What is OpenPSYC?

OpenPSYC is a free online resource for students in Introduction to Psychology courses. Use the links on the right to learn more about the site, visit a course module or search by keyword.

Dreams

The Meaning of Dreams

Do not waste your money on a dream dictionary. Instead, look at what we know about dreaming and why we dream. This is a four-page article discussing everything we need to know about dreams:
  • What happened to rats deprived of ability to dream?
  • What does it mean that dreams were “epiphenomena”
  • What are “threat dreams” and what percentage of recalled dreams did they make up in Revonsuo’s research?
  • What is Revonsuo’s theory of why we dream?
  • How does Strickgold’s research support and maybe even expand Revonsuo’s general theory?

Dreams: Night School

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200710/dreams-night-school



Next, look at one example of the evidence that animals have meaningful dreams. From the two-page article, you should be able to explain exact how the researchers could demonstrate with confidence that the rats were dreaming about real life:



Study: Rats Dream About Running Mazes


http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=99045&page=1



Finally, watched this video on lucid dreaming. It is interesting, and all I want you to take away from it is the definition of lucid dreaming and how researchers developed a way to induce lucid dreaming. Then take a minute to imagine how incredible it would be to dream like this any time you wanted.



Lucid Dreams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYSX51xBkos