Topic B - Is dreaming meaningful?

Content

 * 1) Freud's dream theory
 * 2) How neurons send messages
 * 3) Hobson and McCarley's activation-synthesis theory, concepts of random activation, sensory blockade and movement inhibition. Evaluation of this theory.
 * 4) Compare and evaluate Freud's dream theory to Hobson and McCarley's.
 * 5) Methodology: reliability, generalisability
 * 6) Ethics issues: privacy and confidentiality
 * 7) The case study method: features and evaluation
 * 8) Dream analysis of Little Hans - phobia of horses
 * 9) Evaluation of dream analysis
 * 10) Role of psychoanalyst
 * 11) How psychological sleep disorders are treatedClick here to see Topic B example exam questions, answered and explained for you.

Key Terminology - Freud
This topic contains a lot of key terminology, much more than any other unit. See Freud for more, this now appears under Freud as well.
 * 1) Manifest content: story dreamer tells
 * 2) Latent content: the underlying meaning of the dream
 * 3) Condensation: when many thoughts and elements from the unconscious are represented in one symbol
 * 4) Displacement: when something seems to be unimportant but is actually important
 * 5) Secondary Elaboration: when the dreamer changes the dream to make sense of it
 * 6) Psychoanalysis: Freud's therapy that helps release unconscious thoughts
 * 7) Dream analysis: analyzing dreams and uncovering symbols
 * 8) Slip of the tongue: when someone uses the wrong word for something
 * 9) Free association: patient expresses a free flow of consciousness

Key Terminology - Activation Synthesis
See activation-synthesis for more details. This now also appears in activation-synthesis.
 * 1) Neuron: a cell in the body that sends electrical and chemical messages
 * 2) Axon: cell body of a neuron
 * 3) Impulse: electrical signal
 * 4) Neurotransmitter: chemical released by impulse
 * 5) Synaptic gap: gap between the dendrites of one neuron and the next
 * 6) Synaptic transmission: when a neurotransmitter crosses the synaptic gap
 * 7) Activation synthesis model: model of dreaming that believes it is biological, dreams are random
 * 8) Random activation: during REM sleep neurons are randomly activated
 * 9) Sensory blockade: during REM sleep no information enters through the senses
 * 10) Movement inhibition: during REM sleep the body is paralyzed

Key Terminology - Methodology
This now appears under Methodology. See Methodology for more.
 * 1) Qualitative data: open-ended questions, interviews, long answers, detailed data
 * 2) Quantitative data: numerical data, yes/no questions, one answer questions/answers
 * 3) Reliability: refers to whether the findings from a study could be found again if repeated
 * 4) Privacy: ethical guideline, names must not be recorded and they must not be identifiable
 * 5) Confidentiality:  ethical guideline, information gained must not be shared with others without permission