Dreaming is believing, claim researchers of a new study, who found that dreams have an effect on people’s behavior, judgment and they might contain important hidden truths as well.
“Psychologists’ explanations of the meaning of dreams vary widely. But our findings show that people believe their dreams provide meaningful insightinto themselves and their world,” said a lead author of the study Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
In six different studies, researchers surveyed nearly 1,100 people about their dreams. One of the studies focused on general beliefs about dreams and involved 149 university students. All students were asked to rate different theories about dreams. The experts found that a surprising majority of the participants supported the theory about dreams revealing(揭示) the hidden truths about themselves and the rest of the world.
In a second experiment, they surveyed 182 people at a Boston train station, and asked them to imagine one out of four possible situation that could have occurred the night before a scheduled airline trip. Most of the participants said that dreaming of a plane crash would be more likely to affect their travel plans than would just thinking about a crash, or being warned by the government of a terrorism risk. They said a dreamed crash would influence their travel plans just as much as learning about a real crash on their planned route would.
Another experiment involved 270 men and women from across the United States. In a short online survey, they were asked to recall one of the dreams they had seen about any person they knew.
The findings showed that people were more likely to remember and describe pleasant dreams about a person they liked, rather than a person they disliked. Meanwhile, in most cases they tended to consider an unpleasant dream as more meaningful if it was about a person they disliked.
“In other words,” said Morewedge, “people attribute meaning to dreams when it corresponds (与……一致) with their pre-existing beliefs and desires.”
The researchers say that more investigation is needed to fully understand how people interpret their dreams. According to Morewedge, most people realize that dreams are not predicting their future, but they still try to find some meaning in there.
小题1:. The purpose of the studies is to .
A．determine when people tend to remember their dreams
B．research whether dreams have anything to do with real life
C．find out how people explain their dreams and what impact that has
D．understand what causes people to dream and how to interpret dreams小题2: According to the second experiment, what might influence people’s travel plans most?
A．Thinking about a past plane crash.
B．Dreaming about a plane crash.
C．Hearing a government’s warning of a terrorism risk.
D．Imagining a plane crashing on their planned route.小题3:. What can be concluded from the study?
A．Dreams can be a useful tool for learning and problem solving.
B．Most people disagree that dreams help them better know themselves and the world.
C．A majority of people believes that dreams can predict their future and try to find their meaning.
D．When a dream conflicts with people’s existing beliefs and desires, they tend to attribute less meaning to it.小题4:. Which kind of dream is seen as more meaningful than the rest?
A．A pleasant dream about a person the dreamer likes.
B．A pleasant dream about a person the dreamer dislikes
C．An unpleasant dream about a person the dreamer likes.
D．An unpleasant dream about a person the dreamer dislikes.
