The influence of a conscious wish on dreams: A methodological study of dream meaning and function

A self-ideal-self trait discrepancy, identified from Q sorts for 19 subjects, was used as a presleep stimulus. Subjects were instructed to wish to change their trait so as to reduce the discrepancy. Dream reports were collected for each rapid eye movement (REM) period that followed. A blind judge rated the target trait as present in the dreams of a significant number of the subjects. Two other nontarget control traits were not rated present in the dreams of a significant number of the subjects. Few subjects had dreams in which the ideal trait was ascribed to the self. Dreaming thought, while responsive to the instruction to attend to that trait, revealed a difference in emotional value than that stated in waking. The question of the relation of dreaming to waking mental activity has been a difficult one to approach experimentally. Dreams must first be retrieved, the images translated into verbal statements, and the meaning decoded