Date of Award
6-2011
Document Type
Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Josh Hart
Language
English
Keywords
personality, relationships, attachment, research, study, avoidance
Abstract
Attachment research has explored many of the ways that personality styles – in the context of close interpersonal relationships – affect other psychological processes, but only recently have researchers attempted to discover whether there is a relationship between attachment and dreams. Previous studies have shown that the dreams of both anxious and avoidant individuals contain emotional and attachment-related concerns. This study explores the connection between attachment and attitudinal orientation toward dreams. Presumably, the emotional nature of dreams would lead people high in attachment anxiety to place more importance on their dreams, while people high in attachment avoidance would disengage from their dreams. Individuals participated in the study online, reporting three dreams and completing questionnaires about attachment style and attitudinal orientation toward dreams. In general, anxious people were found to be more involved with their dreams, both within their dream content and in waking life. While avoidant individuals were generally dismissive of their dreams in waking life, the results did not indicate that they were actually less involved within their dreams.
Recommended Citation
Contelmo, Gabrielle, "The Relationship Between Attachment Style and Attitudinal Orientation toward Dreams" (2011). Honors Theses. 961.
https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/961