Lucid dreaming frequency and personality
Introduction
The term lucid dream designates a dream in which the dreamer––while dreaming––is aware that she/he is dreaming (LaBerge & Rheingold, 1990; Tholey & Utecht, 1987). Although in the early period of sleep research it was assumed that this state of consciousness reflects brief waking periods in the night (e.g., Hartmann, 1975); Hearne (1978) and LaBerge (1980) have demonstrated––using the technique of eye movements signaling in the sleep laboratory––that lucid dreaming is a REM sleep phenomenon.
In a representative survey in Austria (N=1000), 26% of the participants stated that they had experienced a lucid dream at least once (Stepansky et al., 1998). For student samples, the figures are markedly higher; 57.5% (Gackenbach, 1991), 73% (Blackmore, 1982) or 80% (Palmer, 1979). Similar percentages were found for selected samples, e.g., members of a parapsychological association (70%, Kohr, 1980). In contrast to dream recall frequency for which stable gender differences of medium effect size has been demonstrated (overview: Schredl & Piel, 2003), large-scaled surveys (Gruber, Steffen, & Vonderhaar, 1995; Stepansky et al., 1998; Watson, 2001) did not reveal differences in lucid dreaming frequency between the sexes.
Several studies (Belicki, Hunt, & Belicki, 1978; Blackmore, 1982; Hearne, 1978; Watson, 2001; Wolpin, Marston, Randolph, & Clothies, 1992) showed a substantial relationship between lucid dream frequency and dream recall frequency; a finding which seems plausible since the chance of recalling a lucid dream is heightened by overall higher dream recall. Thus it is necessary to control for dream recall frequency in the relationship of lucid dreaming frequency and influencing factors.
In addition, a significant correlation between lucid dreaming frequency and nightmare frequency was reported (Glicksohn, 1989; Spadafora & Hunt, 1990; Stepansky et al., 1998). This also seems plausible since a marked portion of lucid dreamers reported that nightmares, especially recurrent nightmares, triggered lucidity within their dreams (Galvin, 1990; Wolpin et al., 1992). These above mentioned studies, however, have not controlled for dream recall frequency which might mediate the relationship between nightmare frequency and lucid dreaming frequency.
In the following, the findings regarding factors explaining interindividual differences in lucid dreaming frequency will be reviewed. The overview focuses on personality variables; other factors such as vestibular balance, intelligence, and creativity are discussed extensively in Snyder and Gackenbach (1988).
With regard to personality––based on the findings of Eysenck on extraversion––Hearne (1978) formulated the hypothesis that the higher cortical arousal, measured during lucid dreaming, in comparison to non-lucid REM dreams (e.g., LaBerge, 1992) is associated with introversion. His study and subsequent studies (Snyder & Gackenbach, 1988; Watson, 2001) did not support this hypothesis. Only the findings of Glicksohn (1989) and Phillips (1995) may be interpreted along these lines.
Gackenbach et al., 1985, Gackenbach et al., 1986b have investigated the field independence construct and were able to demonstrate––using perception paradigms for measuring field independence––positive correlations to lucid dreaming frequency, although their results are mixed (see review of Snyder & Gackenbach, 1988). These studies are based on the hypothesis formulated by Gackenbach et al., 1985, Gackenbach et al., 1986b that lucid dreamers more often rely on internal stimuli than non-lucid dreamers (parallel to the awareness of the current state of consciousness). One study (Blagrove & Tucker, 1994) did not find a substantial relationship between field independence measured via questionnaire and lucid dreaming frequency.
Moffitt et al. (1988) pointed out the parallels between meditation and lucid dreaming along a self-reflective continuum and several studies (Gackenbach, 1978, Gackenbach, 1981, Gackenbach, 1990; Gackenbach, Cranson, & Alexander, 1986a; Hunt, 1991; Levitan, 1993) reported a correlation between meditation frequency and lucid dreaming frequency. This is congruent with the findings (Blagrove & Hartnell, 2000; Blagrove & Tucker, 1994) regarding internal locus of control (the belief in one’s own control over events and outcome) which is assumed by these authors to be related to meditating. One study (Wolpin et al., 1992), however, was not able to demonstrate a positive relationship between lucid dreaming frequency and internal locus of control. For a small sample, Prescott and Pettigrew (1995) reported a relationship between lucid dreaming frequency and an 8-item scale termed “search for control over common situations in waking life”. The assumption formulated by Gackenbach (1978) that lucid dreamers are or feel in better control of their waking life lead to the hypothesis that lucid dreamers are well-adjusted and score low on neuroticism scales. Several findings (Gackenbach, 1978; Gackenbach, Walling, & LaBerge, 1984; Gruber et al., 1995) support this hypothesis whereas the majority of the studies (Brussington & Hicks, 1996; Hearne, 1978; Stepansky et al., 1998; Watson, 2001; Wolpin et al., 1992) found neuroticism or wellbeing unrelated to lucid dreaming frequency.
Personality dimensions such as hypnotizability (Hoyt, Kihlstrom, & Nadon, 1992) and thin boundaries (Galvin, 1990; Hicks, Bautista, & Hicks, 1999) which can be conceptualized as subdimensions of the Big Five personality factor “openness to experience” (cf. McCrae, 1994) were positively related to lucid dreaming frequency. In these studies, dream recall frequency which is also related to these dimensions (cf. Schredl, 1999) was not statistically controlled. Watson (2001) reported a small but significant correlation coefficient (r=0.14, p<0.01) for lucid dream frequency and openness to experience in one sample, but the correlation (r=0.08, ns) in a second sample was not significant. In this study, the correlations were also not controlled for dream recall frequency. Another methodological problem of several studies (e.g., Blagrove & Hartnell, 2000; Gackenbach, 1978; Galvin, 1990; Wolpin et al., 1992) is the sampling procedure: these researchers looked specifically for lucid dreamers via advertisements, flyers, etc. It might be possible that their samples were biased in a direction in which only “well-adjusted” lucid dreamers who are willing to report their experiences participated voluntarily in such lucid dreaming studies.
The aim of the present study was to compare the correlations between lucid dreaming frequency and various personality measures (Big Five personality factors, thin boundaries, absorption, imagination) to the respective coefficients of dream recall frequency. Additionally, partial correlations were computed in order to test whether the relationship between lucid dream frequency and specific personality dimensions is mediated by dream recall frequency. This analysis was also done for nightmare frequency. In view of the mixed results summarized above, the only hypothesis underlying the present study was a positive relationship between openness to experience and its related constructs and lucid dreaming frequency.
Section snippets
Lucid dreaming frequency and dream recall frequency
For measuring lucid dreaming frequency, an eight-point rating scale was presented within a self-developed dream questionnaire (“How often do you experience so-called lucid dreams (see definition)?” 0=never, 1=less then once a year, 2=about once a year, 3=about two to four times a year, 4=about once a month, 5=about two to three times a month, 6=about once a week, 7=several times a week). In order to ensure a clear understanding of the phenomenon, a short definition was also presented: “During
Lucid dreaming frequency, dream recall frequency and nightmare frequency
In Table 1, the frequencies of the lucid dreaming frequency scale are depicted. Eighty-two percent of the participants stated that they had experienced a lucid dream at least once. The majority are lucid dreamers infrequently, about 36.9% are frequent lucid dreamers (frequency equal or higher than once per month) in the terminology of Snyder and Gackenbach (1988). The average lucid dreaming frequency was 1.27 ± 2.94 lucid dreams per month. No significant gender difference was found (Mann–Whitney U
Discussion
Overall, the findings of the present study indicate that there is a substantial but very small relationship between lucid dreaming frequency and several associated dimensions (thin boundaries, absorption, imagination) and some facets (“fantasy”, “ideas”) of the openness to experience personality factor. Thus, it might be concluded that global personality factors play a minor role in explaining interindividual differences in lucid dreaming frequency but it might be hypothesized that more
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant (SCHR 637/2-1) from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) given to the first author.
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