Why Do We Dream? | The Psychology and Science of Dreams

0:00Hey there, this is Jim and Ralph, and we welcome you back to Psychology Takeaway.

0:30The podcast where we look at interesting, sometimes new things in psychology, and try to make them relevant to you today and to ourselves. And sometimes we do, and it's always a good feeling to succeed at that. So, Jim, let me ask you, today we're going to be talking, further extending our talk on sleep, we're going to be talking specifically about dreams. Now, we know that there's a couple of things that have come out in recent research, let's say, in the last four or five years.

1:08Yes, sleep and dreams have a number of purposes. And one of the purposes of dreams, first of all, is maybe guarding the brain. Okay. Okay. So, protecting the brain. Protecting the brain. Getting rid of the flotsam and jetsam of the day. Sort of sweeping it away. Yeah. That's an old view, but yes, that's one view.

1:35Dreams protect the visual cortex. So, specifically, from being taken over by other senses in the night. Because we can still hear, even though our eyes are closed, we can still feel. So, those things might overwhelm our visual cortex in the night. Okay. So, that's one way. Automatic signaling.

2:02The regular midbrain fires into the visual cortex. So, we could say that's another protection.

2:11Practicing life is another theory. The social stimulation space. So, we're practicing life by projecting some of our experiences into our dreams. That's kind of interesting, Ralph. You mentioned, you know, new stuff coming out of dreams. Here's the monitor from a month or so ago. It says, the new science of sleep. You know how much space was devoted to dreams in here?

2:42No. None. None. Okay. We're not talking about any kind of advantage of dreaming. And yet, we know that dreams have long been a part of humankind. Yeah. You go back into the Bible, the Christian Bible. And particularly, it's a dream where you don't seize, but you kind of take. What people have said is they feel more often they dream lucid dreams than they dream random dreams.

3:16Now, some people say that. Whether that's enough to qualify that many people have found the key to lucid dreaming, I don't know. Yeah. Well, certainly, people say that they think that the dreams that they do have are important in some way. They're foretelling dreams or warning dreams or relationship kinds of dreams. And somehow, they do have an important impact. And that gets us to a particular kind of dream, Ralph, the nightmare.

3:50Ah, and maybe, finally, we can hear Jim's recurring nightmare. Of killing Emily. Of killing Emily. Mm-hmm. Well, this was back in high school. And you remember, Ralph, that growing up in the Sioux, we knew nothing about psychology. No. I mean, we, nothing. We were no psychologists in the town and, you know, things like id-ego, superego, unconscious.

4:21We had not a clue.

4:24So, my friend, Ray, had a girlfriend, and her name was Emily. And Emily was beautiful. She was talented. She was creative. She was smart.

4:39Everything that you and I weren't. Yes. Yes. A couple of nerds. Right. And Emily and Ray broke up. And Emily didn't live far away from me. We often walked to school together. Ah, yes. Back in the day, people actually walked to school. What a concept. Well, you know, before cars were invented. Yeah. Yeah. And so, when they broke up, you know, I made my affections known to Emily, and we started

5:15to date. Okay. Okay. And I liked Emily. Emily was bright. She was witty. She was smart. She was beautiful. I really liked Emily. Okay. Okay. And I began to dream of Emily, which was, you know, I guess my daytime fantasy coming into my nighttime meditation. But, remember, three nights in a row, I had the same dream.

5:45Okay. And they say that if you have a recurring dream, it's somehow important. Okay. Now, I didn't know this at the time. Here's the dream. I'm driving my father's car. That would be a 1957 Ford Fairlane, I think. Okay. You know, and Emily's beside me. It's nighttime, and we'd gone to a dance or something like that. And we were driving out in the country, and she snuggled in. And, you know, I'm looking over at her, and I love Emily, and I get to that big curve north

6:23of the Sioux. Okay. Where, near Island Lake. I know it. Okay. Where the railroad tracks cross the road. Right. Okay. I stop in the middle of the railroad tracks. I get out, stand back, you know, fuel, I don't know, 100 yards. And I watch as the Algoma Central nighttime train smashes into my father's Ford. Psychology take away. You need a dose of the real. Life's absurd.

6:53We know the deal. If you're here, don't let it get you down. Turn that around.

7:05Upside down. Upside down. Upside down. And that is. Keep your stick on the ice. Because we're all in this. Together. Together. Together. Another. Together.

7:19Until next. Another. 向yevideo. Thunder. One, two, three, four, four, five, three, four. compositions. One, two, three, four movie. After. Two, three. Two, three, four. Four, four.

7:33Two, three. Two, three. Two, three. Two, three. Two, three.