I know how you felt last night, or do I? : Self- and external ratings of emotions in REM dreams

• We investigated whether inconsistencies in previous studies regarding emotional experiencesin dreams derive from whether dream emotions are self-rated or externally evaluated.Seventeen subjects were monitored with polysomnography in the sleep laboratoryand awakened from every rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage 5 min after the onsetof the stage. Upon awakening, participants gave an oral dream report and rated their dreamemotions using the modified Differential Emotions Scale, whereas external judges rated theparticipants’ emotions expressed in the dream reports, using the same scale. The twoapproaches produced diverging results. Self-ratings, as compared to external ratings,resulted in greater estimates of (a) emotional dreams; (b) positively valenced dreams;(c) positive and negative emotions per dream; and (d) various discrete emotions representedin dreams. The results suggest that this is mostly due to the underrepresentationof positive emotions in dream reports. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Annan biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Other Biological Topics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

REM sleep

Dreaming

Emotions

Content analysis

Modified Differential Emotions Scale

Humaniora-samhällsvetenskap

Humanities and Social sciences

Natural sciences

Naturvetenskap

Consciousness and Cognitive Neuroscience

Kognitiv neurovetenskap och filosofi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)