Follow directions carefully. Read the chapters and watch any videos attached. Yo

Follow directions carefully. Read the chapters and watch any videos attached. Your original post must be a minimum of 150 words. Use correct grammar and spelling. Write in paragraph form do not just list. You must reply to two different students. Your post must be submitted by Saturday. The post and each of the two replies should be submitted on three different days. The discussion board will close on Wednesday. Post and replies should show your mastery of the subject. If you use material from an outside source, provide the documentation from which the information was obtained. Do not cite unconfirmed or inaccurate information (like blogs, personal pages, Wikipedia, etc.). The post should contain your own words and thoughts. Cited material does not count toward your word count. Be respectful of other people’s ideas and beliefs. Do not state the same things that others have said in your replies. The idea is that your post and replies should add value to the discussion. Do not submit your work as an attachment. Answer all parts of the assignment but do not retype the questions in your post. Do not submit more than one post. Do not include a chapter summary unless asked to do so. Do not submit blank posts.
This chapter starts by speaking about what is meant in psychology as consciousness (awake) and unconsciousness (sleep). Then it addresses the biological function of sleep itself. It describes the different stages of sleep and how that relates to brain activity. Then it discusses dreams. Different psychological theories (or “schools” of psychology) view dreams in contrasting ways.
Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) believed that dreams were the “Royal Road to the Unconscious” that we would slip into every night. For Freud, dreams were a place where we could act out unfulfilled desires and wishes that our conscious mind was not ready to accept. So, in psychoanalysis, dreams are studied in detail because they can reveal ideas that are unacceptable to the conscious mind. These dreams can have manifest or latent content. Manifest content is where the item is exactly as it was in the dream. If you dream about a train; it is just a train. On the other hand, your mind could be disguising content in latent forms. In this case, the item of which you are dreaming becomes symbolic of a hidden, unacceptable wish. For Freud, things that are long and cylindrical would be a phallic symbol (male). Anything concaved, would be a yonic symbol (female).
For Gestalt theory, which was mentioned in chapter one, dreams are analyzed in their entirety. Since a dream is the construct of one’s mind, then all parts of the dream are equally important. Fritz Perls was an important figure in Gestalt psychology and dream work. He started as a Freudian Psychoanalyst but later moved into Gestalt therapy. Gestalt dreamwork looks for themes in dreams. If you have a dream one night about not being able to decide if you should fly to New York or Chicago and the next night you dream that you cannot decide if you should get the spaghetti or the lasagna, then Gestalt theory would suggest that there is some big decision in your life to which you are struggling. You are unable to decide and therefore emotionally paralyzed until you can choose. Your real dilemma would probably not be about where to vacation or what to eat but about an important choice like what major you should study or if you should get married to the person you are dating. Since you are unsure in your waking life your dreams take on the theme of indecision and fear of making a bad choice.
Cognitive theory has a completely different take on dreams. Researchers, like Rosalind Cartwright and Alan Hobson, feel that dreaming is about synthesizing the information collected throughout the day. Dreams are a byproduct of the day’s activities. They argue that this is why we often dream about events that have just occurred in our lives. They feel that dreams are a time to sort out one’s memories and experiences for later use. In cognitive theory, it makes sense that you would have a dream about work or school if you spent several hours a day working or studying.
Each of these makes a valid point as to why we dream. Read through the chapter and review the chapter resources. Which of the theories do you like best to describe dreams? Do you think dreams are helpful in therapy? Why or why not? Have you ever looked up dream content online (or in a book) to interrupt a dream? I am talking about the websites that say something like “if you dream about a door it means this…” Or “anytime you dream about the color blue it means this…” Why are these types of dream interpretations not very helpful? And finally, how is dream content not universal?