The Central Image (CI) in Recent Dreams, Dreams That Stand out, and Earliest Dreams: Relationship to Boundaries

Abstract

The CI (Central Image or Contextualizing Image) can be considered the emotional center of the dream. The CI can sometimes be seen as picturing the emotion behind the dream—as in the paradigmatic “Tidal Wave Dream.” The CI is the best-remembered part of the dream. CI Intensity, rated on a reliable scale, is higher after trauma, after 9/11/01, and in dreams considered “important” by the dreamer. In this study we examined CI Intensity, as well as “dream-likeness” and “bizarreness,” of recent dreams, dreams that stand out, and earliest dreams in 40 students, 20 who scored very “thick” and 20 who scored very “thin” on the short form of the Boundary Questionnaire. Results showed, first of all, that for the group as a whole, CI Intensity was rated higher in dreams that stand out, and in earliest dreams, than in recent dreams. “Thin” students had higher CI Intensity than “thick” students in recent dreams and dreams that stand out, but not in earliest dreams. In “dreams that stand out,” there was a significant positive correlation between CI Intensity and how long ago the dream had occurred. The same was true for bizarreness but not for dreamlikeness. There was a significant interaction between thick versus thin boundaries and earliest versus recent dreams: in the earliest dreams (generally reported as occurring at age 5–7) thick and thin students had equal CI Intensity, but in recent dreams (experienced usually at age 18–20) there was a great difference between the groups, thin students having a higher CI Intensity. This is consistent with the view that all children may start with fairly thin boundaries, but that some undergo more change (”thickening“) than others between age 6 and 18.

Dreaming and insight

“…We thank an anonymous reviewer for noting that this finding is similar to Hartmann's work on the Central Image, or Contextualizing Image in dreams, in which it is the quality or aptness of the text that refers to waking life that is important, rather than necessarily the quantity of text (Hartmann et al, 2001a,b; Hartmann and Kunzendorf, 2005-2006). …”

“…Although only 14.4% of dream report text was identified as being derived from specific waking life experiences, it may be that such a small or minimal amount of text is sufficient to represent a metaphor or important connection to waking life. We thank an anonymous reviewer for noting that this finding is similar to Hartmann's work on the Central Image, or Contextualizing Image in dreams, in which it is the quality or aptness of the text that refers to waking life that is important, rather than necessarily the quantity of text (Hartmann et al, 2001a , b ; Hartmann and Kunzendorf, 2005-2006 ).…”

Minding the Dreamer Within: An Experimental Study on the Effects of Enhanced Dream Recall on Creative Thinking

“…This version is considered to be prohibitively long for many experimental study designs (Harrison & Singer, 2013), and other researchers have developed shorter versions. The BQ-18 is an eighteen-item version used in many studies (e.g., Hartmann & Kunsendorf, 2005). The 18 items were selected based on their face validity and high correlation with the BQ total score.…”

Dreaming About Love and Danger: A Holistic Bioevolutionary Perspective on Personality, Politics, and Culture

“…Neuroticism is related to dream intensity and complexity (Lang and O'Connor ; Sand and Levin ). The dreams of persons with “thin boundaries” tend to be more intense, vivid, emotional, and nightmarelike (Hartmann and Kunzendorf –2006). Persons with thin boundaries score higher on measures of psychopathology and are more likely to be insecurely attached (Zborowski et al 2003–).…”