The Continuity between Dreams and Waking Life in Individuals and Groups

Abstract

In this chapter, we show that there is meaning in dreams by exploring the relationship between our dream content categories and waking thought and behavior. This is what people usually have in mind when they ask if dreams have meaning. They want to know if dreams reveal anything about a person’s psychological makeup, especially anything not previously known or understood. As should be clear by now, we do think dreams have meaning in this sense of the term. Dreams reveal people’s conceptions, concerns, and interests. It is important to understand people’s conceptions because they are one basis for their actions in the world. It is important to understand people’s preoccupations because they determine where people will expend most of their energies (Hall, 1947, 1953a).