Williams et al

Question 1

W - Aim

Answer 1

To assess the bizarreness of dreams and fantasies to support the activation synthesis theory.

Question 2

W- Type

Answer 2

Natural experiment with a self-report method.

Question 3

W - Hypothesis

Answer 3

The bizarre content of dreams would be different than the bizarre content of daytime fantasies, due to different types of brain activity.

Question 4

W - Sample

Answer 4

12 biopsychology students from a US university, aged between 23-45.

Question 5

W - IV

Answer 5

Whether people were recording their or their fantasies.

Question 6

W - DV

Answer 6

How bizarre the sample’s dreams and fantasies were.

Question 7

W - Procedure

Answer 7

For a term, students kept a written journal of all their dreams and fantasies. Researchers chose 60 dreams and 60 fantasies to be analysed and scored using Hobson’s bizarreness scale. Three judges scored the reports on both the locus and type of bizarreness; the judges were also checked for inter-rater reliability.

Question 8

W - Results

Answer 8

Judges had good inter-rater reliability. Dreams were scored to be three times more bizarre than fantasies. The largest difference between dream and fantasy bizarreness was plot discontinuity.

Question 9

W - Conclusion

Answer 9

The bizarreness of dreams correlates with brain activity during REM sleep.

Question 10

W - Criticisms

Answer 10

The sample is too small to generalise, reports relied on their memory and ability to explain, social desirability bias, lacks construct validity as qualitative data was changed into quantitative data, there is no guarantee dreams took place in REM stage as no brain-scanning was used, difficulty in making reports, especially for dreams.