Dreams and Creativity

Abstract

This article explores the association between night-time Dreams and Creativity , using English language terms that are hypothetical constructs (e.g., creativity ). Even the word dream is a social artifact, because dreams are viewed differently from culture to culture. What Westerners refer to as dreams and visions are referred to by a single word among many North American Indian tribes. The Australian aboriginal terms Dreamtime and the Dreaming have very different meanings from the same terms as used in Western societies. For the purposes of this entry, dreams are a series of images, reported in narrative form, that occur during sleep. Creativity , along with its equivalents in other languages, is a somewhat new term in the lexicon. Over the millennia, however, dreams have been linked with what is now called creativity , that is, with products and processes that are considered new, novel, and useful by individuals or by social groups. Because dreaming, at least in part, is a cognitive activity, its images and scenarios can serve as symbols and metaphors for unresolved life issues as well as their possible solutions. Examples from science, invention, business, sports, and the arts demonstrate how creative individuals have reported insights occurring in their dreams. A variety of research studies gives tentative support to the association between creativity and dreams.