Recent
research has found an interesting relationship between dreaming and a
person’s political orientation. Those who identify as politically liberal tend
to recall their dreams more frequently than those who identify as conservative.
Additionally, conservatives tend to report more mundane dream content, whereas
liberals have more bizarre dreams. Better dream recall is associated with
higher openness to experience, and liberals tend to be higher in openness to
experience than conservatives. The difference in dream recall may be due to
differences in openness between liberals and conservatives. These findings seem
to suggest that liberals may differ from conservatives not only in their social
values, but may be more imaginative than conservatives.
In a large scale demographic survey of
Americans, those who identified as left-liberals recalled more dreams
(including nightmares) than right-conservatives (Bulkeley,
2012). (Those who identified as libertarian or as moderates were
excluded from the analysis.) Liberals were also more likely to talk about their
dreams and reported higher rates of lucid dreaming. There was very substantial
overlap between liberals and conservatives in their dream recall patterns
though, indicating that this was not a large difference.
Political liberals are more likely to report bizarre dream content than conservatives
These findings are in line with an earlier study by the same
author (Bulkeley, 2006) that also found that conservatives slept more
soundly whilst liberals had more troubled sleep. Participants in this study
were also asked to provide details of their most recent dream. An interesting
finding was that conservatives tended to have more mundane dreams, containing
only events that could occur in real life, whereas liberals were more likely to
report bizarre dream content, such as flying or talking with someone who has
died in real life. Liberals generally reported a greater variety of dream
themes. Although there is considerable overlap, liberals seem to have a richer
scope of dream experiences that is more likely to include fantastic elements
and be less grounded in mundane reality.
The author also noted differences in the content of women’s
sexual dreams depending on political orientation. Liberal women’s sexual dream
reports were more elaborate and detailed than those of their conservative
counterparts. Liberal women reported higher rates of sexual dreams (92% vs.
71%), even though the conservatives’ rates were fairly high (suggesting they
were not on the whole too embarrassed to admit sexual dreams). Liberal females
also were more likely to report sexual interactions with other women (24% vs.
4%). Liberal women may be more open to sexuality in their dreams generally and
to homosexuality in particular than conservative women.
Bulkeley interpreted these findings in line with the
“continuity hypothesis” of dreaming. This hypothesis proposes that people tend
to dream about whatever is most important and emotionally salient in their
lives. This is in contrast to Freudian and Jungian theories of dreaming which
emphasised the disguised, symbolic nature of dream content.
A study on dream recall and big five personality traits
found that higher openness to experience was associated with more dream recall (Watson, 2003). Openness to experience is a
personality trait associated with the breadth and richness of a person’s inner
life as well as their preference for variety and novelty versus sameness. This
study had the advantage of using a daily diary method of assessing dream recall
rather than asking a general question about dream recall as in the studies by
Bulkeley. Political liberalism is moderately associated with openness to
experience, so the greater dream recall of liberals may be due to their greater
openness to experience. This would also fit in with the continuity hypothesis.
People high on openness to experience tend to have a greater variety of inner
experiences in waking life than more closed individuals, and their dreams
therefore follow a similar pattern.
Openness is usually considered in terms of a number of
component facets, including openness to ideas, values, feelings, aesthetics,
actions, and fantasy. The facet most relevant to political orientation, and on
which liberals and conservatives differ most strongly, is openness to values,
which explicitly relates to a person’s attitudes to authority and tradition.
Conservatism is associated with a preference for the familiar and the
traditional, and conservatives tend to prefer conformity to the status quo.
Liberalism is associated with greater comfort with change and innovation, and
liberals are more likely to question authority and the value of tradition.
The findings about the differences in dream content suggest
that not only are liberals more open to values but they are more open to
fantasy as well. Although measures of the fantasy facet have no apparent
ideological content, studies have found that other openness facets including
fantasy, are positively associated with liberalism (McCrae & Sutin, 2009).
This suggests that liberals not only differ from conservatives in their social
attitudes but they tend to have richer inner experiences generally. This might
make it easier for them to envision a new and better kind of society they would
like to strive for.
Whether or not being high in fantasy-related tendencies is
considered a good or a bad thing depends on subjective preferences. People high
in openness to experience tend to regard it as socially desirable, whereas more
closed individuals demean it (McCrae & Sutin, 2009). Conservatives may see
themselves as realistic, down-to-earth and grounded in reality, whereas
liberals might view them as dull, unimaginative, and inflexible. Liberals might
see themselves as visionary and forward thinking, whereas conservatives might
see them as having their “heads in their clouds” and being out of touch with
reality. In practice openness to fantasy may be a two-edged sword. Without
imagination and fantasy there can be no creativity and hence no progress. On
the other hand, fantasy that is ungrounded in practical considerations can
shade into madness.
Finally, it may be worth reiterating that not only is there
substantial overlap between liberals and conservatives in dream recall, but in
personality as well. When considering whether to vote for a political candidate,
bear in mind that some conservative policies could well be the product of a
bizarre fantasy and that some liberals ones could be grounded in reality, and
vice versa.
©
Scott McGreal. Please do not reproduce without permission. Brief excerpts may
be quoted as long as a link to the original article is provided.
This article has previously appeared on Psychology Today on my blog Unique - Like everybody else.
References
Bulkeley, K. (2006). Sleep and dream patterns of political liberals and conservatives Dreaming, 16 (3), 223-235 DOI: 10.1037/1053-0797.16.3.223
Bulkeley, K. (2012). Dream Recall and Political Ideology: Results of a Demographic Survey. Dreaming, 22 (1), 1-9 DOI: 10.1037/a0026170
McCrae, Robert & Sutin, Angelina R.
(2009). "Chapter 17. Openness to Experience". In Mark R. Leary, &
Rick H. Hoyle. Handbook of
Individual Differences in Social Behavior. New York/London: The Guildford
Press. pp. 257–273. ISBN 978-1-59385-647-2.
Watson, D. (2003). To dream, perchance to remember: individual differences in dream recall. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 1271-1286 DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00114-9
