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The article The Science behind Dreaming was authored by Sander Van der Linden and was published on July 26, 2011 on the Scientific American website. This article explores on the science behind dreaming, strength and weaknesses. A large percentage of human beings have dreamt at some point in their lives. However, people have failed to understand the ideal science behind dreaming. To some people, dreams are just memories while to others they have some connections to the human psychology. The lack of adequate understanding of the science of dreaming has triggered various researchers to conduct research that will aid in creating an understanding of dreams and how they occur. This paper therefore provides the summary of the article, its strengths and weaknesses, and reasons why the topic is of interest.
Summary
A dream can be defined as images or stories that are created by the human mind at a certain stage during sleep. According to this article, people in the ancient days often related dreams to superstitious meanings like being a medium that connects the gods and the earthly world (Nichols, 2018). Some even believed that dreams had some kind of prophetic powers. However, psychologists such as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud came up and developed some dreaming theories that tried to explain the science behind dreaming. According to Freuds theory, dreaming is just a representation of unresolved wishes.
Ever since these theoretical advancements, many other specialists have taken advantage of the current technological advancements to develop other theories of dreaming (Van der Linden, 2011). One of the most common neurobiological theories of envisaging is activation-synthesis. The theory explains dreams as electrical mental impulses that tend to initiate quick memories and thoughts.
On the contrary, other evolutionary psychologists claim that dreaming serves a purpose. Another theory is the threat simulation theory which states that dreaming is a form of biological defense mechanism. Through the scientific research, it is evident that dreaming is scientifically related to the brain functioning. To support the arguments of this article, the author involved the findings of various researches conducted on the topic of discussion. From the involved researches, it is evident that dreaming is purely psychological (Nichols, 2018). This is based on the fact that human brain plays an important role in the facilitation of dreaming and the ability to remember the dream. The article concludes that dreaming is a psychological mechanism which aids in processing emotions by constructing memories and encoding them.
Personal Comments
I chose to analyze this article because of its topic and desire of understanding the science of dreaming. However, I have been unable to fully understand how this happens and thus I chose this article so that it could help me answer the questions I have always had in mind. One of the reasons why I have the desire to understand more about dreaming is because of the several encounters I have had with dreams.
In some situations, I always remember what I dreamt while in others I often forget. There are also these circumstances whereby my dreams are so terrifying and seem so real to an extent when I wake up I am either panting or sweating. In many instances when I narrate to people about my dreams, they usually tell me that dreams always emerge from the last things that I have been thinking of before I sleep. However, this seemed untrue because some dream contents are things that I do not even think about. The failure to get appropriate answers made me more curious to understand how dreams occur.
From reading this paper I was surprised that everything I have always heard about dreams was mythical and that dreams are purely psychological. Initially, I believed that dreams were either a foreshadowing of the future events or simply the things one has been thinking about. I was happy to gain a better understanding of the science of dreaming and the reasons as to why some people remember their dreams while others do not. I was also surprised to learn the fact that in as much as dreams might not be real, the emotions attached to these dreams are real. I strongly agree with the authors point that dreaming is a neurological process that represents unresolved wishes. The reason for this assumption is because most of the times I usually dream of the things that I have planned to do but I am yet to achieve.
Strengths and Weaknesses
One of the strengths of this article is that it incorporates the use of research findings from other researches that were previously conducted in order to back up on its main arguments. The second strength is that the research is not biased as it does not fully represent the authors opinion. Instead, it relies on factual research and the available theories of dreaming to build up on its arguments. Thirdly, the article acknowledges both social and scientific concepts about dreaming and it disqualifies none. It rather allows the reader to make their personal conclusions regarding the two concepts. The final strength is that the article provides detailed information to explain some of the complex issues thus making the article easy to understand.
Apart from the strengths, this research article also has its own weaknesses. One of the weaknesses is that the sample population was limited to college students who are likely within the same age group. Therefore, the findings cannot be used for the general population. To make the research findings effective for generalization, the researchers should have considered involving people from different age groups. The second weakness is that the researchers involved in the experimental research incorporated in the article depended on self-reported answers. Participants involved in the research study were asked to personally report about their dreams and this could increase chances of exaggerated answers or dishonesty.
Research design
The article is a form of qualitative research because it focuses on how dreams occur, why they are remembered, and their purpose. The data used in the research depends on derived /compiled data to generate its findings. Derived data involves the use of data obtained from already existing to come up with new data. The authors used existing research findings from various researches conducted on the topic to come up with his personal conclusions. While various researchers believe that dreams are meaningless, others believe that they have a purpose.
Validity of the study
The validity of a study is the assessment of the accuracy of the results obtained. This study on the science behind dreaming is valid because the arguments presented by the authors align with the findings obtained by other researchers from the different experiments they conducted. The conclusion of this research is also similar to the arguments of the theoretical frameworks developed by Sigmund Freud and other psychologists.
Reliability of the study
The findings of this research are reliable because of the author and publisher credentials and also the incorporation of work form other scholars. The author of the article Sander Van Der Linden is a scientific journalist working with Scientific American. Before this article, she has authored various other articles on social and psychological issues. The article is published by Scientific American which is a known organization focusing on scientific researches. Basic credentials of both the author and the publisher make this article reliable for study.
To conclude, dreams are common and they have been experienced by many people during their sleeps. However, there has been lack of understanding on how dreams occur, why dreams can either be remembered or forgotten and their purpose in human life. Various psychologists and scientific researchers have come up with various theories to aid in understanding the science of dreaming. Sigmund Freud believed that dreams are just representations of unresolved wishes.
The activation-synthesis-hypothesis theory of dreaming states that dreams are meaningless because they are just some electrical brain impulses that trigger random memories and thoughts. On the other hand, evolutionary psychologists believe that dreaming has purpose. Another theory of dreaming is the threat simulation theory which claims that dreaming is a biological defense mechanism. This article has various strengths which include; it involves other research findings and it is not biased. Its main weakness is that it depends on self-reported studies to generate its conclusions. However, despite the strengths and weaknesses, this article remains to be valid.
References
Nichols, H. (2018). What does it mean when we dream? Medical News Today. Web.
Van der Linden, S. (2011). The science behind dreaming. Web.
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