A grammar of dreams

478 Pages·1978·152.905 MB·English

by  David Foulkes

A
GRAMMAR
OF
DREAMS
DA VID FOULKES
BASIC BOOKS, INC., PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reprint excerpts from the following:
The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud, pp. 169-173, translated from the
German and edited by James Strachey, published in the United States by Basic Books,
Inc., Publishers, New York, by arrangement with George Allen & Unwin Ltd. and the
Hogarth Press, Ltd. London.
"The Current Status of Laboratory Dream Research," by David Foulkes and Gerald W.
Vogel, M.D., pp. 7-23, which appeared in Psychiatric Annals, vol. 4, no. 7 (1974).
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Foulkes, William David, 1935-
A grammar of dreams.
Bibliography: p. 429
Includes indexes.
1. Dreams. I. Title.
BFI078.F62 154.6'3 77-75243
ISBN: 0-465-02695-8
Copyright © 1978 by Basic Books, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
Designed by Vincent Torre
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Jerry Vogel

Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xili
A GUIDE TO READING THIS BOOK xv
PART I
CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR A CONTEMPORARY
MODEL OF DREAMING
Chapter 1 / Dreaming and Thinking 3
Problems for a Cognitive View of Dreams 3
Implications of a Cognitive View of Dreams 10
Chapter 2 / Dreaming and Language 13
Chapter 3 / A Propositional Unconscious 19
PART II
EMPIRICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR A CONTEMPORARY
MODEL OF DREAMING: OBSERVATIONS FROM
DREAM PSYCHOLOGY
Chapter 4 / Freud's Dream Theory 27
Introduction 27
Freud's Literature Review: The State of Nineteenth-Century
Dream Research 29
Descriptive 30
Explanatory 32
Freud's Method: Free Association 33
viii CONTENTS
Freud's Results: Wish-Fulfillment 37
A Specimen Analysis 37
Wish-Fulfillment 43
Freud's Results: "Dream-Work" 51
A Specimen Dream 51
The Contents of the Sleeping Mind 54
The Transformational Processes of the Sleeping Mind 59
Freud's Model: A Topographic-Economic View of Mind 76
Conclusion: The Current Viability of Freud's Concepts and
Models 86
Chapter 5 / Psychophysiological Dream Research 88
Significant Empirical Observations 89
Shortcomings of the Available Evidence 96
Summary 99
PART III
EMPIRICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR A CONTEMPORARY
MODEL OF DREAMING: OBSERVATIONS FROM
COGNATE SYMBOLIC DISCIPLINES
Chapter 6 / Psychoanalytic Ego Psychology 103
The Language of Psychoanalysis 103
The Psy choanalysis of Language 114
Chapter 7 / Structuralism 120
General Tenets 120
Claude Levi-Strauss 122
Jean Piaget 123
Chapter 8 / Linguistics and Psycholinguistics 134
Chapter 9 / Cognitive Psychology 154
George Miller et al.: A New Unit of Cognitive
Analysis? 1 55
Ulric Neisser: A New Version of Topographical
Regression? 157
John Anderson and Gordon Bower: A New Mental
Semantics? 167
The Method of Free Association 171
Conclusion 174
CONTENTS ix
Chapter 10 / Soviet Psychology and Neuropsychology 176
L. S. Vygotsky 177
A. N. Sokolov 180
A. R. Luria 184
PART IV
SSLS: A MODEL OF DREAMING AND A METHOD OF
DREAM ANALYSIS
Chapter 11 / A Scoring System for Latent Structure
(SSLS) 193
Goals and Derivation of the Scoring System 194
Goals 194
Methodological Derivation of the Content Analysis 197
Theoretical Derivation of the Content Analysis 198
An Outline of the Scoring System 199
What Is Scored 199
Units of Analysis: Verbs and Verb-Defined Sentences 200
Grammatical Constraints on SSLS Sentence Formation 207
Noun Categories 215
Lexical Classes Within Noun Categories 225
Transforms 229
Structural Analysis: A Brief Summary 235
Dynamic Analysis: A Brief Introduction 238
The Collection of Associations to the Dream 242
Chapter 12 / Freud's "Botanical Monograph": A Speci-
men Analysis 245
Introduction 245
The SSLS Analysis 246
The Dream 246
The Free Associations 247
The Lexicon 265
Chapter 13 / From Sentence to Structure 267
Association-Path Analysis 267
Justification and Overview 267
Procedure 269
Summary and Association-Path Analyses of "Botanical
Monograph" 277
x CONTENTS
Structuregrams 277
Justification and Overview 277
Rules for Forming Simple Structuregrams 285
Rules for Forming Composite Structuregrams 287
Structuregrams of "Botanical Monograph" 289
SSLS's Analysis of "Botanical Monograph": An Intuitive
Evaluation 292
Chapter 14 / From Structure to Matrix to Index 300
Overview 300
Fundamentals of Digraph Theory 302
Kinds of Digraphs 302
Kinds of Connectedness 303
Kinds of Points 305
Matrix Generation: Reachability 306
Matrix Generation: Fundamental Sets 310
Matrix Generation: Distance 312
Descriptive Indices 313
Components and Other Structural Properties 314
Cycles and Levels 317
Representation of Dynamic Scores 319
Summary 320
Chapter 15 / From Index to Grammar: "Dream-Work" 322
Analysis of a Dream-Formation Digraph 322
Digraph Analysis and "Dream-Work" 328
Condensation 328
Displacement 333
Pictorial Representability 337
Additional Mechanisms 338
Summary 340
PART V
APPLICATIONS/I MPLICATIONS OF THE MODEL
Chapter 16 / Dream Interpretation and Clinical Dream
Psychology 343
The Person as Symbolizer 345
Conflict 346
Summary 351
CONTENTS xi
Chapter 17 / Dream Processes and Experimental Dream
Psychology 352
Research Possibilities 353
The Uniqueness of Dreams 353
Dream-Work in Different Stages of Sleep 353
Home Dreams and Laboratory Dreams 354
Structural Similarities in Sleep Mentation 354
Individual Differences 355
Epistemological Questions 355
Validation of Dream-Process Statements 355
Explanatory Value 356
APPENDICES
Appendix A / Supplemental Scoring Rules for SSLS 363
Structural Analysis 363
What Is Scored 363
Units of Analysis: Verbs and Verb-Defined Sentences 375
Grammatical Constraints on SSLS Sentence
Formation 394
Noun Categories 398
Lexical Classes Within Noun Categories 400
Transforms 402
Dynamic Analysis 405
Three Types of Textural Modifiers 405
Rules for Scoring Dynamic Descriptors 407
Repetition and Alternation 416
Summary 418
Appendix B / Reliability of the Content Analysis
(David Foulkes, Stephen F. Butler,
and Patricia L. Maykuth) 419
REFERENCES 429
AUTHOR INDEX 443
SUBJECT INDEX 449