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Dream Reports of Animal Rights Activists

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This study examined the nighttime dream experiences of animal rights activists. The sample consisted of 284 activists who attended the Animal Rights 2004 conference. Participants completed the C. S. Hall and R. Van de Castle (1966) Most Recent Dream Survey (as cited in Domhoff, 1996). The data on dreams were compared with statistical norms on dream content developed by C. S. Hall and R. Van de Castle (as cited in Domhoff, 1996). Results indicated that activists reported animal dream characters at a much higher rate than the general population. Activists also overwhelmingly had more friendly animal dreams than did the general public. Examples of dream reports, as well as the variety of animal species, are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Dream Reports of Animal Rights Activists
Jacquie E. Lewis
Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
This study examined the nighttime dream experiences of animal rights activ-
ists. The sample consisted of 284 activists who attended the Animal Rights
2004 conference. Participants completed the C. S. Hall and R. Van de Castle
(1966) Most Recent Dream Survey (as cited in Domhoff, 1996). The data on
dreams were compared with statistical norms on dream content developed by
C. S. Hall and R. Van de Castle (as cited in Domhoff, 1996). Results indicated
that activists reported animal dream characters at a much higher rate than the
general population. Activists also overwhelmingly had more friendly animal
dreams than did the general public. Examples of dream reports, as well as the
variety of animal species, are also discussed.
Keywords: animal rights, dreams, most recent dream survey, U.S. dream norms
The topic of animals in dreams has been of interest to humankind since ancient
times, perhaps even before the dawn of history (Van de Castle, 1994). Previous
civilizations most often interpreted animal dreams as portents of future events (De
Becker, 1974; Lorand, 1974). In contrast, modern dream investigators have cate-
gorized animal dreams as representing health issues, portraying personality traits,
or reflecting spiritual concerns.
Barasch (2000) believed that animals may appear in dreams as representations
of our physical health. King and DeCicco (2007) examined the relationship between
dream content and physical health and found that individuals who experience more
physical pain reported more animals in their dreams ( p.05).
Other dream investigators have focused on dream reports of animals from a
psychological standpoint. The presence of animal characters in dreams as repre-
senting sexual impulses (Freud, 1972), as offering psychological insights or as
symbols of personality characteristics of the dreamer (Garfield, 2001), and as
depicting undesirable character traits (Estes, 1995; Faraday, 1974; Wangyal, 1998)
have all been put forth as attempts to understand dreams in which animals appear.
Still other dream investigators have believed that animal dreams can offer
spiritual insight. Animals in dreams have been interpreted to be divine helpers that
Jacquie E. Lewis, Dream Studies Certificate Program, Saybrook Graduate School and Research
Center.
A special thank you to Stanley Krippner from Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
and Joe Gaziano from Lewis University for their comments on this article. I am also grateful to the
animal rights activists who participated in this study.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jacquie E. Lewis, 5012 South
Washtenaw, Chicago, IL 60632. E-mail: lotusdream@comcast.net
181
Dreaming Copyright 2008 by the American Psychological Association
2008, Vol. 18, No. 3, 181–200 1053-0797/08/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0013393
can offer aid to the dreamer (Barasch, 2000; Priess, 1993), as benevolent beings who
visit us in dreams (Boss, 1974; Hillman, 1979), or as symbols offering glimpses into
future events (Van de Castle, 1994). Priess (1993) believed dreams of animals can
also indicate a call from nature to protect certain species and the ecology.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ON ANIMALS IN DREAMS
A number of researchers have attempted to empirically quantify how often
animals appear in dreams. U.S. statistical norms of dream content were tabulated
by Hall and Van de Castle and discussed in their 1966 book The Content Analysis
of Dreams (as cited in Domhoff, 1996), in which they collected five dreams each
from 100 adult men and 100 adult women. They found that animals made up 6% of
the characters in the dreams of U.S. men and 4% of the characters in the dreams
of U.S. women. They also measured aggression/friendliness (a/f) percentages
of animals in dreams. Hall and Van de Castle developed an a/f formula by
comparing aggressive and friendly actions in dreams. A percentage of more than 50
indicates a preponderance of aggression, and a percentage of less than 50 indicates
a greater amount of friendliness. With regard to animal characters, U.S. men
reported an a/f percentage of 82 and U.S. women reported an a/f percentage of 77.
This indicates that the majority of animal characters involve aggressive interactions
with the dreamer.
This finding has been confirmed in other studies of dream reports. In one study,
Van de Castle (1968) examined the dream reports of 75 male and 75 female under-
graduates and found that as animal characters increased, there was increased incidence
of aggression, misfortune, and apprehension. DeCicco (2007) also found a relationship
between animals in dreams and aggression. She found that dream reports of animals
and being chased were correlated at the p.001 level and those of animals and
aggressions were correlated at the p.05 level. In a similar study, Van de Castle (1994)
found that most people in the United States report dreams in which animals are the
aggressors. He examined 1,057 adult dreams and found that when humans were the
only dream figures, there were 28 aggressive acts for every 100 characters. When
dreams consisted of equal human and animal characters, aggressive acts rose to 38 per
100 characters. However, when animals predominated in dreams, the figure was even
higher, reaching 56 aggressive acts per 100 characters.
Pregnant women’s dreams have also been studied. Garfield (1988) found that
pregnant women are more likely to report dreams of animals than are nonpregnant
women. Krippner, Posner, Pomerance, and Barksdale (1974) found aggression
toward animals in the dream reports of 11 pregnant women. Each of the seven
animal characters that appeared in these dreams were small animals involved in
threatening situations. Maybruck (1989) found that small animal dream reports are
typical in the dreams of pregnant women early on in their pregnancies, whereas
larger, more threatening animals usually appear in their dreams during the last
trimester. Garfield (1988) found that during the first trimester fish and reptilelike
creatures predominate pregnant women’s dreams. By the second trimester, preg-
nant women report dreams of babylike animals such as puppies, kittens, or bunnies.
During the third trimester, their dream reports consist of larger animals such as
lions.
182 Lewis
Wigren (1991) investigated pregnant women’s dreams reports to examine any
correlation between birth complications with the amount of animal imagery. She
found birth complications were positively correlated ( p.01) with the amount of
animal imagery during the first trimester. However, no significant correlation was
found in the second trimester, whereas in the third trimester a negative correlation
(p.05) was found between animal dream reports and birth complications.
Wigren also found that passive animal imagery in dreams, meaning that things are
done to animals rather than animals actively pursue activities, showed a significant
positive correlation in the second trimester ( p.05), but a significantly negative
correlation in the third trimester ( p.01).
Van de Castle (1983) found, when examining mammal dreams versus non-
mammal dreams, that women reported dreams with mammals in them more often
than did men and that men reported dreams with nonmammals more often than did
women. He also found that animal dream reports are usually shorter in length and
more aggressive in content than other types of dreams and that as animal figures
increased in dreams, so did the presence of misfortunes, apprehension, and disori-
entation. However, interestingly, ability to cope with challenges posed within the
dream increased as animal characters predominated (Van de Castle, 1994). This
finding seems to imply that animal dreams present both problems and solutions to
the dreamer.
There have been a few studies in which researchers were able to examine
dream narratives of individuals over long periods of time. Domhoff (1996) dis-
cussed the dream series recorded by Jason, a man who kept a dream journal from
age 37 to his early 70s. His dream reports indicated that he seldom dreamed of
animals, but when he did have animal dreams there was not much of a percentage
difference between animal aggression and friendliness. Domhoff (1996) also exam-
ined the dreams of Dorothea, a woman whose dream reports spanned from 1912 to
1965. He found that the percentage of animal characters in her dream reports
showed only minor fluctuations over a 50-year period.
ANIMAL DREAM REPORTS IN U.S. CHILDREN
Investigations have also focused on the dreams of U.S. children. The majority
of studies examining animals in dreams in the U.S. population have found that
children report dreams about animals more often than do adults. The most com-
prehensive investigation of children’s dreams was a longitudinal study conducted by
Foulkes (1982). In this study, 46 children slept in the laboratory every other year
for 9 nonconsecutive nights over a 5-year period. At the study’s completion, dream
reports were gathered for children 3 to 15 years of age. Foulkes found that animals
were the major characters, at 38%, in the dream reports of children ages 3 to 5.
Children ages 5 to 7 reported animal characters at 36%. These percentages steadily
declined with each age range, until animal dreams were reported infrequently.
When focusing on the types of dream animals that children report, Foulkes
(1982) found that children usually dream about domestic animals. However, Van de
Castle (1983) reported contradictory results. He found that adults report dreams of
domesticated or companion animals, and children more frequently report dreams
about wild animals.
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 183
Van de Castle (1983) also found a decrease in dream reports about animals as
children matured. Hall and Van de Castle collected 741 dream reports (358 boy’s
dreams and 383 girl’s dreams) of children ages 4 to 16. Van de Castle analyzed the
data and found few differences in gender. When examining age, he found that the
older the children, the fewer the animal characters in their dreams. Boys re-
ported 29.6% animal dreams and girls reported 29.0%. However, boys had a higher
percentage of animal dreams between ages 4 and 6 (43.5%) than did girls (34.1%).
This was reversed at ages 9 through 11. Girls reported 35.6% animal dreams, and
boys reported 36.3%. This was reversed once again at ages 12 and 13, at which boys
reported 24.4% and girls reported 19.6%. Girls were more likely to report animal
dreams containing mammals rather than nonmammals (78.4% vs. 61.3%, respec-
tively), and boys reported more nonmammal dreams (38.7% vs. 21.6%, respec-
tively). Van de Castle also compared 4,000 animal dream reports of U.S. college
students with the children’s dream reports. He found that college students reported
only 7.5% animal dreams, whereas children reported 29.3% animal dreams. The
difference was even more dramatic when comparing only 4- and 5-year-olds to
the college students. He found five times as many animal dream reports among the
youngest children.
Hall (as cited in Domhoff, 1996) also observed this trend. He found children in
the 2- to 6-year-old range reported the highest percentage of animal characters,
boys at 32% and girls at 24%. However, in the 7- to 12-year-old range both boys
and girls reported 14% of their dream characters as animals. Similar results were
found in a longitudinal study conducted by Strauch and Lederbogen (1999). They
compared waking fantasy to dream reports in children and found that animals were
consistently represented in waking fantasies at lower percentages than in dream
reports. The children were divided into three groups, ages 9 –11, ages 11–13, and
ages 13–15. When examining animals in their dream reports, children differed
by gender in the 9–11 age range, with girls reporting 25% of their dream
characters as animals and boys reporting only 10%. However, this difference
decreased with age. Children of both genders in the 13–15 age range reported
animal characters at 11%.
In other animal dream studies, age and gender differences were also observed.
Saline (1999) found that girls between 8 and 9 years of age reported dreams about
animals more often than did boys of the same age, at 28% and 13%, respectively.
However, by age 11, animal dream reports decreased in both genders. Avila-White,
Schneider, and Domhoff (1999) found that when reviewing the dream narratives of
12- and 13-year-old boys, they had a higher percentage of animal dreams, at 12%,
whereas girls of the same age had a lower percentage, at 9%.
Kimmins (1920/1974) examined fear of animal dream characters and found
that fear of animals was reported far more commonly in boys than in girls.
Kimmins also found that children who are deaf or blind are far more likely to
report fear dreams about animals than are children with normal vision and
hearing.
One study compared anxiety levels with different types of aggressors in the
dream reports of children ages 10 to 16 (Schredl, Pallmer, & Montasser, 1996).
Aggressors included humans, animals, and monsters. There was also a category for
no aggressors. Schredl et al. (1996) reported that the highest anxiety was found in
184 Lewis
children reporting dreams of humans and animals and the lowest anxiety was found
in children reporting dreams of monsters or no aggressors.
ANIMAL DREAM REPORTS IN INDIGENOUS CULTURES
Although people in the United States tend to report dreams of animals in the
role of attacker, this is not the case with native populations. Animals in the dream
reports of native peoples are often being pursued by the dreamers for the purpose
of hunting them (Van de Castle, 1994). However, not all native cultures report
dreams of animals as prey. Van de Castle (1994) also studied 600 dream reports of
adolescent Cuna Indians on the San Blas Islands off the Atlantic coast of Panama.
He found that these Indians reported dreams in which animals were the aggressors.
Interestingly, Van de Castle also found that the presence of animal dream charac-
ters was related to increased expressiveness during waking hours.
In additional cross-cultural studies, Van de Castle (1986) examined 246 animal
dream reports of Australian Aborigines, 190 animal dream reports of Native
Americans, 118 animal dream reports of South Pacific islanders, and 448 animal
dream reports of Peruvians. He found that these groups tended to dream of animals
that existed in their waking environment. For example, in Australian dream reports
kangaroos, crocodiles, and wallabies were prominent dream animals. Those who
lived near water often had dreams of fish and aquatic animals, whereas those who
lived inland rarely reported dreams with water-dwelling animals.
Hall (as cited in Domhoff, 1996) found that the animal percentage is higher in
the dreams of adults in indigenous cultures. When examining the dream reports of
Baiga males of India, he found that 31% of their dream characters were animals.
Both Hall and Van de Castle (1994) used the same Australian Aborigine dream
material. Hall examined the dreams of the Yir Yoront, an aboriginal society in
Australia. He found, when comparing them to U.S. norms and the Hopi Indian
tribe of the American Southwest, that the Yir Yoronts dreamed more often about
animals, reporting 34% of their dream characters as animals. They also had a higher
proportion of aggression toward animal dream characters. Hall believed this is
because the Yir Yoronts hunt and kill animals for subsistence, whereas this is not
true of most Anglo Americans and Hopi Indians, who do not hunt and have a
sustainable agriculture industry. Female Hopi Indians have 6% dream animal
characters. This is close to the U.S. female norm, which is 4%.
In a similar study of indigenous people, Gregor (1981) studied the dream
reports of the Mehinaku, a tribe in the Amazon rainforest. He found more physical
aggression in Mehinaku dream reports than in U.S. dream reports. Men and
animals are the most frequent attackers in Mehinaku dream reports. However, the
single major type of anxiety dream for both men and women in the Mehinaku
culture is animal dreams, which account for 30% of all anxiety dream reports. He
suggested that the prevalence of animals in Mehinaku dream reports points to their
relationship to the natural world. The Mehinaku people face a threat from a wide
range of animals. Gregor contended that dream experience and waking life seem to
parallel each other. Krippner and Dillard (1988) have also stated that dreams
appear to mirror the same types of interests, activities, and personality attributes of
waking life.
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 185
CULTURAL FACTORS IN DREAMS
Much of the research cited above suggests that what people think about when
they are awake is also what they dream about. Dream studies have demonstrated
strong support for the argument that dreams are related to waking consciousness
and can tell us something meaningful about a person’s waking life. It also seems
reasonable to assume that dreams may be one of the clearest indications of
cognitive content and that the waking mind and the dreaming mind seem to be
concerned about the same issues (Adler, 1931/1958).
It also appears that dreams are culturally based. The Mehinaku, who face daily
threat from animals, report 30% of their anxiety dreams have animals as central
characters, whereas people in the United States, who face little threat from animals,
report only about 5% of their dream characters as animals.
Animal content in dreams is also reported as high in U.S. children. However,
Foulkes (1982) and Van de Castle (1994) attributed this high percentage of animal
characters in children to cognitive immaturity. They based this on the fact that as
children mature, their reports of animal characters decline. However, this does not
take into account how U.S. culture may influence these children. It may be that U.S.
culture reinforces the belief in children that there is something immature in being
concerned about animals. Just as children’s books that often depict animal stories
are put away as children mature and belief in the Easter Bunny is discouraged at an
early age, interest in animals often declines as well. Most likely because children
seek to emulate adult behavior, they come to believe that interest in animals is a
childish pastime. This decrease in concern about animals in waking life as children
age may account for a decrease in reports of animal dreams in older children.
Foulkes (1982) and Van de Castle (1994) also did not address the fact that in
native cultures, adults report a high percentage of animal dreams, yet it is unlikely
that they possess cognitive immaturity. Rather, what this suggests is that animals
are an important component of indigenous cultures and are therefore more likely
to be manifested in their dreams. In contrast, the United States is a highly indus-
trialized society in which most people are detached from the natural world. What
Foulkes and Van de Castle may have observed in dream reports of fewer animals
as children age is not cognitive maturity. It is, more likely, an indication of how
children learn to remove themselves from nature in the U.S. culture.
Although there are many studies of dream content, little is known about
animals in dreams among people who are closely associated with animals in an
industrialized culture. What seems clear from the literature on animals in dreams is
that they mirror the concerns, conceptions, and interests of the dreamer. Picone
(2000) found it quite natural to dream of animals. She stated,
I am an animal lover. My cat and I have a close relationship and mutual respect for each
other. I feed and care for the various birds, squirrels, mice, snakes, frogs and lizards and any
other animal that happens to come into our yard. It is no surprise, then, that I dream about
animals. (Picone, 2000, p. 22)
A way to test whether those in the United States who describe themselves as
aligned with nature have a preponderance of animal dreams would be to collect and
quantify their dream reports and compare them to the U.S. statistical norms
established by Hall and Van de Castle (as cited in Domhoff, 1996). I hypothesized
186 Lewis
that because of their sensitivity to and interest in animals, animal rights activists
would probably report a high percentage of animal dreams and a higher rate of
animal dream characters than the general U.S. population. I also speculated that
animal rights activists would report a high rate of friendliness toward animals in
their dreams.
METHOD
I rented a table in the exhibit hall of the Animal Rights 2004 conference held in
Washington, DC, on July 8–12, 2004. Approximately 1,000 people attend this confer-
ence every year, coming from all over the country. Many of the participants are new to
the animal rights movement. Others are seasoned activists (Farm Animal Reform
Movement, 2006). As people walked by or visited the exhibit table, I asked them to
record their most recent dream on the Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in G. W.
Domhoff, 1996) Most Recent Dream Survey.The survey asks participants to write
down the most recent dream they remember having, whether it was last night, last
month, or last year. It also asks them to describe, in as much detail as they can
remember, exactly what happened in the dream. This includes the dream setting,
whether it was familiar to them, and descriptions of the people and animals, including
ages, genders, and relationship of the people to the dreamer. They were also asked to
describe their feelings during the dream (Domhoff, 1996).
RESULTS
The total respondents reporting their most recent dream was 284. Dreams
were coded using the Hall and Van de Castle system (1966, as cited in Domhoff,
1996). Coding sheets were completed by listing dream characters, acts of aggres-
sion, acts of friendliness, and dream misfortunes.
The results present the percentage of human and animal characters in all 284
dreams. Dream characters were also examined according to dreamer gender. These
percentages were then compared with U.S. statistical norms established by Hall and
Van de Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996). Single dream characters and plural
dream characters were also examined and compared with U.S. norms. Frequencies
of aggressiveness and friendliness in dream interactions were examined, as well as
incidents of misfortunes to dream characters. The a/f percentage of this study, as
devised by Hall and Van de Castle, was also compared with U.S. norms. A list of
all the animal species, single and plural, with number of appearances in dreams, was
also tabulated.
Understanding Dream Characters and Acts of Aggression, Friendliness,
and Misfortune
In the portions of the Hall and Van de Castle system (1966, as cited in
Domhoff, 1996) used in this study, dreams were analyzed using four criteria: dream
characters, acts of aggressiveness, acts of friendliness, and acts of misfortune.
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 187
Dream characters were divided into three categories: humans, animals, and mis-
cellaneous creatures (e.g., robots, monsters, and cartoon characters). Acts of ag-
gression were differentiated by eight levels of action: covert hostility, which is felt
but not expressed in the dream (first subclass); verbal aggressions (second, third,
and fourth subclasses); theft or vandalism (fifth subclass); being chased or impris-
oned (sixth subclass); physical abuse (seventh subclass); and overt acts of aggres-
siveness, which result in death (eighth subclass). Acts of friendliness were classified
into seven subclasses: covert friendliness, when the dreamer has friendly feelings,
but does not openly express them (first subclass); greeting or praising (second
subclass); giving or loaning an object (third subclass); helping or rescuing (fourth
subclass); requesting to go along with someone or visit someone (fifth subclass);
expressing love (sixth subclass); and long-term close contact, such as dreaming of
getting married (seventh subclass). Acts of misfortune were categorized into six
subclasses: being unable to move or being lost or late (first subclass); falling (second
subclass); environmental threat (third subclass); accident with no physical harm
(fourth subclass); being injured or ill (fifth subclass); and illness or death because of
accident or unknown cause (sixth subclass).
Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in G. W. Domhoff, 1996) also developed
U.S. statistical norms for dreams according to dreamer gender. The U.S. norms
involving animal characters are compared with the findings of this study, including
(a) animal character percentage compared by dreamer gender, (b) the percentages
of single animals (one animal appears in a dream) and plural animals (two or more
animals appear together in a dream) compared by dreamer gender, and (c) the a/f
percentage, which compares aggressiveness and friendliness involving animals in
dreams (Domhoff, 1996).
Animal Character Percentages in All Dream Reports
Of the animal rights activist dreams collected, 61.6% (n175) were nonani-
mal dreams and 38.4% (n109) were animal dreams. Nonanimal dreams are those
that contain human characters or miscellaneous creatures, but have no animal
characters. Animal dreams are dreams that contain at least one animal. These
dreams often contain human characters as well.
Table 1 shows the percentage of reported dream characters (431) in all animal
rights activist dreams collected. Many dreams had multiple characters. However,
when a character appeared more than once in a dream, it was still counted as only
one character. It also should be noted that because the dreamer was such a constant
factor in almost every dream, he or she was not listed as a character. There were 292
Table 1. Percentages of Dream Characters in Animal Rights Activist Dreams
Dream characters Frequency %
Humans 292 67.7
Animals 128 29.7
Miscellaneous 11 2.6
Total 431 100.0
188 Lewis
human dream characters, making up 67.7% of dreams. Animals made up 128
(29.7%) of the dream characters. There were 11 miscellaneous characters (2.6%).
Table 2 shows animal dream characters identified by animal rights advocates
compared with the U.S. population, differentiated by gender. Female animal rights
advocates reported 67.6% human characters, 30% animal characters, and 2.4%
miscellaneous creatures. The U.S. norms for women are 96% human characters,
4% animal characters, and 0% miscellaneous creatures. Male animal rights advo-
cates reported 69.3% human characters, 27.7% animal characters, and 3% miscel-
laneous characters. The U.S. norms for men are 94% human dream characters, 6%
animal characters, and 0% miscellaneous characters.
Table 3 presents the percentage of single and plural human characters and
single and plural animal characters compared by dreamer gender. The total
percentage of human characters identified in all animal rights activist dreams
was 68.1% and the total number of animal characters was 29.4%.
A single human character in a dream means that one human character, other
than the dreamer, appears in the dream. Table 3 shows that female animal rights
activists reported 48.3% single human characters and male animal rights activists
reported 35.6% single human characters. The table also shows that activist women
reported 19.4% and activist men reported 33.7% of plural human characters in
their dreams. These are dreams in which two or more humans, other than the
dreamer, appear together in the dream.
Table 3 also indicates that a single animal character was reported by 16.6% of
female animal rights activists and 13.9% of male animal rights activists. A single
animal character is when one animal appears alone in the dream.
Plural animal dreams, those in which two or more animals appear together in
the dream, were reported by 13.2% of the women surveyed and 13.9% of the men.
Miscellaneous creatures appear in animal rights activist women’s dreams 2.5% of
the time and at about the same rate for men, 2.9%.
Table 4 compares single and plural animal characters reported by animal rights
activists to the U.S. population (Domhoff, 1996). The table indicates that female
Table 2. Percentages of Dream Characters of Animal Rights Activists (ARAs) by Gender
Compared With U.S. Statistical Norms
Dream character
Women Men
ARA U.S. ARA U.S.
Human
% 67.6 96 69.3 94
n220 70
Animal
% 30.0 4 27.7 6
n97 28
Miscellaneous creature
% 2.4 0 3.0 0
n83
Total
% 100.0 100 100.0 100
n325 101
Note. Five dream characters (two humans and three animals) were excluded because no dreamer
gender was identified on the Most Recent Dream Survey.
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 189
animal rights activists reported 16.6% of their dreams contained single animal charac-
ters, whereas the U.S. population of women reported only 3% single animal characters
in their dreams. Female animal rights activists identified 13.2% plural animal
characters in their dreams, and the U.S. population of women reported only 1%.
Male animal rights activists had a pattern of dreams similar to that of female animal
rights activists. Activist men reported 13.9% single animal characters and 13.9%
plural animal characters. This is a much higher proportion of dream characters
compared with the U.S. population of men. They reported only 4% single animal
dream characters and 2% plural animal dream characters.
Dreamer’s Relationship to Animals in Dreams
The 109 dreams that contained animal characters were analyzed to determine
the degree of aggressive and friendly interactions among characters. According to
Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996), dream aggression occurs
when one character shows verbal or physical aggression toward another dream
character, steals or destroys another character’s belongings, or thinks hostile
thoughts about another dream character. Friendliness in dreams occurs when a
dream character communicates friendliness, verbally or nonverbally, to another
dream character, offers a gift or loans a possession to a dream character, helps or
rescues a dream character, requests to accompany or visit a dream character,
Table 3. Animal Rights Activist (ARA) Human and Animal Dream Characters, Single and Plural,
Compared by Dreamer Gender
Dreamer
Single
human
Plural
human
Single
animal
Plural
animal
Miscellaneous
creature Total
Women
% 48.3 19.4 16.6 13.2 2.5 100
n157 63 54 43 8 325
Men
% 35.6 33.7 13.9 13.9 2.9 100
n36 34 14 14 3 101
Total
% 45.3 22.8 16.0 13.4 2.5 100
n193 97 68 57 11 426
Note. Single human one human, other than the dreamer, appears within the dream; Plural human
two or more humans, other than the dreamer, appear together within the dream; Single animal one
animal appears within the dream; Plural animal two or more animals appear together within the
dream. The total percentage of human characters is 68.1%. The total percentage of animal characters
is 29.4%.
Table 4. Percentage of Animal Rights Activist (ARA) Single and Plural Animal Dream Characters
Compared With U.S. Statistical Norms
Dream character
Women Men
ARA U.S. ARA U.S.
Single animal 16.6 3 13.9 4
Plural animal 13.2 1 13.9 2
190 Lewis
expresses or thinks of expressing friendship or love to another dream character, or
commits to a long-term relationship with a character (Domhoff, 1996).
Table 5 shows the percentages of aggression by subclass in all the animal
dreams collected. A total of 34 dreams with 51 aggressive acts were found. These
results are not compared with the Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in
Domhoff, 1996) norms because they did not provide a table of aggressive dreams
involving animals. Eight different subclasses of aggression are categorized: (a)
aggression on the part of the dreamer toward animals or other human dream
characters; (b) aggression by animal characters toward the dreamer, other human
characters, or other animals; and (c) aggression by human characters, other than the
dreamer, toward the dreamer, an animal character, or other human characters.
Table 5 reveals that in the dreams of animal rights activists, the highest
percentage of aggressiveness was perpetuated by someone other than the dreamer
on an animal (31.3%). The second most prevalent form of aggression (17.6%) was
committed by a human character, other than the dreamer, on another human.
Aggressions by human characters toward the dreamer were reported 15.6% of the
time. Aggressiveness on the part of the dreamer toward another human character
and aggressiveness by an animal character toward the dreamer were equally
represented at 11.7%. Animal character aggression toward another animal charac-
ter was reported at 9.8%. Aggression committed by the dreamer toward an animal
occurred only once in all the animal dreams, amounting to 1.9%. There were no
reported incidents of animal aggression toward other humans.
Table 6 presents seven different subclasses of friendliness demonstrated by
dream characters: (a) dreamer friendliness toward an animal or another human; (b)
animal friendliness toward the dreamer, another human, or another animal; and (c)
a human character, other than the dreamer, demonstrating friendliness toward the
dreamer, an animal, or another human. There were a total of 54 dreams with acts
of friendliness, for a total of 86 friendly acts. These results are not compared to
those of Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996) because they did
not provide a table of friendliness in dreams involving animals.
Table 5. Frequencies of Aggressiveness in Animal Dreams by Character
Subclass of
aggressiveness
D
toward
A
D
toward
H
A
toward
D
A
toward
H
A
toward
A
H
toward
D
H
toward
A
H
toward
H Total
11 1 2
231 15
3213
4
5 1 322 8
6 4 23312
7 1 11 4 15215
842 6
Total 1 6 6 0 5 8 16 9 51
% 1.9 11.7 11.7 0 9.8 15.6 31.3 17.6 100
Note. Ddreamer; A animal; H other human. Subclasses of aggression as defined by Hall and
Van de Castle (1966, as cited in G. W. Domhoff, 1996) system: 1 covert hostility; 2 verbally
criticizing, scowling; 3 rejecting, exploiting, controlling, verbally coercing; 4 accusing, verbally
threatening; 5 theft or destruction of possessions; 6 chasing, capturing, confining, physically
coercing; 7 physical harm; 8 results in death.
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 191
According to the data in Table 6, friendliness toward animals on the part of the
dreamer was reported at 60.4%. The vast majority of these dreams were at the
fourth subclass of friendliness. There were 29 instances (56%) of dreamer friendly
interactions toward animal dream characters. Subclass 4 indicates that the dreamer
was helping, protecting, or rescuing an animal. This was much higher than any other
categories of friendliness.
The second highest category of friendly interactions reported in dreams was
when a human character, other than the dreamer, showed friendliness toward an
animal (16.2%). The majority of these interactions were also at Subclass 4, indi-
cating the person was helping, protecting, or rescuing an animal. Animal friendli-
ness toward the dreamer occurred 10.4% of the time, making up the third highest
category of friendly situations.
A/F Percentage in the Dreams of Animal Rights Activists
To compare aggressive and friendly dream interactions, Hall and Van de
Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996) established the a/f percentage. The
following formula was used in this study to determine the a/f percentage: (Total
number of dreamer-involved aggressions with animals)/(Total number of dreamer-
involved aggressions with animals total number of dreamer-involved friendly inter-
actions with animals). According to Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in
Domhoff, 1996), an a/f percentage of more than 50% indicates aggressiveness and
an a/f percentage of less than 50% constitutes friendliness. Aggressiveness is further
defined when an a/f percentage reaches 60%. It is at this level that the dream
characters are classified as dream enemies.
The data in this study (see Table 5) indicate that there was only 1 occurrence
of dreamer-involved aggressiveness toward an animal and 6 occurrences of animal
aggression toward dreamers. Table 6 shows 52 occurrences of dreamer friendliness
toward animals, and 9 occurrences of animal friendliness toward dreamers. Using
the Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996) formula for the a/f
Table 6. Frequencies of Friendliness in Animal Dreams
Subclass of
aggressiveness
D
toward
A
D
toward
H
A
toward
D
A
toward
H
A
toward
A
H
toward
D
H
toward
A
H
toward
H Total
1101111115
2 221 3 8
33 1 4
4291 1 10 41
521 3
68 5 2 15
7 0
Total 523921414186
% 60.4 03.4 10.4 02.3 01.1 04.6 16.2 01.1 100
Note. Ddreamer; A animal; H other human. Subclasses of friendliness as defined by the Hall
and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in G. W. Domhoff, 1996) system: 1 covert friendliness; 2 greeting,
writing, phoning, praising, waving, smiling; 3 offering gift, loaning possession; 4 helping, protecting,
rescuing; 5 asks to accompany or visit someone; 6 expressing freindship or love; 7 long term close
contact.
192 Lewis
percentage, this study yields 10.3%. This compares with the U.S. norms of 82% for
men and 77% for women. Because the a/f percentage in this study is extremely low,
at 10.3%, examining gender differences will not shed further light on comparison of
this study to U.S. norms.
Misfortune in Animal Dreams
Another criteria described by Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in
Domhoff, 1996) is experiencing a misfortune in a dream. This means that the dream
contains a situation in which a dream character experiences one of six negative
situations. These are being unable to move, experiencing falling, feeling threatened
by the environment, having an accident, becoming injured or ill, or dying. While
reading the dream reports in this study, it became clear to me that misfortunes
involving animals were an important component of animal rights activists’ dreams.
Table 7 shows that 65.9% of the dreams in which misfortune occurred were
misfortunes to animals. There were a total of 38 dreams, with a total of 47 incidents
in which misfortune transpired. These results cannot be compared with the Hall and
Van de Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996) sample because they did not
provide a table on dreams of misfortune involving animals. However, these dream
reports indicate an even higher level of dream scenarios in which animals are in
danger than would be revealed by examining aggressive dream interactions alone.
Additional Characteristics of Animal Dream Reports
The dream reports of animal rights activists yielded an extensive variety of
species, which included wild and domestic animals. Table 8 presents all the animal
species and the number of times each species appeared in the dreams. There is a
total of 29 species. Not surprisingly, dogs and cats ranked highest. Single-character
dogs appeared 27 times and single-character cats appeared 15 times. Runners up in
third place were plural dogs and cats, which each appeared in 10 dream scenarios.
These findings cannot be compared with the Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited
Table 7. Frequencies of Misfortunes in Animal Dreams
Subclass of
misfortune
To dreamer To animal Total
n%n%n%
1 6 12.7 3 6.3
2
3 7 14.8 12 25.5
4 3 6.3 3 6.3
5 8 17.0
6 5 10.6
Total 16 34.0 31 65.9 47 100
Note. Subclasses of misfortunes as defined by Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in G. W. Domhoff,
1996) system: 1 unable to move, lost, late, danger of being late; 2 falling, danger of falling; 3
threatened by something in the environment; 4 accident without suffering, loss or destroyed posses-
sion, defective possession; 5 injured or ill; 6 dead or dies due to accident, illness, or unknown cause.
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 193
in Domhoff, 1996) sample because they did not examine the types of species that
appeared in animal dream reports.
Further examination of the animal dreams of animal rights activists revealed
provocative information. Of the dreams, 14.7% involved a deceased companion ani-
mal. Although there are no established U.S. norms for dreams about deceased animals,
Hall and Van de Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996) identified dead animals in a
category that also includes dead humans, imaginary characters, and metamorphosed
Table 8. The 29 Species in Animal Rights Advocates’ Dreams
Species No.
Animal/companion 1
Animals/companion 2
Animal/unspecified 3
Animals/unspecified 7
Animals/farmed 3
Animals/wild 1
Ape/chimpanzee 1
Ape/chimpanzees 1
Baboon 1
Bear 2
Birds 2
Camels 1
Cat 15
Cats 10
Centipede 1
Chickens 2
Cow/steer/bull 2
Cows/steers/bulls 6
Deer 1
Deer/multiple 1
Dog 27
Dogs 10
Dolphin 1
Dolphins 2
Donkeys 1
Duck 1
Ducks 1
Goat 1
Horse 2
Horses 2
Lizard 1
Otter 1
Panther 1
Peacocks 1
Pigs 3
Rabbits 1
Raccoons 1
Rats 1
Rhinoceros 1
Squirrels 1
Tiger 1
Turtle/tortoise 2
Turtles/tortoises 1
Wolf 1
Note. Top five categories: single dog (27); single cat (15); plural dogs and plural cats (10 each); plural
animals/unspecified (7); plural cows/steers/bulls (6).
194 Lewis
characters (those changing into other forms). This cluster group made up a statis-
tical norm for the general population, with men reporting only 1% and women
reporting only 2% of their dream characters as dead, imaginary, or metamorphosed
humans or animals (Domhoff, 1996).
Additional interesting trends reveal that beliefs that are central to the subcul-
ture of the animal rights movement are also found in animal rights activist dreams.
Although the numbers were small, vegetarian or vegan (vegetarian diet devoid of
meat, eggs, dairy, and honey) dream themes appeared in 3 (2.8%) of the animal
dreams and 13 (7.4%) of the nonanimal dreams. An example of a nonanimal dream
involving a vegetarian theme is a dreamer who was sitting with her family eating
dinner when she realized, to her horror, that she was eating chicken.
Similarly, animal rights themes are represented in activists’ dreams. Nine
people (8.3%) dreamed about being in the slaughterhouse, on a factory farm, or in
a laboratory that experiments on animals. For example, one dreamer described
being in the slaughterhouse.
Cow slaughter plant....The cows were hanging by their rear legs and I looked into their
eyes. They blinked and saw my eyes. Their eyes and blinking was like a Morse code “SOS”
telling me to help them from this torture and pain. I tried to stop the line many times to make
sure they did not suffer and [were] stunned properly. I did the best I could under the
circumstances. (Animal Dream 17)
Another dreamer described rescuing animals from a laboratory. “I dreamed
that I liberated rabbits from a pharmaceutical company with my ex-boyfriend. It
was so awesome. I felt so much joy from saving their lives. We safely made it out
and were not caught” (Animal Dream 108).
There also were instances in five (2.9%) nonanimal dreams in which the
dreamer was involved in discussions of animal rights issues with a dream character.
One example of this is a dream in which the dreamer was trying to convince his
friend why he should stop eating meat.
DISCUSSION
Almost 39% of the dreams collected for this study had animals in them.
Furthermore, almost a third of the reported dream characters were animals. When
this is compared with the U.S. norms established by Hall and Van de Castle (1966,
as cited in Domhoff, 1996), which include roughly 5% animal characters, the results
are striking. These findings demonstrate that animals are a significant aspect of
animal rights activists’ dreams.
Hobson (2001) described dreams as the result of physiological processes. He
explained dreams as being evoked by a series of firing neurons in the brain and the
result of a series of bizarre images. But Hobson also believed that dreams have a
psychological component, which he described as having emotional quality, reflect-
ing concerns and beliefs. Crick and Mitchison (1983), however, believed that
dreams do not offer any psychological value or insight. They have stated that
dreams are a by-product of a physiological function in the brain and merely serve
as a clearing out or forgetting process of waking events.
The results from this study strongly suggest that dreams have psychological
meaning for the dreamer. This supports the conclusion of Adler (1931/1958) and
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 195
Krippner and Dillard (1988), who stated that dreams appear to mirror the same
types of interests, activities, and personality attributes of the dreamer’s waking life.
The results of this study show that dreams about animals are common among those
whose waking concerns reflect animal issues. Rather than helping one forget
waking events, as Crick and Mitchison (1983) suggested, or being a by-product of
random neuron activity in the brain, as Hobson (2001) has stated, the dream reports
in this study demonstrate a direct relationship to the psychological concerns of the
dreamer. The friendly attitude that animal rights activists have toward animals and
their desire to help them appear to be just as important in animal rights activists’
dreams as they are in waking life.
The results of this study also indicate that animal rights activists differ signif-
icantly from the general population concerning dream content. Hall and Van de
Castle (1966, as cited in Domhoff, 1996) have stated that a/f percentages of more
than 50 indicate a preponderance of aggression, and percentages of 60 and higher
indicate the dream characters are viewed as enemies by the dreamer. Hall and Van
de Castle also determined that percentages less than 50 indicate a greater amount
of friendliness. The national norms for the a/f percentage, in terms of animal
characters, devised by Hall and Van de Castle (as cited in Domhoff, 1996) are 82%
for males and 77% for females. What this suggests is that the U.S. public views
animals as enemies in their dreams. Van de Castle (1994) found similar results in a
later study. However, the a/f percentage in this study was clearly at the very low end
of the a/f range, at 10.3%, indicating a highly significant level of friendliness to
animals in these dream reports. It is probably safe to say that this population is
among only a small percentage of the U.S. public who show such a low level of
aggression in relation to animals in their dreams.
Further examination of the characters who commit aggressive acts in these
dream reports shows that most aggressions were committed by humans other than
the dreamer, and those aggressions were overwhelmingly perpetrated on animals
(31.3%). This percentage is twice that of dreams involving other humans harming
the dreamer (15.6%) and humans harming other humans (17.6%). This finding
reveals that just as animal rights activists believe in their waking lives that animals
are often at the mercy of others who abuse them, this belief is also heavily reflected
in their dream lives.
It follows from this that because animal rights activists would intervene to help
animals during their waking hours, these actions would also be reflected in their
dreams. Of the friendly interactions reported in animal rights activists’
dreams, 60.4% involve the dreamer showing friendliness to an animal. The majority
of these dream scenarios (56%) involved the dreamer intervening to help the
animal when someone was abusing the animal or when the animal was in a
dangerous circumstance because of environmental factors.
A great many of the dream scenarios involved an animal in danger, either at
the hands of another person (act of aggression) or because of an unsafe environ-
ment (act of misfortune), with the dreamer attempting to solve the situation by
helping or protecting the animal (act of friendliness). Examination of the acts of
misfortune in these dreams reveals that two thirds of the misfortune happen to
animals. Most of these dreams consist of animals facing a threat in the environment
(25.5%) or being injured or ill (17%). When one considers these results alongside
196 Lewis
aggressive acts committed on animals in these dreams and then compares these
results to the high percentage of acts of friendliness involving helping animals on
the part of the dreamer, a pattern emerges in the dream stories of animal rights
activists. A typical animal rights activist dream report involves an animal that is
found suffering, either at the hands of another person or through environmental
circumstances, and then the dreamer steps in to help the animal.
The basic limitation of this study is the possibility that some individuals may
have used dream “discrimination” when reporting their dreams. Given the nature
of the setting, an animal rights conference, some people may have more readily
reported a dream involving an animal. It is even possible that some individuals may
have felt compelled to record positive animal dreams in which they are the rescuer
of animals rather than record dreams in which an animal showed aggression to
them or they were aggressive to an animal. Future studies investigating the dreams
of animal rights activists should be conducted in nonanimal rights settings to
compare results.
These findings about the dreams of animal rights activists are similar to those
found among indigenous people in terms of the percentage of reported animal
dream characters. However, the dreams of animal rights activists show extremely
different plots than do the reports of animal dreams among indigenous peoples.
Animal rights activists reported dreams in which they were helping or befriending
animals. Indigenous people have aggressive animal dreams. Van de Castle (1994)
and Gregor (1981) found that animal dream reports among indigenous tribes
reflected their waking concerns, with the dreamer being pursued by a wild animal
or the dreamer hunting an animal for food.
Animal rights activists also differ from the general population in the types of
animals they dream about. Van de Castle (1983) found that U.S. adults most often
dream of domesticated or companion animals rather than wild animals. He found this
not to be the case in the dream reports of children, who most often dream of
wild animals. The findings in this study suggest that activists most often dream
of companion animals, cats and dogs, but not exclusively. The data indicate that a
wide variety of animals appear in the dreams of animal rights activists. A total of 29
species was identified, including companion animals, farm animals, and wild
animals.
Some dream researchers consider animal dreams as an indication of immatu-
rity. Van de Castle (1994) interpreted animal dreams as an indication of “sexual
immaturity” (reaching menarche at a later age), and both Van de Castle (1994) and
Foulkes (1982), who studied the dream reports of children, viewed dreams of
animals as a sign of cognitive immaturity. The findings in this study suggest that this
may not be the case, at least among members of this sample. The animal rights
activists in this study overwhelmingly dreamed of animals, and although they were
not tested for sexual or cognitive maturity, it is reasonable to assume that they are
similar to the general population in levels of maturity. The major difference
between animal rights activists and the public is their intense interest in animals and
animal issues, which is reflected in their dreams.
Several researchers believe that whether or not people have waking concerns
about nature, their dreams will still reflect the woes of nature, such as environmen-
tal destruction. They think that people’s dream stories reflect an interconnection
Animal Rights Activists’ Dream Reports 197
with the natural world. Schneider (2005) contended that dreams “recall our instinc-
tual nature and essential connectedness to the body of the world, the process of
creation itself” (p. 11). Aizenstat (2001) expressed similar views. He believed
that the spirit of the world is reflected in our dreams. He gave the example of
a person who lives by a beautiful forest. One day, the forest has been cleared,
cut by loggers. He conjectured that this person’s dreams would then begin to
reflect the grieving of the forest. He described the forest as an entity unto itself
that has consciousness, which is transmitted to the dreamer. Aizenstat further
stated that the person dreaming would not necessarily need to be anti–clear-cut
to receive a “grief of the forest” dream (S. Aizenstat, personal communication,
May 19, 2005). In other words, on a conscious level, the person could welcome
the possibility of a new shopping mall on the site where the forest used to be.
However, on an unconscious level, the person would respond to the grief the
forest feels, and this would then be reflected in the person’s dreams.
If this theory is accurate—that humanity’s “sins” against nature would be
reflected in everyone’s dreams, regardless of their waking orientation toward the
natural world—one would expect that people who are not animal rights oriented
would also have dreams portraying animals in distress, laboratories, slaughter-
houses, or other threatening situations in which animals are placed. Previous dream
reports from the general population have not shown this to be the case, so it is
doubtful that future studies on the content of animal dreams in the general
population would bear Aizenstat’s (2001) theory out. Most likely, the animal rights
activists examined in the current study reported unique dreams reflecting their
knowledge of the conditions of some animals.
The investigation of dreams in this study reflects the interconnectedness of
dreams and waking life experiences among animal rights activists. Further research
could be conducted to determine whether these findings can be replicated with
other subcultures. It would be important to know whether members of other social
justice movements such as environmentalists, feminists, indigenous activists, or
those who work with abused children or battered women have similar dreams about
their waking life experiences.
The dreams about deceased animals by animal rights activists are also
worthy of further consideration. Barrett (1991–1992) has stated that dreams
about the deceased are an especially fruitful area to explore in understanding
attitudes toward death. Because 15% of the animal dream characters in this
study were deceased companion animals, examination of these types of dreams
may produce revealing similarities or differences when compared with dreams
of deceased humans.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study appear to leave little doubt that the nighttime dreams
of animal rights activists reflect their waking concerns. Animal rights activists
reported dreams about animals in much higher proportions than did the general
population. These dreams illustrated heightened friendliness toward animals and
involved plots in which they faced situations to help animals. The depth and
198 Lewis
richness of their animal dreams was further demonstrated by the wide range of
species that appeared in them.
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200 Lewis
... For example, in Ifaluk society of Micronesia, 27% of the characters in the dreams of females and 14% of the characters in the dreams of males were animals. Recently, Lewis (2008) collected "most recent dreams" from 284 people attending an animal rights conference. She found that 38.4% (109 of the 284) dreams collected had animal characters in them. ...
... In their study of 4000 college students' dreams, Van de Castle (1983) reported only 300 "animal dreams" which was 7.5% of the sample. While Lewis (2008) reported nearly 38.4% of her participants at the animal rights conference had animal characters in their most recent dreams-possibly reflecting their animal rights concerns and the nature of the conference they were attending-the most meaningful comparison we can make is to look at the percentage of our MRDs that had at least one of the Anthrocon themed content areas, which is 36.1%. In fact, that is very similar to Lewis' finding. ...
... An important limitation of this study is the demand characteristics associated with collecting dreams at a themed event. Lewis (2008) also noted this limitation, referring to it as dream "discrimination," the idea that dream reporters may feel compelled to produce or share (or possibly to fabricate) a dream with content that matches the themed event. Certainly it is easy to imagine that Anthrocon attendees would think that we, the researchers, expected to get dreams that had some kind of furry, animal/fursonas/animal or convention related content. ...
Chapter
In the present chapter, we give a brief overview of existing psychological research on dreams, the development of the furry dream project, and some of our preliminary findings from dreams collected at Anthrocon 2017. We answer questions such as: “Do furries’ dreams include more animal- or furry-themed content?” and “Does this change when furries attend a convention?” A total of 625 dreams (including furries and non-furries) were analyzed with a self-created furry Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count dictionary. The results showed that furries’ dreams (vs. non-furries) contained more references to animals, fursona species, and convention-themed content.
... Domhoff (2003) introduced an index termed "cat percent" (ratio of cat dreams to cat and dog dreams) which was between 60% and 72% for the "cat lovers" and 45% for the female norms and 15% for the male norms. Last but not least, Lewis (2008) reported that animal activists reported many more animal dreams (38.4%) compared to a large student sample (7.5%; Van de Castle, 1983). ...
... Regarding the type of animal, dogs, horses, and cats are the most frequent species found in animal dreams (Lewis, 2008;Van de Castle, 1983; see also Table 3). Van de Castle (1994) also reported that aggression is more common in dreams in which animals play a prominent role -a finding which is supported by Domhoff (1996) who reported aggressive interactions between dreamer and animal in about 35% of all animal contacts whereas friendly interaction with animals occurred only in every tenth animal encounter. ...
... Animal lovers who belong to protest groups against cruelty to animals have more friendly interactions than aggressions in their animal dreams. Other humans are more likely to be D I J o R the aggressors to the animals (Lewis, 2008). Furthermore, the percentage of animal dreams is quite stable over time as shown by Domhoff (1996) in two dream series (N = 600 dreams of "Jason" and N = 187 dreams of the "Engine man"). ...
Article
Animals are found quite often in dreams and speculations about their meaning are manifold. The present study is based on a series of 8,420 dreams of a young male. Overall, animals were present in about 7% of them. Specific waking-life experiences of the dreamer such as living with cats or having had a pet hamster are reflected in his dreams. On the other side, the negative animal contacts with snakes and spiders are not continuous with his waking life and might reflect continuity on an emotional level. In order to confirm this and other hypotheses, studies eliciting the amount of contact to real animals during daytime, media exposure to animals, whether the person is especially fond of specific species, and current emotional issues should be carried out in order to study the effect of these variables on the frequency of animal dreams.
... In a later study of a similar nature with a female participant for a period of 30 years, it was 11% (Schredl, 2021). According to research, domesticated animals, especially dogs and cats, have the highest frequency of occurrence in dreams (Lewis, 2008;Schredl, 2013Schredl, , 2021Schredl & Blagrove, 2021). ...
... In the context of dreams with animals, continuity theory presents much research evidence. Lewis (2008), for example, has shown that animal rights activists report more frequent dreams with animals compared to the U.S. statistical norms established by Hall and Van de Castle (in Domhoff, 1996). It has also been found that dog owners or persons in close contact with dogs have more frequent dreams with dogs than those who are not in close contact with dogs (Schredl et al., 2020). ...
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The study focuses on dreams in which images of animals occur. It contains a detailed analysis of three dreams coming from patients in long-term therapy. The platform for understanding of the dreams was formed by one of the current theories of dreaming which defines the dream as a function serving to consolidate and integrate the emotions from waking life. The analysis of dreams itself was not biased by any psychotherapeutic school but resulted from objective research data. It consisted of three steps. In the first step of the analysis, dream emotions were defined in accordance with the theory of continuity as real dreamers’ emotions originating from waking life. In the second step, the animals in the dream were analysed on the basis of research evidence as the dreamers’ own tendencies. In the third step, the preliminary interpretations were further verified in the psychotherapeutic interview itself. The synthesis of the obtained data showed that the animals in dreams can be interpreted as instinctive impulses of dreamers. It has also been suggested that the theory of continuity in the context of dream content and the symbolic function of dreams can merge into one and the same process.
... Garfield (1984) offered two explanations for the heightened animal dream frequency in children that do exclude each other: (1) Children are closer to their animal nature ("wildness") than adults, and (2) Children are exposed to all kinds of animal themes in children's picture books, classical fairy tales, cartoons (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck), TV series, and movies. Lewis (2008) reported that 38.4% of the most recent dreams of 284 animal rights activists included animals, supporting the idea that waking-life interests are reflected in dreams. ...
... Systematic studies of dreaming with dog and/or cat owners have not yet been carried out. The present data with about 20% of the dream animals being pets from the waking life of the dreamers would support this line of thinking -similar to the increased animal dream percentages in animal rights activists (Lewis, 2008). Interestingly, women tend to dream more often about dogs and horses whereas men dream more often about fantasy/ prehistoric animals -possible reflecting different waking-life experiences like owning a dog or playing computer games with fantasy/prehistoric animals in it. ...
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Animal dreams have fascinated mankind for ages. Empirical research indicated that children dream more often about animals than adults and dogs, cats, and horses are the most frequent animals that appear within dreams. Moreover, most dreamer-animal interactions are negative. The present study included 4849 participants (6 to 90 yrs. old) reporting 2716 most recent dreams. Overall, 18.30% of these dreams included animals with children reporting more animal dreams that adolescents and adults. The most frequent animals were again dogs, horses, and cats; about 20% of the dream animals were in fact pets of the dreamers. About 30% of the dream animals showed bizarre features, e.g., metamorphosing into humans or other animals, bigger than in real life, or can talk. Taken together, the findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming but also the idea that dreams reflect waking-life emotions in a metaphorical and dramatized way. Future studies should focus on eliciting waking-life experiences with animals, e.g., having a pet, animal-related media consumption, and relating these to experiences with animals in dreams.
... The MRD method has been used to study normative samples of college students in Iran, Japan, South Africa, the United States, and Wales, as well as the elderly in Switzerland and animal rights activists in the United States (Domhoff, 1996, p. 67;Domhoff, Nishigawa, & Brubaker, 2004;Lewis, 2008;Malcolm-Smith & Solms, 2004;Malcolm-Smith, Solms, Turnbull, & Tredoux, 2008;Mazandarani, Aguilar-Vafaie, & Domhoff, 2013;Strauch, 2003;Tartz & Krippner, 2017). It also has proven to be useful with preadolescents as young as the fifth grade (ages 10-11) in Spain, Italy, and Greece as well as the United States (Avila-White, Schneider, & Domhoff, 1999;Crugnola, Maggiolini, Caprin, Martini, & Giudici, 2008;Karagianni, Papadopoulou, Kallini, Dadatsi, & Abatzoglou, 2013;Oberst, Charles, & Chamarro, 2005;Saline, 1999). ...
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After presenting an overview of information on the neural basis for dreaming, the gradual cognitive development of dreaming in children, and the quantitative findings on dream content collected in laboratory and non-laboratory settings, this chapter suggests ways in which sleep medicine clinics could engage in low-cost, completely objective, mostly automated dream research without interfering with normal clinical routines. The process would begin by adding a few simple questions about the patient’s personal dream history to the intake questionnaire, which could be answered in writing, or by use of a voice recorder in a private space. The intake questionnaire first of all might lead to studies of the way in which lesions or major traumas effect the neurocognitive basis of dreaming. The intake questionnaire also might ask patients to write down the Most Recent Dream they can recall, a method that leads to samples similar to representative samples collected through two-week dream diaries. The Most Recent Dream method has been used successfully with pre-adolescents and adolescents in middle schools in four different countries, and with older adolescents in high schools, as well as with adults. Similarly, Most Recent Dreams could be collected at each follow-up visit, and would be useful in comparing diagnostic groups or patients put on new medications. Finally, the intake questionnaire might ask new patients to indicate if they have ever kept a dream journal containing 50 or more dream reports for a period of 30 or more days— and if so, when and for how long. Dream journals provide an excellent context for pre-and-post studies of medications as well as for general content analyses. Once the dream reports collected by means of the Most Recent Dream method, or from a dream journal, are digitized, the use of the keyword search program on dreambank.net, which includes numerous word strings of proven value, would solve the need for fast and reliable content analyses. The coding system and spreadsheet available on dreamresearch.net also could be used to supplement the results from keyword searches. Within this framework, a wide range of studies would be possible in addition to those mentioned earlier, such as studies of patients with extremely high or extremely low dream recall, or in studies of unique individual cases of potential theoretical significance in specifying the neural network for dreaming, including those rare but invaluable patients who say they have lost dreaming or have never dreamt.
... The most commonly used method is known as Hall and van de Castle content analysis (Bulkeley 2014;Hall & van de Castle 1966;Domhoff & schneider 2008), which consists of lists of categories and subcategories of dream elements, settings, interactions, etc. a number of studies have used this method in the context of the continuity hypothesis -the idea that dream content reflects elements and concerns of the current situation of the dreamer (schredl 2010;schredl & Hofmann 2003). Other studies have employed similar formal content analysis methods, scoring dream content for specific elements of interest appearing in the dream, such as maternal representations (Lara-Carrasco et al. 2013), animals (Lewis 2008), and others. such quantitative methods for investigating the frequency of appearance of formal categories in dream content are representative of the "breadth" approach to dream experience and show a number of age, gender (Nielsen 2012;Waterman 1991), and clinical (Bugalho & Paiva 2011;Khazaie et al. 2012) differences (such as dreaming in schizophrenia or in Parkinson's disease) in dream content that provide normative information about the typical dream content of a given population. ...
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Abstract: > Context • Phenomenology and the enactive approach pose a unique challenge to dream research: during sleep one seems to be relatively disconnected from both world and body. Movement and perception, prerequisites for sensorim-otor subjectivity, are restricted; the dreamer's experience is turned inwards. In cognitive neurosciences, on the other hand, the generally accepted approach holds that dream formation is a direct result of neural activations in the absence of perception, and dreaming is often equated with " delusions. " > Problem • Can enactivism and phenomenol-ogy account for the variety of dream experiences? What kinds of experiential and empirical approaches are required in order to probe into dreaming subjectivity? Investigating qualities of perception, sensation, and embodiment in dreams, as well as the relationship between the dream-world and waking-world requires a step away from a delusional or altered-state framework of dream formation and a step toward an enactive integrative approach. > Method • In this article, we will focus on the " depth " of dream experiences, i.e., what is possible in the dream state. Our article is divided into two parts: a theoretical framework for approaching dreaming from an enactive cognition standpoint; and discussion of the role and strategies for experimentation on dreaming. Based on phenomenology and theories of enactivism, we will argue for the primacy of subjectivity and imagination in the formation of lived experience. > Results • We propose that neurophenomenology of dreaming is a nascent discipline that requires rethinking the relative role of third-, first-and second-person methodologies, and that a paradigm shift is required in order to investigate dreaming as a phenomenon on a continuum of conscious phenomena as opposed to a break from or an alteration of consciousness. > Implications • Dream science, as part of the larger enterprise of consciousness and subjectivity studies, can be included in the enactive framework. This implies that dream experiences are neither passively lived nor functionally disconnected from dreamers' world and body. We propose the basis and some concrete strategies for an empirical enactive neurophenomenology of dreaming. We conclude that investigating dream experiences can illuminate qualities of subjective perception and relation to the world, and thus challenge the traditional subject-object juxtaposition. > Constructivist content • This article argues for an interdisciplinary enactive cognitive science approach to dream studies. >
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The present study shows that the Most Recent Dream Method developed for the efficient and economical collection of dream reports from adults can be extended to suburban Caucasian 12–13 year-old boys and girls. A content analysis of 162 Most Recent Dreams from girls and 110 Most Recent Dreams from boys using the Hall and Van de Castle (1996) coding system revealed the same general pattern of gender similarities and differences found in the dream content of young adults. A comparison of the present results with those from participants between the ages of 11–13 and with a similar social background in two longitudinal studies showed several similarities in dream content. The overall findings thus suggest that the Most Recent Dream Method may provide a reasonably representative sample of dream reports from teenagers if at least 100 to 125 Most Recent Dreams are collected for each age group, making cross-sectional developmental studies of teenagers' dreams feasible if the cooperation of a school system can be enlisted. Suggestions for other kinds of studies using Most Recent Dreams from teenagers are also discussed.
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This study examined dreams about the dead. There were four categories of activities reported in these: the deceased described the state of death, delivered messages to the living, sought to change the circumstances of their death, or gave loved ones a chance to say ‘goodbye.’ Some of these categories occurred at a particular point in the grief process; others occurred at any time after the death. A remarkably large number of the dead telephoned. These dreams are discussed in terms of what they illuminate about attitudes toward mortality and loss.
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This study extended the research on the dreams of students by examining the actual content of female students' dreams and to what extent the content related to discovery via the Ullman method. Further analyses were conducted to examine what content categories significantly predicted discovery. Participants were 56 female undergraduate students who provided a dream and participated in the Ullman method of group interpretation. Dream content was analyzed via the Hall and Van de Castle method of content analysis. Many significant correlations were observed among dream content categories, discovery categories, and dream content and discovery categories together. Findings were representative of the sample being examined and provided evidence of the continuity hypothesis. Results both support and extend previous research on the dreams of students. Furthermore, specific categories of dream content were found to significantly predict discovery categories. Limitations and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Research is presented that examines the relationship among dream content, physical health, mood, and self-construal. Participants were 27 undergraduate students who completed the Medical Outcomes SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36), the Profile of Mood States Scale (POMS-SF), and the Self-Construal Scale (SCS). Each participant handed in four dream reports, which were analyzed according to the Hall and Van de Castle (1966) system of content analysis. Multiple significant correlations were observed between dream content and the SF-36, the POMS-SF, and the SCS. Most notable were the findings between physical health and dream content. Participants displaying poor physical health reported more bodily misfortunes, injuries and illnesses, medical themes, and body parts in their dreams. Findings support continuity between dreams and waking life physical and mental functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Distinguished psychologist G. William Domhoff brings together-for the first time-all the necessary tools needed to perform quantitative studies of dream content using the rigorous system developed by Calvin S. Hall and Robert van de Castle. The book contains a comprehensive review of the literature, detailed coding rules, normative findings, and statistical tables.
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The Scientific Study of Dream Content. The Hall/Van de Castle System of Content Analysis. The Quality of the Data. Normative Findings on American College Students. Age Differences in Dream Reports. Crosscultural Similarities and Differences. Consistency and Change in Long Dream Series. The Continuity between Dreams and Waking Life in Individuals and Groups. The Repetition Dimension in Dreams and Waking Cognition. Appendix A: The Hall/Van de Castle Coding Rules. Appendix B: The Coding of a Sample Dream Series. Appendix C: Instructions for Reporting Dreams in Written Form. Appendix D: Statistical Appendix. Appendix E: Normative Tables. Index.