William Et Al Flashcards
Background
- the strange nature of dreams correlated to the neurobiology of rem sleep
- the researchers believed that being awake and being in remote sleep are so physiologically different the must be different cognitively
- the researchers predicted that bizarre content of dreams would be different to fantasies
Aim
To assess the bizarre nature of dreams and fanticies as a way of supporting the activation synthesis theory
Design
Natural experiment
Self report survey
Participants
12 students
Bio psychology at havard
23 to 45
Procedure
They had to keep a journal to record their dreams and fantasies
60 dreams and fantasies where selected
A two stage system was made to score the bizarreness
Stage 1 locus of bizarreness
Stage 2 type of bizarreness
Results
Good inter rater reliability judges scored 80%
Bizarreness was more prevalent in dreams than fantasies
Conclusion
Brain activity in rem sleep is associated with dreams being bizzare
Criticisms
Social desirability due to self report survey. Participants may have been embarrassed about dreams and so may not have shared them making comparisons unreliable
Difficult to generalise. 12 participants mainly female. Gender bias
Lacks construct validity. Dreams are complex. Because they were rated this means it was oversimplified. Critics say qualitative over quantitative