Academic research - dream content & personality
A primary research project that investigated a possible association between personality and dream content and whether people subconsciously practice behaviour when dreaming.
Questionnaire design, quantitative research, regression analysis.
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Project Type
Academic research for the University of Liverpool Psychology department.
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Project date & duration
2016 - 12 months
Published in September 2018
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My roles
Primary & secondary research, statistical analysis, data interpretation & evaluation, academic report writing.
Project summary
The research objective was to investigate a possible association of dream content with a set of three personality traits - machiavellianism, psychopathy & narcissism - which are known as The Dark Triad of personality.
Using a questionnaire design and a regression analysis, the project found a statistically significant link between dream content and the three personality traits.
The Challenge
The focus of the project was based around three key findings from previous research at the time.
Previous research suggested a relationship between personality characteristics and dream content
Those possessing Dark Triad personality traits in previous research have been associated with increased aggressive, sexual and exploitative behaviours
Previous research indicates the purpose of dreaming could be a way of rehearsing behaviour for real life situations or a continuation of our everyday life
The project aim was to further research into the psychology of dreaming and the psychology of personality. With the previous research in mind this led to two research questions:
Do people rehearse their behaviour within their dream content and is this in line with their personality?
Do people with Dark Triad personality traits practice exploitative behaviours within their dream content?
THE SOLUTION
In order to answer these research questions participants were asked to complete two questionnaires, results in each were then analysed to determine if there were any statistically significant correlations.
The first questionnaire used was a measure of The Dark Triad of Personality that placed participants on a scale from high to low for these personality traits.
The second was a dream content questionnaire that was created to measure the frequency that participants dreamt, actions participants dreamt about and themes within participants dream content.
Both questionnaires were measured on a Likert scale to ensure the results could be easily quantified for a statistical analysis of the data.
265 participants were recruited online with the only screener being that participants must be over the age of 18. Although a large number of participants were involved, due to the scope of the project the sample was skewed toward British females.
A statistical regression analysis of the results found that those that scored more highly on the Dark Triad of personality scale dreamt more of aggressive & sexual behaviours than those lower on the Dark Triad of personality scale.
Those showing higher scores on the Dark Triad of personality scale dreamt more frequently of sexual actions than those lower on the scale.
Those showing higher scores on the Dark Triad of personality scale also dreamt more frequently of aggressive actions than those lower on the scale.
results
The results found supported the research hypothesis and also furthered psychological research into both dreaming and personality as intended.
At the time of the project the results were thought to be the first to provide evidence to suggest that individuals may practice exploitative behaviours within their dream content however there was much that subsequent research could improve upon - such as recruiting a more diverse sample of participants.
After collaborating with three additional authors, the project was then published in the journal of Imagination, Cognition and Personality in September 2018.
The project was published as ‘Dark Dreams Are Made Of This: Aggressive and sexual dream content, and the Dark Triad of personality’ and can be found here.
Presentation of the research project at the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association Conference in 2016.