Comparing Dream Theories

In the syllabus you are required to compare Freud's theory with Hobson and McCarley's theory. You need to say how their theories are different, how their testing was different, and their strengths and weaknesses.

Theory
Freud:

- Dreams have meaning

- Related to real life

- Dreamwork can be used to decode dreams

- About nurture, unconscious desires

Hobson and McCarley:

- Dreams are random, have no meaning

- Not related to life events, they are caused by random activation

- Biological

Methodology
Freud:

- Case studies

- Little Hans

- Dream analysis

- Free association

- Slip of the tongue

Hobson and McCarley:

- Neurotransmitter

- Animal experiments

- Brain scans

- EEG tests (electrical activity)

Strengths
Freud's theory:

Strengths

- Uses case studies and dream analysis

- Dreams have meaning with the story giving symbols, clues to the unconscious

- Both nature and nurture. Powerful unconscious is nature but contents of dream is nurture

Weakness

-Lacks credibility, lack of scientific methods and unlikely explanation

- Subjective, evidence was interpreted by Freud

Hobson and McCarley's theory:

Strengths

- Objective, uses scientific measurements

- Credible because of scientific methods

- Uses scanning and experiments

Weakness

- Dreams have no meaning, random and meaningless

- Nature, dreaming is part of the way the body and the brain work