression and the ‘Big Five’ personality traits. Of these, 83 were suitably recent for analyses. A significant positive correlation was found between trait thought suppression and participants‘ ratings of dreaming of waking-life emotions, and high suppressors reported dreaming more of their waking-life emotions than low suppressors did. The results may lend support to the compensation theory of dreams, and/or the ironic process theory of mental control.
Research Interests:
In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by... more
In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by which those memories are subsequently transformed during sleep. We propose that emotions act as a marker for information to be selectively processed during sleep, including consolidation into long term memory structures and integration into pre-existing memory networks; that dreaming reflects these emotion assimilation processes; and that the associations between memory fragments activated during sleep give rise to measureable elements of dream metaphor and hyperassociativity. The latter are a direct reflection, and the phenomenological experience, of emotional memory assimilation processes occurring during sleep. While many theories previously have posited a role for emotion processing and/or emotional memory consolidation during sleep and dreaming, sleep theories often do not take enough account of important dream science data, yet dream research, when conducted systematically and under ideal conditions, can greatly enhance theorizing around the functions of sleep. Similarly, dream theories often fail to consider the implications of sleep-dependent memory research, which can augment our understanding of dream functioning. Here, we offer a synthesized view, taking detailed account of both sleep and dream data and theories. We draw on extensive literature from sleep and dream experiments and theories, including often-overlooked data from dream science which we believe reflects sleep phenomenology, to bring together important ideas and findings from both domains.
Research Interests:
There have been reports and claims in the psychotherapeutic literature that the consideration of recent dreams can result in personal realizations and insight. There is theoretical support for these claims from work on rapid eye movement... more
There have been reports and claims in the psychotherapeutic literature that the
consideration of recent dreams can result in personal realizations and insight. There
is theoretical support for these claims from work on rapid eye movement (REM)
sleep having a function of the consolidation of emotional memories and the creative
formation of connections between new and older memories. To investigate these
claims, 11 participants (10 females, one male) reported and considered a recent
home dream in a dream discussion group that following the “Appreciating dreams”
method of Montague Ullman. The group ran 11 times, each participant attending and
participating once. A further nine participants (seven females, two males) reported
and considered a recent home dream in a group that followed the “Listening to the
dreamer” method of Michael Schredl. The two studies each had a control condition
where the participant also reported a recent event, the consideration of which followed
the same technique as was followed for the dream report. Outcomes of the discussions
were assessed by the participants on the Gains from Dream Interpretation (GDI) scale,
and on its counterpart, the Gains from Event Interpretation scale. High ratings on the
GDI experiential-insight subscale were reported for both methods, when applied to
dreams, and for the Ullman method Exploration-Insight ratings for the dream condition
were significantly higher than for the control event condition. In the Ullman method,
self-assessment of personal insight due to consideration of dream content was also
significantly higher than for the event consideration condition. The findings support the
view that benefits can be obtained from the consideration of dream content, in terms
of identifying the waking life sources of dream content, and because personal insight
may also occur. To investigate the mechanisms for the findings, the studies should be
repeated with REM and non-REM dream reports, hypothesizing greater insight from the
former.
consideration of recent dreams can result in personal realizations and insight. There
is theoretical support for these claims from work on rapid eye movement (REM)
sleep having a function of the consolidation of emotional memories and the creative
formation of connections between new and older memories. To investigate these
claims, 11 participants (10 females, one male) reported and considered a recent
home dream in a dream discussion group that following the “Appreciating dreams”
method of Montague Ullman. The group ran 11 times, each participant attending and
participating once. A further nine participants (seven females, two males) reported
and considered a recent home dream in a group that followed the “Listening to the
dreamer” method of Michael Schredl. The two studies each had a control condition
where the participant also reported a recent event, the consideration of which followed
the same technique as was followed for the dream report. Outcomes of the discussions
were assessed by the participants on the Gains from Dream Interpretation (GDI) scale,
and on its counterpart, the Gains from Event Interpretation scale. High ratings on the
GDI experiential-insight subscale were reported for both methods, when applied to
dreams, and for the Ullman method Exploration-Insight ratings for the dream condition
were significantly higher than for the control event condition. In the Ullman method,
self-assessment of personal insight due to consideration of dream content was also
significantly higher than for the event consideration condition. The findings support the
view that benefits can be obtained from the consideration of dream content, in terms
of identifying the waking life sources of dream content, and because personal insight
may also occur. To investigate the mechanisms for the findings, the studies should be
repeated with REM and non-REM dream reports, hypothesizing greater insight from the
former.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Emotion, Memory (Cognitive Psychology), Dream work, Stress, EEG, and 26 moreMemory Studies, Metaphor, Emotion Regulation, Survey Research, Dreams (History), Dreams, Questionnaire design, Autobiographical Memory, Individual Differences, Episodic Memory, Dreaming, Test Validity, Sleep and Dreaming, Personality and Individual Differences, Web Surveys, Sleep Psychology, Sleep, Online Surveys, Web Questionnaire Design, Psychology of Sleep and Dreaming, Sleep and Memory Consolidation, Rating Scales, Questionnaires, Item analysis, Continuity Hypothesis, and Test Reliability
Why do we dream? What is the connection between our dreams and our mental health? Can we teach ourselves to have lucid dreams? The Psychology of Dreaming delves into the last 100 years of dream research to provide a thought-provoking... more
Why do we dream? What is the connection between our dreams and our mental health? Can we teach ourselves to have lucid dreams?
The Psychology of Dreaming delves into the last 100 years of dream research to provide a thought-provoking introduction to what happens in our minds when we sleep. It looks at the role that dreaming plays in memory, problem-solving, and processing emotions, examines how trauma affects dreaming, and explores how we can use our dreams to understand ourselves better. Exploring extraordinary experiences like lucid dreaming, precognitive dreams, and sleep paralysis nightmares, alongside cutting-edge questions like whether it will ever be possible for androids to dream, The Psychology of Dreaming reveals some of the most fascinating aspects of our dreaming world.
The Psychology of Dreaming delves into the last 100 years of dream research to provide a thought-provoking introduction to what happens in our minds when we sleep. It looks at the role that dreaming plays in memory, problem-solving, and processing emotions, examines how trauma affects dreaming, and explores how we can use our dreams to understand ourselves better. Exploring extraordinary experiences like lucid dreaming, precognitive dreams, and sleep paralysis nightmares, alongside cutting-edge questions like whether it will ever be possible for androids to dream, The Psychology of Dreaming reveals some of the most fascinating aspects of our dreaming world.