Comments on: Calvin Hall and the Cognitive Theory of Dreaming

By: Ryan Hurd

Ryan Hurd — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:52:41 +0000

thanks Star — and sorry Tina — another comment that got by my radar. in general the studies that support cognitive theory are by the researchers who use cognitive theory. same goes for Freudian theory, Jungian theory, etc. There is no final authority on the meaning of dreams when it comes down to individual dreams. in my opinion — and many dream workers — the final authority is YOU. what feels right? what can you learn? studying dreaming like all cognitive artifacts is a study in meaning-making, and nobody can tell you what something means, they can only lead the way…

By: star

star — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:41:21 +0000

hi Tania am not sure how late this feedback but ..try looking into Deirdre Barrett work she has numerous books and articles on that part she is the chief editor of Dreaming Journal
hope this helps.
Star

By: Tina Bishop

Tina Bishop — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:30:32 +0000

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for your overview on the cognitive theory of dreams. I’m writting a research paper on dreams where I’m looking at this theory and Freud’s theory and my argument is that the cognitive theory provides the most clarity in understanding our dreams. I was wondering if you know of any study a psychologist has conducted where he has concluded that a particular dream supports the cognitive dream theory,

I have looked into Domhoff’s dreambank.net website, and found one study that I think I may be able to use in my paper;however, I was just curious to see whether you’ve come across any such study

Thank you so much for your updates on your blog, I’d appreciate a response as soon as you can

Thanks!
Tina

By: Ryan Hurd

Ryan Hurd — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:07:42 +0000

thanks, Bob, for stopping by!
I’ll pick those nits.

By: Bob Van de Castle

Bob Van de Castle — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:15:31 +0000

Some nits for you
Calvin Hall’s name does not have Jr. in the title
Our Dreaming Mind was published in 1994 not 93
Domhoff’s book on Finding Meaning etc was published in 1996, not 97

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:54:29 +0000

Great overview of an important perspective on dreamwork. I’m very opposed to a purely materialistic “random neural firings” hypothesis about dreams.

By: Ryan Hurd

Ryan Hurd — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:48:06 +0000

Kelly, thanks for coming by and also for the behaviorist scoop on Hall!

By: Kelly Bulkeley

Kelly Bulkeley — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:00:24 +0000

The story, as I heard it from Bill Domhoff, was that Hall was originally trained as a behaviorist in the 30′s and 40′s, the heyday of that psychological system. He focused on the study of anxiety in lab rats, which he measured by giving them mild electric shocks and then counting the resulting number of feces (which are apparently an accurate index of a rat’s level of fear). I don’t know why Hall shifted toward psychoanalysis and cognitive psychology, but I find it strangely appropriate that his approach to dream content analysis has its roots in counting rat turds.

By: Ryan Hurd

Ryan Hurd — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:53:25 +0000

Ryhen, you’re right about the issues with dream recall and after-the-fact revision… that is actually one of the central criticisms of Hall and Van de Castle’s system.

That’s why it’s important to understand that dream researchers don’t study dreams per say… we study dream reports. a dream is actually a memory, and memory is highly unpredictable. the critique isn’t devastating to the enterprise of dream studies, but certainly a dangerous pothole along the path.

By: Ryhen Satch

Ryhen Satch — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:16:58 +0000

Thanks for the thorough presentation of Hall’s theory, Ryan. I’ve never encountered his name before. I’m a little bit perplexed though as to why a behavioral psychologist, like Hall, got involved in psychoanalytic research. I guess there’s not much difference between the two fields at that time. Anyway, I think his system of content analysis is indeed useful in providing quantitative data for the investigation of dreams knowing that the latter is filled with abstractions and that subjects who report their dreams may find it difficult to remove subjective interpretations while trying to recall dreams from memory.