James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Dissertations The Graduate School Fall 2017 Dreams: A unified theory approach Chance McDermott James Madison University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/diss201019 Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons Recommended Citation McDermott, Chance, "Dreams: A unified theory approach" (2017). Dissertations. 163. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/diss201019/163 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dreams: A Unified Theory Approach Chance McDermott A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the degree of Doctor of Psychology Department of Graduate Psychology December 2017 FACULTY COMMITTEE: Committee Chair: Dr. Gregg Henriques Committee Members/ Readers: Dr. Kenneth Critchfield Dr. Anne Stewart Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of the members of my dissertation committee for their support and guidance in the completion of this work. Dr. Gregg Henriques, Dr. Anne Stewart, Dr. Elena Savina, and Dr. Ken Critchfield, each inspired me to produce my best work clinically, theoretically, and creatively. I benefitted not only through their dedication to teaching and training, but also through the opportunity to observe countless examples their richness of character and warmth of spirit. I would like to express special gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Gregg Henriques, who went above and beyond in his efforts to help me grow as a scholar, clinician, and human being. His mentorship and leadership can only be described as legendary. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... v Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Perspectives on Dreaming ................................................................................. 7 The Psychoanalytic Perspective ....................................................................................7 The Jungian Perspective..............................................................................................12 The Physiological Perspective .....................................................................................15 Dreaming and Emotions ..............................................................................................23 The Evolutionary Perspective .....................................................................................26 Chapter 2: Overview of Unified Theory .......................................................................... 31 Tree of Knowledge System ..........................................................................................34 Behavioral Investment Theory ...................................................................................36 The Influence Matrix ...................................................................................................42 The Justification Hypothesis .......................................................................................45 Chapter 3: Integrative Perspective .................................................................................... 50 The Epic of Gilgamesh.................................................................................................50 Freud and Hobson........................................................................................................58 Somatic Marker Hypothesis........................................................................................68 iii P - M => E and Somatic Markers ...............................................................................74 Analysis of Fancy Feast Cat Dream ...........................................................................80 Chapter 4: Irma’s Injection ............................................................................................... 84 Freudian Split ...............................................................................................................90 Pinging Around the Matrix .........................................................................................94 Chapter 5: Conclusion...................................................................................................... 99 Limitations ..................................................................................................................105 Future Directions .......................................................................................................106 References ....................................................................................................................... 107 iv List of Figures Figure 1 – The Tree of Knowledge System...................................................34 Figure 2 – The Architecture of the Human Mind...........................................42 Figure 3 – The Influence Matrix.....................................................................44 Figure 4 – The Tripartite Model of Human Consciousness............................49 v Abstract Henriques (2011) proposed a new unified theory of psychology (UT) which he argued could assimilate and integrate divergent lines of thought into a coherent whole. An implication of this claim is that the system can be applied to phenomena that was not addressed in the original work and the current work tests this proposition. Specifically, the current work utilized the UT and its components to examine the dream literature, especially psychodynamic, physiological and evolutionary approaches. Following a brief introduction, the project reviews the various lines of research and interpretations of why we dream and what they may mean for us. Then, the UT is introduced, specifically, the four components, which include: 1) The Tree of Knowledge System; 2) the Justification Hypothesis; 3) Behavioral Investment Theory; 4) the Influence Matrix. The UT framework is designed to transpose the language systems from different theoretical perspectives and map their overlapping and distinctive qualities onto human functioning, and is thus a model that should excel at organizing the fragmented and elusive psychological construct of dreaming. The primary thrust of this work is demonstrating the utility of this organizational scheme. Specifically, the UT allows us to understand that dreams can be understood as serving the function of processing emotional and relational themes to foster problem solving. It also informs us regarding the complicated role of self-consciousness, both in terms of how the rational, justifying portion of consciousness is normally shut off in dreams, and how it sometimes, in rare cases, comes on line in the form of “lucid” dreaming. In addition to providing a framework for knitting together a number of different threads, the UT also sets the stage for new angles on dream interpretation. This work vi explores Freud’s famous dream, “Irma’s Injection,” as a test-case to show the potential utility of Behavioral Investment Theory and the Influence Matrix to offer meaningful and accurate interpretations of dream content. Via the meta-theoretical perspective afforded by the UT, we argue one can delineate key boundaries in Freud’s method of interpretation, which can usefully be divided into operating at two levels of analysis. We then showed that there is theoretical support for the validity of Freud’s “level 1” analysis, which is comprised of determining the basic affective and relational meaning of dream content. Freud’s level 2 analysis, by contrast, was comprised of his attempts to justify all dream content through the lens of his classic dual-drive theory of human motivation, which is seen both by the UT and mainstream modern approaches as misguided. Ultimately, this paper shows strong promise for the development of a UT approach to dream analysis, both in terms of organizing our current knowledge and in terms of pointing the way toward future directions. vii DREAMS: A UNIFIED APPROACH 1 Introduction “Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.” -William Dement At the end of each day, nearly every human being goes through the profound and universal experience of sleep and dreaming (Dement and Vaughan, 1999). As the sun sets behind the horizon, we lie down, close our eyes, undertake a journey of fantastical experience and sensation, and then open our eyes to a new day. For some, none of what has happened is remembered, and sleep is experienced as a hole in time. Others can recall the events of the night in vivid detail. Dreaming is thus an altered state of consciousness that occurs during sleep, and is typically noted for the bizarre and fictional elements experienced in a narrative format and involving a full range of sensory experiences (Hartmann, 2010). Dreaming has been a part of the human experience at least since recorded history (George, 2003), and ever since we