Hall and Van de Castle Content

Analysis of Gamer Dreams

Beena KuruvillaGrant MacEwan

College

Hall and Van de Castle Coding System

8 General Categories•Character (Number, Gender, Identity, Age) •Social Interactions (Aggression, Friendliness, Sexual)•Activities (Movement, Verbal activity, Visual activity)•Striving (Success, Failure)•Misfortune/Good Fortune (Sickness, Falling, Winning)•Emotions (Apprehension, Confusion, Happiness)•Physical Surroundings (Settings and Objects)•Descriptive Elements (Color, Size, Velocity)

Hall and Van de Castle Coding System

Calvin Hall & Robert Van de Castle (1966).

Intricate coding system relying solely on dream reports to determine the meaning of a dream.

One assumption: Frequency equals intensity

Allows for high inter-rater reliability, has well developed norms, and uses categories which are pertinent to waking concerns that may influence dreaming.

(Domhoff, 1996)

Hall and Van de Castle Coding System

DreamSAT spreadsheet (Schneider & Domhoff,

2006) Percentages and rates Group profiles

( N=27, 56 dreams - males norms only)

(Dreamresearch.net)

h vs.males

-.01+.26

-.36+.09

+.83-.08

0-.13

+.80

+.09-.47

-.15

-.04-.11

+.45

+.02-.22

-.08

-.32

-.70-.75

-.49-.19

-.21-.23

-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4 +0.6 +0.8 +1.0

Male/Female Percent

Friends Percent

Dead & Imaginary Percent

Befriender Percent

Physical Aggression Percent

A/C Index

S/C Index

Indoor Setting Percent

Bodily Misfortunes Percent

Dreamer-Involved Success Percent

Friendliness

Misfortune

Success

Striving

Significant Differences from Male Norms

Fewer friends (16% vs 31%, p<0.002) yet more dead or imaginary characters appearing in dream reports (21% vs 0%, p<0.000).

Why be human in a game? They have fewer powers than other types of creatures.

Significant Differences from Male Norms

Subject 001- Dream 11 “I dreamt I was a character is Underworld 2, it was a

werewolf character and then I became a 3rd person. It was the two main characters, it was the vampire girl and a hybrid werewolf character and I was another werewolf character beside them and we went into a vampire coven and we got to the weapons section of the vampire coven and then I

woke up”

Significant Differences from Male Norms

Greater percentage of self-negativity (84% vs 65%, p<0.028)

Smaller number of dreams with aggression (32% vs 47%, p<0.023) yet more intense aggression (namely physical aggression, 86% vs 50%, p<0.000) in those dreams that did contain it.

Significant Differences from Male NormsSubject 002- Dream 6 “…so I went outside with my cat and shot these

criminals that were trying to eat my dad and they were on top of my dad trying to eat his arms and he was fighting them off, and they were trying to hold him down and bite his shoulders and there was blood and stuff. And it was a very graphic shootout for a dream; it was very blood and guts ya know? And when I ran out of ammunition there was like pistol whipping and stuff going on and that one sticks out in my mind because it was very graphic…”.

Significant Differences from Male Norms

Fewer Misfortunes (7% vs 36%, p<0.000)Fewer Bodily Misfortunes(0% vs 29%, p<0.024)

Significant Differences from Male Norms

Misfortunes and Nightmares Subject 010- Dream 5 “…it was just you run around and whoever kills the most guys

wins the map or whatever. But in the dream it was divided into teams and there was a giant cannon which wasn’t in the game but they were in the dream and they were pixilated so it looked like someone had drawn them and everything interacted, like it didn’t in that particular game environment, like everything was very simple, I’d walk up to something and you know the switch would move, and it was basically 2 sides to a conflict and we were bombarding eachother. Like I had all the powers of the character like I could jump really high and I could switch guns and shoot things, and it was rewarding.”

Significant Differences from Male Norms

Dreams with at leastone instance: Fewer friendliness (2% vs 38%, p<0.000)

Fewer sexuality (0% vs 12%, p<0.000)

Fewer good fortunes (0% vs 6%, p<0.000)

Similarities with Male Norms

Success Failure Striving Family members

Conclusion More negative social/emotional (n=7) than positive elements (n=4)

Most no differences in scales

Theoretical Implications

Emotional Regulation - Negative emotion (self-negativity) - Positive emotion (more familiar characters and fewer misfortunes) Evolutionary theories of threat

prevalence (Revonsuo & Valli, 2000)

Practice for waking life (Bulkeley, 2004)

THE END

References

Bulkeley, Kelly (2004). Dreaming is play II: Revonsuo’s threat simulation theory in

Ludic context. Sleep and Hypnosis, 6(3), 119-129.

 Domhoff, G. W. (1996). Finding meaning in

dreams: A quantative approach. New York:Plenum Press.  Domhoff, G.W. (2007, May). Retrieved June 15,

2007, fromhttp://www.dreamresearch.net/.

Subscale Interview series

Male Norms

p vs.males

N for Inter-views

N for Male Norms

Characters  

Male/Female Percent 67% 67% .937 45 873

Familiarity Percent 58% 45% * .026 81 1108

Friends Percent 16% 31% ** .002 81 1108

Family Percent 15% 12% .429 81 1108

Dead & Imaginary Percent

21% 00% ** .000 92 1180

Animal Percent 04% 06% .485 92 1180

Social Interaction Percents  

Aggression/Friendliness Percent

100% 59% ** .000 25 546

Aggressor Percent 33% 40% .598 18 253

Physical Aggression Percent

86% 50% ** .000 35 402

Subscale Interview series

Male Norms

p vs.males

N for Interviews

N for Male Norms

Settings  

Indoor Setting Percent 47% 48% .805 43 586

Familiar Setting Percent

56% 62% .560 32 320

Self-Concept Percents  

Self-Negativity Percent 84% 65% * .028 25 809

Bodily Misfortunes Percent

00% 29% * .024 4 205

Negative Emotions Percent

81% 80% .941 16 282

Dreamer-Involved Success Percent

40% 51% .496 10 141

Torso/Anatomy Percent

27% 31% .720 22 246

Subscale Interview series

Male Norms

p vs.males

N for Inter-views

N for Male Norms

Dreams with at Least One:  

Aggression 32% 47% * .023 57 500

Friendliness 02% 38% ** .000 57 500

Sexuality 00% 12% ** .000 57 500

Misfortune 07% 36% ** .000 57 500

Good Fortune 00% 06% ** .000 57 500

Success 09% 15% .165 57 500

Failure 09% 15% .142 57 500

Striving 18% 27% .102 57 500