Hi Michael-
I do two things that seem to get the student's attention. One is a
demonstration that shows how we can solve problems in sleep and dreams.
I draw a box on the board and inside of it I put the following figure
24/31
I then tell them that they have seen this many times before in their
lives. At least dozens maybe hundreds of times. I tell them that I don't
want them to try to remember where they've seen it. Instead, I ask them
to write it on a 3X5 card, place it on their nightstand and then look at
it just before going to sleep. I suggest that a number of them will have
a dream that gives them the answer. Of course, it doesn't work for
everyone, but usually one or two students will "dream up" the answer and
that leads to some interesting discussions about the nature of dreams.
The other exercise that I do involves having the students read a
recounting of a dream called "The Crystal Garden". It is full of obvious
Freudian symbollism with blood, ice violence, etc. I then ask students
to break into groups and discuss the manifest and latent content of the
dream and then to try to interpret it. The dreamer is only described as
"MF". However, in one version the dreamer is said to be an 18 year old
woman, in another a 58 year old man, in another a 58 year old woman and
in the last an 18 year old man. We then compare the findings of the
different groups. Manifest content is usually quite similar among
groups. Latent content a little less so, but the interpretaions are
wildly different. All are based, of course, on the age and genger of the
"dreamer" not on the dream. We can then have a useful discussion about
the utility (or lack thereof) of dream analysis.
Hope that helps,
-Don.
Michael Quanty wrote:
Does anyone have a really neat demo or web site related to dreaming? My
presentation seems rather dry for a to-pic that spurs such interest among
students.
Thanks in advance.
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--
Don Allen
Department of Psychology
Langara College
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
V5Y 2Z6
604-323-5871
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