Dream On: Why Dreams Mean Less Than We Think
John Cloud, TIME:
Most people dream enthusiastically at night, their dreams seemingly occupying hours, even though most last only a few minutes. Most people also read great meaning into their nocturnal visions. In fact, according to a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the vast majority of people in three very different countries — India, South Korea, and the United States — believe that their dreams reveal meaningful, hidden truths.
According to the study, 74% of Indians, 65% of South Koreans, and 56% of Americans hold an old-fashioned Freudian view of dreams: that they are portals into the unconscious.
But after so many years of brain research showing that most of our everyday cognitions result from a complex but observable interaction of proteins and neurons and other mostly uncontrolled cellular activity, how can so many otherwise rational people think dreams should be taken seriously? After all, brain activity isn’t mystical but — for the most part — highly predictable.
