Which researcher believed that dreams simply reflect life events that are important to the dreamer?
Group of answer choices
John Hobson
Carl Jung
Sigmund Freud
Rosalind Cartwright
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answer: Rosalind Cartwright
Explanation:
Rosalind Cartwright, often referred to as the “queen of dreams,” believed that dreams reflect significant life events and emotional concerns of the dreamer. Unlike Sigmund Freud, who interpreted dreams as expressions of unconscious desires and repressed conflicts, Cartwright took a more modern, cognitive approach. She saw dreams as a continuation of waking life—essentially, that our dreams are shaped by our daily thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
Cartwright’s research focused heavily on the relationship between mood, sleep, and dreaming. She was especially interested in how people process emotional events—like divorce, grief, or trauma—through their dreams. In her studies, Cartwright found that individuals who were dealing with emotional stress often had dreams that directly mirrored their waking struggles. For example, someone going through a divorce might dream about their former partner or the emotional consequences of the breakup. This led her to conclude that dreams are not random or symbolic in the Freudian sense, but are meaningful reflections of what matters most in a person’s life.
She also suggested that dreams help us regulate emotions and problem-solve. Through dreaming, people can work through difficult emotions, reframe experiences, and even find solutions to personal problems. Her theory aligns with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, which states that there is a continuous relationship between waking life and dreaming.
In contrast, John Hobson emphasized the neurobiological basis of dreaming with his Activation-Synthesis theory, arguing that dreams are the brain’s attempt to make sense of random neural activity. Carl Jung saw dreams as manifestations of the collective unconscious and symbolic archetypes. Sigmund Freud, meanwhile, focused on dreams as wish fulfillment stemming from repressed desires.
Thus, Rosalind Cartwright stands out as the researcher who believed dreams simply reflect life events that are important to the dreamer.
