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War‐Related Dream Themes in Germany from 1956 to 2000
Author(s) -
Schredl Michael,
Piel Edgar
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
political psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.419
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-9221
pISSN - 0162-895X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2006.00008.x
Subject(s) - dream , psychology , german , salient , politics , world war ii , value (mathematics) , social psychology , psychoanalysis , demography , developmental psychology , sociology , history , political science , law , psychotherapist , archaeology , machine learning , computer science
Based on the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, the effects of World War II on the dreams of German persons have been studied. The present study included four representative samples from 1956 to 2000 (repeated cross‐sectional surveys). Although a decline of war‐related dream themes over time was found, the heightened rate of these themes in the oldest age group (60 years and older) in the year 2000 indicate the long‐lasting effect of emotionally salient life experiences on dreams. The present findings indicate that the method of dream content analysis is a very informative approach to study the effects of political events on the inner life of people and, thus, of value for the field of political science.