An Approach to Measuring Psychological Tensions by Means of Dream Associations

Abstract

The paper describes an approach to measuring areas of psychological tension, which utilizes certain types of associations to dreams as basic data. These are incidents in Ss' past which were suggested by the dream. Ss' rate these associations on a checklist of statements. High scores are presumed to indicate high levels of current tension. An exploratory investigation was carried out on 32 college students to study the feasibility of the method. Scores are examined for stability over two dreams, for intercorrelations, and for relationship to the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, certain behavioral indices, and measures of need deprivation.