Are one's dreams related to one's personality? Do people who are high in creative ability have different dreams from people who are low in creative ability? Sylvia, Clark, and Monroe (1978) investigated the relationship between creative ability and certain characteristics of dream reports. They found that people who were high in creative ability had dreams that were rated, on the average, as more unique than the dreams of people who were low in creative ability. Also, the dreams of people high in creative ability were found to have more elements, on the average, of external objects and internal activity than the dreams of people low in creative ability. External objects was a category in which there was physical objects reported. Internal activity was a category involving statements concerning emotional awareness or cognition. (1)
These findings suggest that creative ability is related to the characteristics and content of dreams. It is possible that one's personality has an influence on what one dreams.
Notes
1. See their article for information on other findings.
References
Sylvia, W. H., Clark, P. H., & Monroe, L. J. (1978)
Dream reports of subjects high and low in creative
ability. The Journal of General Psychology, 99, 205-
211.