What are the five stages of the sleep-dream cycle
Question 1: Description
Please reference information in the course modules, in the textbook chapter, and on the Internet (as a secondary source). Then answer the following questions:
What are the five stages of the sleep-dream cycle?
How are they characterized?
- Why do we sleep and dream?
- Purpose
- The purpose of this assignment is for students to familiarize themselves with the psychological theories on sleep and dreaming.
Question 2: Do Dreams Have Meaning?
Description
Discuss whether you believe dreams are just random noise or if they have inherent meaning. Be careful and be sure to base your responses on the research presented in Module 5. Do not base your answer on personal opinion. Research the topic. Refer to information in the module, in the chapter, on the Internet (as a secondary source), etc. Offer evidence for both of these possibilities:
Dreams are random noise.
Dreams have inherent meaning.
POST
]C1: Consciousness, Sleep, and DreamingReferences: Daniel Johnson’s review of Consciousness: A User’s Guide by Adam ZemanEssential Sources in the Scientific Study of Consciousness edited by Baars, Banks, and Newman, the editors of Science and Consciousness (February 2003)
Answer 1: Dreaming is a mysterious process, which is difficult to research and explain. The researchers still can’t agree whether they are just random noise or if they have inherent meaning.The Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis is a neurobiological theory of dreams, which considers that dreams are random noise. It was first proposed by Harvard University psychiatrists John Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley in 1977. The hypothesis suggests that dreams are created by changes in neuron activity during sleep. While we sleep, this activation keeps our brain physiologically active. During REM, our brain ensures rest and recovery processes in neuronal systems, updates memory and integrates neural programs. This is an activation activity, which is random, and it is supported by a random noise. This is when the dreaming occurs, because the mind is trying to make sense of this random noise. Our mind tries to interpret this noise matching it with the previous information. In my opinion, this hypothesis explains very well how the dreaming is functioning on a neurobiological level, but it does not prove that our dreams are just random noice. Dreams appear from the random activity of brain, but the brain interpret they in a meaningful way, processing a lot of pre-existing memories and factors. Hobson himself explained this paradox in Newsweek, August, 1989:”Dreams are not meaningless . . . the brain is so inexorably bent upon the quest for meaning that it takes essentially random, automatic signals from the brain stem and imbues them with sense.”The theories explaining dreams as meaningful for the dreamers are numerous and often border with philosophy and mythology. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud called dream interpretation the ‘royal road’ to the unconscious (Freud Museum London). Through the dreams, a psychoanalyst could reach the unconscious of a patient to see his hidden wishes, fears, wants, and needs. Freud often connected them with a feeling of guilt, which is not always obvious, often repressed and connected with the past experiences in childhood.The other researcher, who considered dreams as meaningful and important for the dreamer, was Carl Gustav Jung. He connected dreams with the collective unconscious and the human nature.“Dreams are impartial, spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche, outside the control of the will. They are pure nature; they show us the unvarnished, natural truth, and are therefore fitted, as nothing else is, to give us back an attitude that accords with our basic human nature when our consciousness has strayed too far from its foundations and run into an impasse.”[Collected Works Volume 10, paragraph 317]Thus, Jung gave the dreams the spiritual meaning, explained them as a part of self, which switches on when the consciousness is off.SourcesCherry Kendra. “What Is the Activation-Synthesis Model of Dreaming?” Very Well Mind. Web. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-activation-synthesis-model-of-dreaming-2794812.“The Interpretation of Dreams.” Freud Museum. London. Web. https://www.freud.org.uk/education/resources/the-interpretation-of-dreams/.West, Marcus. “Jung and Dreams.” Society of Analytical psychology. Web. https://www.thesap.org.uk/articles-on-jungian-psychology-2/carl-gustav-jung/dreams/.
Answer 2: I believe that dreams have inherent meaning. According to the activation hypothesis promoted by Allan Hobson and Harvard’s McCarley, dreams take place and “activate” our brains when we are sleeping, specifically when our brains are practicing REM; after that, the acetylcholine neurons will then send signals to the cortex to form dreams. The supporters who believe in this theory explain that our brains need this type of stimulus to keep them running, and they think it’s crucial since, supposedly, our brains are not stimulated by waking consciousness when we are sleeping. Therefore, a way to make our brains active is to form dreams while we are sleeping, it can also be said as a protection mechanism for our brains to be active. “Both Freud and Jung believed that dreams had inherent meaning for the dreamer. For Freud they represented wishes, fears, wants, and needs that were often repressed or shunned via guilt to the realm of the unconscious.” (Module 5, Session 2) This also indicates why psychologists will need to analyze their patients’ dreams in psychotherapy sometimes, for the dreams might reflect the patients’ stress or guilt more directly from their innermost psychologies. Evolutionary psychology also gives strong evidence that dreams have inherent meaning – Dreaming starts with mammals. The proponents of evolutionary psychology think that, according to the module, “dreaming is a way for an animal to adjust its behavioral repertoire in response to the events of the day.” (Module 5, Session 2) Animals, mammals specifically, dream based on their memory for living and survival in order to prolong the lives of certain species. From the biological, psychological, philosophical, and evolutionary aspects, dreams are proved that are not just random noise, instead, the existence of dreams is meaningful and necessary for not only humans but also all species of mammals. People can easily understand their mental states by recalling their dreams, besides, we can also get various reflections on our lives based on the dreams we dreamed. Therefore, I believe that dreams have inherent meaning.
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