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Aryanna Reid Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English (1102) 1 20 201! Topic Proposal: Exploration of an Unconscious Mind Introduction/Overview "he o#erall goal o$ this paper is to get an in%depth understanding about the concept o$ dreaming& 'reaming is a series o$ thoughts( images( and sensations occurring in a person)s mind during sleep& "his usually occurs at night to most indi#iduals but dreaming can occur at any time as long as the indi#idual is unconscious& "here are di$$erent stages o$ sleep( but dreaming happens to occur in the REM stage (rapid eye mo#ement)&In this stage( brain acti#ity is relati#ely high and resembles that o$ a conscious indi#idual *here the eyes are constantly mo#ing bac+ and $orth& E#eryone has had dreams and e#eryone has had nightmares( regardless o$ people *ho claim that they ,don-t dream.& A nightmare is a bad dream that brings out strong $eelings o$ $ear( terror( distress( or an/iety& 'reaming is a comple/ $ield and *hy *e dream is still one o$ the beha#ioral sciences) greatest unans*ered 0uestions& Many scientists ha#e spent years del#ing deep into all aspects o$ dreaming and many contro#ersial theories ha#e been proposed& In 1igmund 2reud-s( The Unconscious (1341)( he states that ,5our assumption o$ the unconscious is necessary and legitimate( and that *e possess numerous proo$s o$ its e/istence&

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It is necessary because the data o$ consciousness ha#e a #ery large number o$ gaps in them6 both in healthy and in sic+ people psychical acts o$ten occur *hich can be e/plained only by presupposing other acts( o$ *hich( ne#ertheless( consciousness a$$ords no e#idence&7 1ome scientists( such as 2reud( say dreaming in$luences our beha#ior and may gi#e reason to *hy *e do certain things& 8hen e/ploring the unconscious mind( there may be much more to it than 9ust images& :pon deciding that I *anted to do dreams as my topic( I #isited *ebsites such as ,psychology today. and ,asdreams&org.& ;oth *ebsites agreed that dreaming is a contro#ersial topic and they posed a $e* commonly debated 0uestions& ;eha#ioral scientists $ind most interest in this topic( speci$ically ans*ering the 0uestion ,*hy do *e dream<. =#er the years( scientists such as 2reud( >ung( ?ar$ield and @artman ha#e sought to $ind the ans*ers and ha#e created theories in *hich later scientists bounced o$$ o$& Modern theories include : (1) "he e#olutionary theory: 8e 'ream to Aractice Responses to "hreatening 1ituations (2) 'reams create *isdom (B) 'reaming is li+e de$ragmenting your hard dri#e (!) 'reams are li+e psychotherapy (C) Do theory: 'reams ha#e no meaning at all&

Initial Inquiry

uestion!s"

"here are many 0uestions I ha#e about dreams and I am sure many o$ them connect together someho* some *ay& My purpose o$ posing these 0uestions is to help me in creating my initial in0uiry 0uestion *hich I hope co#ers the most important aspects o$ dreaming& (1) 8hy do *e dream< (2) 8hy do people ha#e trouble *hen trying to recall dreams< (B) 8hat in$luences dreaming nightmares< (!) @o* long does a dream typically last< (C) @o* o$ten do *e dream< (E) 'o dreams contain a meaning<

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My Interest in t#is Topic "his sub9ect interests me because it is something that occurs daily( and e#eryone e/periences it& E#er since the mo#ie Inception *as released( I ha#en-t loo+ed at dreams the same *ay& In the mo#ie( a man possesses the po*er to enter the dreams o$ others& Although $ictional( the mo#ie ma+es many realistic re$erences to things that actually occur *hen an indi#idual dreams& "hroughout the mo#ie( it ta+es the #ie*er into a series o$ di$$erent dream realms that go deeper and deeper into the subconscious& 1ince *e are unconscious( nobody +no*s *hy certain things occur and I *ish to see+ these ans*ers& 8e-#e gone through li$e and ha#e had a #ariety o$ di$$erent dreams *hether it is biFarre( se/ual( etc& but *hat accounts $or these di$$erences in dreams< Although I am #ery $amiliar *ith dreaming( I hope to $igure out the ans*ers to at least three o$ the initial in0uiry 0uestions&

$ext %teps 8hen completing my research( I plan to #isit the library and grab a $e* boo+s on dreams& 1ince this is a psychological concept( I *ill also try to re$er to a psychology te/tboo+ *hich may help me in better understanding ho* our brain *or+s *hile unconscious& I *ill also search $or *or+ e/periments $rom past-s scientists that could be rele#ant in ans*ering one o$ my 0uestions& I *ill most li+ely start o$$ at 8i+ipedia but once I decide *hat e/actly I *ould li+e to $ocus my paper on( it *ill be easier to gain more in$ormation or sources on the topic&