Home and laboratory dreams collected under uniform sampling conditions.

Abstract

ABSTRACTTwelve young‐adult males spent two nonconsecutive nights at the laboratory (L) and two at home (H), six in the order LHHL and six in the order HLLH. Dreams were collected under uniform sampling conditions in both settings: S was awakened by an alarm clock at 6:30 a.m. and reported any dreams he could remember into a tape recorder. Twenty dream reports were collected in the laboratory, and 18 at home. Dream reports were rated by two judges on the six dimensions isolated by Hauri et al.'s factor analysis of dream ratings. Results showed no significant differences between home and laboratory in percentage of recall, median dream word counts, and dream ratings for Vivid Fantasy, Unpleasantness, Active Participation, and Sex. Home dreams were judged to contain more Verbal Aggression (p < .02) and Physical Aggression (p < .08). It was concluded that, although impulse‐related content may be more likely to occur in home dreams than in laboratory dreams, the basic dream processes of imagination, distortion, dramatization, etc., are the same in both settings.