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Dream Motif Scale

Calvin Kai-Ching Yu

Hong Kong Shue Yan University

The primary purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive assess-ment tool for measuring the incidence of dream motifs by revising someoriginal items of the Dream Themes Inventory and incorporating newthemes, such as those concerning ones relation to surrounding objects. Theoriginal scales for assessing the predispositions that are thought to modulatethe narrative content of dreams were revised with consideration of bothclassical reliability and latent trait statistics. The new instrument, DreamMotif Scale, is distinguished by its good psychometric properties and profi-

ciency in capturing the motifs experienced by over 90% of participants withdream recall in the night prior to taking part in this study. In addition, thedream prevalence, frequency, and recurrence profiles replicated in this study

provide further substance to the universality, recurrence, and constancy oftypical dream themes, and have important implications for the sleep-protec-tion and adaptation functions of dreaming.

Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis, dreams of convenience, item analysis, object-relation, typical dreams

Dream content is perhaps less elusive than what one might expect. Certain

themes are dreamed alike by most people, such as those involving flying or falling,missing a train, and the death of loved ones. In contrast to the belief that theconscious experience of dreaming is a kind of random epiphenomenon resultingfrom a bewildering array of information processing, a series of investigations by Yu(2008a, 2008c, 2009a, 2009b, 2010a, 2010d, 2011a) demonstrated that these typicalthemes occur far more frequently than other dream themes. For instance, theprevalence rates of the themes school, teachers, studying and searching for acertain place are almost 30 times more than that of theme someone having anabortion (Yu, 2010d). A similar profile for the relative prevalence and frequencyrates of dream themes has been replicated across several separate samples (Yu,

2008a, 2009b, 2010d, 2011a).These typical dream themes are not only shared by a majority of people, butalso tend to recur within an individual (Yu, 2008a, 2010d, 2011a). Moreover, themost frequent dream themesschool, teachers, studying, falling, and beingchased or pursuedwere found to be the earliest dream themes experienced by

This article was published Online First November 21, 2011.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Calvin Kai-Ching Yu, Department

of Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, 10 Wai Tsui Crescent, Braemar HillRoad, North Point, Hong Kong. E-mail: [email protected]

18Dreaming 2011 American Psychological Association2012, Vol. 22, No. 1, 18 52 1053-0797/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0026171


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the participants in Yus studies (2008a, 2011a). The mean age in years for partici-pants earliest recalled themes was eight. In other words, many people not onlybegin experiencing certain specific dream themes in childhood, but also experiencethem recurrently across their developmental stages.

Even more strikingly, typical dreams cross cultural boundaries, with the rank-ordered prevalence rates of typical dream themes for different ethnic groups closelyresembling each other (Yu, 2008a, 2011a). Specifically, the most prevalent dreamthemes for the Chinese sample were school, teachers, studying, being chased orpursued, falling, and arriving too late. This was also true for Nielsen et al.s(2003) Canadian sample and the German sample of Schredl, Ciric, Gtz, andWittmann (2004). The themes a person now alive as dead and flying or soaringthrough the air were ranked highly in a similar way for the three ethnic groups. Onthe other hand, someone having an abortion and being an object were the leastprevalent dream themes for all three ethnic groups.

The remarkable constancy of both prevalence and recurrence of typical

dreams across times and cultures suggests that the formation of dream narratives isregularly biased toward a specific group of themes and is operated by highly stablemechanisms and predispositions. Indeed, many motifs of dream mentations, such ashaving superior knowledge or mental ability and being chased or pursued, beara resemblance to classic delusional themes long recognized in psychosis. Con-versely, virtually all types of delusions and paranoid suspiciousnessincludinggrandiose, persecutory, religious, somatic, jealous, and erotomanic delusionsprevail in dreams (Yu, 2009a, 2009b, 2010d).

Building upon replicated results of factor analyses using various combinationsof the items from his Dream Themes Inventory (DTI), Yu (2009a, 2009b, 2010d)

developed a delusion-based model that classifies prevalent dream themes into thecategories of Grandiosity, Persecution, and Ego Ideal. Dream themes subsumedunder the first category, such as having a superior status and becoming a bigwheel or celebrity, are prototypes of a grandiose delusion. Dream themes placedin the second category, such as being tracked and some people plotting againstyou, can be largely compared with those of persecutory delusions. The Ego Idealcategory does not directly involve classic psychotic delusions but is concerned withissues surrounding dreamers falling short of social expectations and paranoidsuspiciousness.

As indicated by the high internal consistencies, the scales formed by the threegroups of dream themes can serve as reliable measures for evaluating the delusional

inclinations found during the dream state. Besides the three major scales, Yu(2010a, 2010d) also devised 10 minor scales to supplement the assessment of theintrinsic predispositions that are thought to modulate dream content: Paranoia,Delusion, Erotomania, Appetite-Instinct, Sensorimotor Excitement, Sex, FightingSymbolism, Oral Symbolism, Animal Symbolism, and Classic Symbolism.

These scales have been demonstrated to be useful for detecting hystericalconversion and dissociation, even when dream intensity, neuroticism, psychologicalboundaries, and defense mechanismsthe key factors associated with hysteriaare taken into consideration (Yu, 2011b). Furthermore, they are congruent with thefunctional attributes of the neural network of dreaming constituted by the mesolim-

bic-dopaminergic pathway, the ventromesial-orbitofrontal cortex, and the infer-omesial temporal-limbic pathway (see Yu, 2001a, 2001b, 2003, 2006a, 2006b, 2007a

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for a review of the neural substrates of dreaming, and Yu, 2010d, 2011b for theneuropsychological basis of thematic content of dreams). For example, the Gran-diosity category can be seen to correspond with the mesolimbic-dopaminergicsystem in that chemically modulating this region of the brain can induce psychosis-

like euphoria and inflated self-worth (Vollenweider, Vontobel, ye, Hell, & Leen-ders, 2000).Since the principles involved in the formation of dream images are now better

recognized, it is possible to modify some items in the dream list of the DTI toencompass even more variants of typical themes. For example, elaborating on thetheme of finding money into finding money, winning a lottery, or becomingrich can probably better assimilate the appetitive and grandiose nature of dream-ing, thus increasing the likelihood of capturing the thematic content dreamed byrespondents. In a similar vein, motifs that reflect the major dream predispositionsand therefore are expected to be shared by many people can be added to expandthe scope of the DTI dream list.

Some prevalent dream themes found by Yu (2009a, 2009b, 2010d) are con-cerned with ones relation to surrounding objects. The most glaring examples ofthese are themes such as a person now alive as dead and a person now dead asalive, which were considered to be the most important dream themes by theparticipants in Yus (2008a, 2011a) samples. According to Yu (2009b), dreamersrelive and rewrite their internal working model of object-relations through thedynamic interplay of breaking up and repairing their relationships with the impor-tant objects. Such a process can be symbolically represented by the death andresurrection of an object in dreams. If object-relation plays such a pivotal part in thedream life, the attachment issue can perhaps be equally dealt with by directly

dreaming of being abandoned and encountering a significant other. Consideringalso the regressive nature of dreaming (Yu, 2001a, 2003, 2006b), it can be predictedthat motifs featuring the revival of previous relationships, such as reuniting with along-lost schoolmate, will emerge in dreams.

Freud (1900, 1940) postulated that dreaming serves the purpose of safeguard-ing sleep continuation. He believed that dreams of convenience or dreams ofimpatience including dreaming about eating or drinking, urinating, waking upand washing oneself, and being on the way to work or schoollend support to histheory. According to Freud, these particular dream images protect sleep frominterruption by presenting needs and obligations as fulfilled such that the sleeper nolonger needs to wake up to satisfy them. Given that dreams of convenience might

reveal the fundamental function of dreaming, it is worth developing some items forinvestigating the incidence of these themes. This occurs despite the fact that Freudsconceptualization of dreams as a guardian of sleep is only one of the existinghypotheses about the function of dreaming. Revonsuos evolutionary theory (2000),for instance, postulated that the primary function of dreaming is to simulatethreatening waking events and rehearse threat perception and avoidance, thusenhancing survival capacities. According to Revonsuo, the threats that ancientpeople encountered are overrepresented in dreams, since dreaming is a copingmaneuver inherited from ancient times.

Yus dream scales are substantiated by the overall high internal reliability and

item-scale correlation indices. However, these statistical tests are founded on theclassical test theory, which assumes any variations in responding to an item are due

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to the trait or ability of the respondents but not to the difficulty level of the item.It is generally agreed that the item response model, also called the latent traitmodel, is superior to the classical test model in that it separates the effects of personand item parameters when computing the probability of a keyed response to an

item. Specifically, item response analysis can provide information on item difficul-ties and how effective an item is to discriminate between people who are strong incertain ability or trait and those who are not. In a similar vein, although thethree-factor delusional model has been repeatedly replicated by exploratory factoranalyses in Yus (2009a, 2009b, 2010d) previous studies, this measurement modelremains to be confirmed by statistical procedures that are specifically designed toassess a models goodness of fit.

The primary purpose of this study was to develop a more comprehensiveassessment tool for measuring the incidence of dream motifs by revising the DTI.In addition to fine-tuning and eliminating some DTI items in accordance with thecharacteristics of dream formation discovered in Yus previous studies, new items

were designed to include potentially prevalent and significant dream themes thathave not been covered in the DTI (e.g., aspects of Freuds dream theory). Toimprove the psychometric quality of the scales, the items were selected by consid-ering both classical reliability and latent trait statistics, the factorial validity of thenew instrument was examined by confirmatory factor analyses, and the convergentand discriminant validity of the refined scales were assessed by testing their asso-ciations with personality dimensions. Moreover, participants in the present studywere asked to indicate if they had dreamed during the previous night any of thethemes in the revised dream list. This can shed further light on the constancy oftypical dream themes.

METHOD

Participants

The sample of 1186 participants contained 398 (33.6%) males and 788 (66.4%)females. The mean age was 19.28 (SD 1.220, range 1725). Almost allparticipants completed upper-secondary school education in Hong Kong. Theywere recruited on the university admission days. Participation was voluntary and

without payment.

Instruments

The Dream Motif Scale (DMS), which is the revised version of the DTI, wasadministered to all 1186 participants. In addition, 500 participants, 179 (35.8%)males and 321 (64.2%) females, were randomly selected from the entire sample;they were required to fill out the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa &McCrae, 1985). The NEO-FFI Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness scales

were used to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of the DMS on thegrounds that these three personal traits are distinguished by their stable, differential



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associations and dissociations with dream variables (see Yu, 2006c, 2007b, 2008b,2010b, 2010c, for details).

Dream Motif Scale

The DMS contains a list of 110 dream themes. Participants indicated theirlifetime frequency with which they dreamed each theme on a 5-point scale (0 never or unsure; 1 once or twice in a lifetime; 2 three times or more in a lifetime,but not regularly; 3 several times a year, but not each month; 4 once a month ormore often). A sum of percentages of participants choosing responses 1 to 4represents the prevalence rate for a dream theme; that is, how widespread a dreamtheme is experienced by participants. A sum of percentages of participants whochoose responses 2 to 4 represents a recurrence rate. A sum of percentages ofparticipants choosing responses 3 or 4 corresponds to a regularity rate. A conser-

vative approach was taken when quantifying participants frequency of dreamingeach theme; participants were requested to estimate their lifetime frequency only ifthey remembered having dreamed the theme.

After rating the frequency of each dream theme, participants identified whichitems in the list were the most frequent, the earliest, and the most important/meaningful dream themes that they experienced. In addition, participants wererequired to indicate whether any themes in the list occurred in their dreams lastnight if they could recall the main content of those dreams.

The DMS comprises 92 items adopted from the DTI and 18 newly developedthemes. Twenty-five of the 92 DTI items were revised to improve the clarity of the

expression, encompass the variants of the theme, and elaborate the descriptionbased on the present authors theoretical understanding of dreaming. For instance,Themes 9, snakes, 10, finding money, and 18, your teeth falling out/losing yourteeth were expanded into dragons, tortoises, or snakes, finding money, winninga lottery, or becoming rich, and your teeth falling out, losing your teeth, or yourteeth rotting, respectively. Similarly, Theme 50, being a child again was changedto being a child or the previous self again to include the dream scene of regressingto previous times other than childhood.

The 18 new items are listed as follows: five object-relation themes (Items 70,being abandoned, 83 reuniting with a long-lost fellow or childhood play-mate, 84 reuniting with a long-lost schoolmate, 85 reuniting with someone that

you have not seen for a long time [other than fellows, childhood playmates, andschoolmates], and 103 encountering the person that you like or you want to see),three convenient dreaming themes (Items 107 seeing yourself sleeping, 108waking from sleep, and 109 rolling out of bed, cleaning up, going to school orwork), three blaming themes (Items 67 blaming yourself, 101 flying into a rage,getting into a temper, or cursing, and 106 blaming others for blaming youwrongly), two performance anxiety themes (Items 75 failing or performing verybadly in front of others [e.g., teachers, classmates, bosses, colleagues, etc.] and 102being absent from classes or examinations), two bodily movement themes(Items 65 performing a lot of difficult actions to get through a series of hurdle as

if you were a stunt man and 94 feeling dog-tired, lack of strength in the wholebody, and very difficult to movebut you have not stopped, and keep walking very

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hard), a set of phallic symbols (Item 68 pillars, rods, staffs, or stick-shapedthings) a persecutory theme (Item 93 encountering a devil in some form), andan appetitive theme, (Item 82 searching for something).

NEO-Five-Factor Inventory

The present study employed the NEO-FFI Neuroticism, Extraversion, andOpenness scales (Costa & McCrae, 1985) to assess participants personality dimen-sions. Each NEO-FFI scale is composed of 12 items.

RESULTS

Prevalence, Recurrence, and Regularity Rates of 110 Dream Themes

Among the 110 themes in the DMS list, 51 were dreamed by the majority of theparticipants (see Table 1). The prevalence rates of the newly developed items werehigh; 14 of the 18 new items showed a prevalence rate of over 50%. The remainingfour new themes were also dreamed by a considerable number of participants:Items 70 (being abandoned) (47.0%), 93 (encountering a devil in some form)(45.3%), 106 (blaming others for blaming you wrongly) (43.3%), and 68 (pillars,rods, staffs, or stick-shaped things) (38.9%). Moreover, four of the top 10 preva-lent themes were new items. The object-relation Themes 103 (encountering theperson that you like or you want to see), 84 (reuniting with a long-lost school-

mate), and 83 (reuniting with a long-lost fellow or childhood playmate) rankedsecond, third, and 11th, respectively.Those prevalent themes also tended to be recurrent and regular themes.

Themes 31 (school, teachers, and studying) and 103 (encountering the personthat you like or you want to see) topped the three rank-ordered incidence lists. Sixof the 10 most prevalent dreams showed a recurrence rate of over 50%. Beingblamed (Item 61) was more common than blaming others (Items 62 and 101), whichwas in turn more likely to happen than blaming oneself (Item 67). In a similar vein,Theme 109 (rolling out of bed, cleaning up, going to school or work) occurredmore frequently than Themes 108 (waking from sleep) and 107 (seeing yourselfsleeping).

Themes Dreamed in the Preceding Night

Of the 1186 participants in the sample, 44.8% claimed that they did not dreamlast night, and 16.4% were not sure whether they dreamed. Of the remaining 455participants who reported having dreamed last night, 303 (66.6%) participantsforgot the details of their dreams, while 152 (33.4%) participants remembered themain content of their dreams. The themes dreamed by 143 (94.1%) participants ofthe latter group with recalled content could be captured by the DMS list, with a

total of 71 themes being identified (see Table 2). Consistent with the findings inTable 1, Items 103 (encountering the person that you like or you want to see)



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Tab

le

1.Prevalence,Recurrence,andR

egularityRatesof110DreamThem

es(n

1186)

Item

no.

Dreamtheme

Prevalence

Recurrence

Regularity

%

Rank

%

Rank

%

Rank

31

School,teachers,andstudying

95.2

1

79.7

1

51.9

1

103

Encounteringthepersonthatyoulikeoryouwanttosee

93.6

2

74.3

2

43.8

2

1

Beingchasedorpursued,bu

tnotphysicallyinjured

88.3

3

51.4

5

24.2

5

61

Beingblamedorpunished

84.7

4

48.7

7

17.4

12

12

Falling

83.1

5

59.4

3

34.5

3

109

Rollingoutofbed,cleaning

up,goingtoschoolorwork

83.0

6

55.1

4

26.2

4

84

Reunitingwithalong-lostschoolmate

82.3

7

43.3

11

17.0

13

81

Searchingforacertainplace

82.2

8

51.1

6

22.1

6

82

Searchingforsomething

79.3

9

46.9

9

21.6

7

38

Failinganexamination

78.3

10

47.7

8

18.2

11

83

Reunitingwithalong-lostfelloworchildhoodplaymate

74.7

11

41.9

13

15.2

16

6

Arrivingtoolate,e.g.,missingatrain,abus,etc.

74.1

12

41.2

14

19.1

9

91

Rescuingsomebody

73.7

13

38.7

15

12.6

21

75

Failingorperformingveryb

adlyinfrontofothers(e.g.,teachers,classmates,bosses,colleagues,etc.)

72.7

14

37.1

18

12.8

20

11

Flying,soaring,orfloatingthroughtheair

72.2

15

43.7

10

20.4

8

5

Eatingdeliciousfoods

71.8

16

42.1

12

19.1

9

7

Swimmingorvacationing

69.9

17

38.2

16

15.3

15

50

Beingachildorthepreviou

sselfagain

69.2

18

36.8

19

11.3

24

41

Beinginamovie,fiction,or

drama

67.9

19

34.1

22

14.8

18

105

Eatingcandies,ice-cream,orsweetmeat(e.g.,lollipop,ChupaC

hups,chocolate,icepop,cake,etc.)

67.9

19

36.1

20

16.5

14

69

Livinginaverybighouse

66.7

21

37.7

17

14.2

19

62

Blamingothersfordoingsomethingwrongly/makingtroubles/committingmistakes

64.9

22

27.6

29

9.0

35

94

Feelingdog-tired,lackofstrengthinthewholebody,andverydifficulttomovebutyouhavenot

stopped,andkeepwalkingveryhard

64.7

23

31.3

23

11.3

24

20

Havingmagicalpowers(oth

erthanflying,soaring,orfloatingthroughtheair)

64.5

24

35.6

21

15.1

17

36

Apersonnowaliveasdead

64.5

24

26.1

35

8.2

37

101

Flyingintoarage,gettingin

toatemper,orcursing

62.5

26

26.6

33

9.2

33

108

Wakingfromsleep

62.0

27

30.8

24

12.6

21

85

Reunitingwithsomeonetha

tyouhavenotseenforalongtime

(otherthanfellows,childhood

playmates,andschoolmates)

60.8

28

28.0

28

10.7

27

74

Dogs

59.9

29

29.8

25

10.6

28

92

Hittingsomethingorsomeone

59.0

30

24.6

40

7.7

43

30

Beingunabletofind,orembarrassedaboutusing,atoilet

58.5

31

28.4

27

9.5

32

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Tabl

e

1.(continued)

Item

no.

Dreamtheme

Prevalence

Recurrence

Regularity

%

Rank

%

Rank

%

Rank

16

Havingsuperiorknowledge

ormentalability

57.4

32

26.9

32

8.6

36

63

Enteringorpassingthrough

anarrowspace

57.2

33

25.7

37

7.9

42

37

Beingonthevergeoffalling

57.1

34

27.0

30

10.1

29

107

Seeingyourselfsleeping

56.5

35

26.1

35

10.0

30

65

Performingalotofdifficult

actionstogetthroughaseriesofhurdleasifyouwereastuntman

55.9

36

28.5

26

11.8

23

32

Sexualexperiences

55.7

37

25.1

39

9.2

33

77

Havingasuperiorstatus

55.6

38

26.2

34

8.0

40

4

Beingfrozenwithfright

55.5

39

20.9

49

7.4

45

24

Insect,spiders,worms,orawormlikething(e.g.,earthworm,ca

terpillar,etc.)

55.0

40

23.7

42

6.4

50

95

Ballsorgloboid

55.0

40

25.4

38

8.1

39

3

Tryingagainandagaintodosomething

54.8

42

27.0

30

10.9

26

67

Blamingyourself

54.6

43

23.1

44

7.7

43

104

Birds

51.6

44

18.9

53

6.1

52

35

Apersonnowdeadasalive

51.4

45

22.2

48

7.4

45

10

Findingmoney,winningalo

ttery,orbecomingrich

51.3

46

17.7

57

5.5

58

57

Playingaplucked-stringinstrumentorananalogousthing(e.g.,

violin,guitar,Chineselute,ancient

Chinesezither,etc.)

51.0

47

22.5

46

7.0

48

71

Somepeoplearespyingonortalkingaboutyou

50.4

48

20.7

50

5.7

56

66

Becomingabigwheelorcelebrity

50.4

48

23.3

43

8.0

40

102

Beingabsentfromclassesorexaminations

50.3

50

23.1

44

6.4

50

73

Havingthoughtsorbeliefsthatothersdonothave

50.2

51

24.6

40

9.7

31

96

Comingintocontactwithabigwheelorcelebrity

49.6

52

22.5

46

6.5

49

2

Beingphysicallyattacked(e

.g.,beaten,stabbed,raped,etc.)

49.5

53

17.0

60

7.2

47

34

Fire

49.1

54

14.3

70

3.0

83

76

Othersnotgivingyouprope

rcreditforyourachievements

48.3

55

19.1

52

5.1

59

19

Seeingyourselfinamirror

47.4

56

17.6

58

5.9

53

70

Beingabandoned

47.0

57

18.2

56

4.8

63

40

Ferociousbeasts

46.9

58

18.3

55

4.9

60

93

Encounteringadevilinsom

eform

45.3

59

18.4

54

5.9

53

59

Beingpersecuted

45.2

60

15.9

65

4.4

68

87

Knives,swords,ordaggers

44.6

61

17.1

59

4.7

64

97

Havingaloveaffairwithabigwheelorcelebrity

44.4

62

19.7

51

5.9

53

56

Somepeopleplottingagains

tyou

44.2

63

14.9

67

3.5

78

(table

continues)



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Tabl

e

1.(continued)

Item

no.

Dreamtheme

Prevalence

Recurrence

Regularity

%

Rank

%

Rank

%

Rank

99

Caves,caverns,orgrottoes

43.3

64

14.3

70

2.6

86

106

Blamingothersforblaming

youwrongly

43.3

64

16.8

61

4.2

72

79

Committingaseriouscrime

orblunder(otherthanmurder)

42.3

66

15.4

66

4.3

70

33

Losingcontrolofavehicle(e.g.,car,aircraft,etc.)

41.4

67

13.7

72

3.6

77

39

Beingsmothered,unableto

breathe

40.9

68

16.1

64

4.9

60

72

Beingtracked

40.2

69

13.2

74

2.5

89

64

Feelingthatmostpeoplecannotbetrusted

39.1

70

12.6

77

4.4

68

18

Yourteethfallingout,losingyourteeth,oryourteethrotting

39.0

71

16.2

63

8.2

37

68

Pillars,rods,staffs,orstick-shapedthings

38.9

72

14.8

68

4.0

75

53

Discoveringanewroomathome

38.1

73

16.5

62

5.6

57

88

Gunsorcannons

37.6

74

12.7

76

4.6

65

9

Dragons,tortoises,orsnakes

37.3

75

11.1

83

3.7

76

90

Shootingorremoteattacks(e.g.,firingagun,shootinganarrow

,vacuumsurgefist,qigongattacks,

etc.)

37.2

76

14.6

69

4.1

73

15

Beingtied,unabletomove

35.4

77

12.2

79

4.1

73

29

Vividlysensing(butnotnec

essarilyseeingorhearing)apresenceintheroom

35.4

77

13.2

74

4.3

70

27

Beingkilled

35.3

79

10.5

86

2.8

84

48

Travelingtoanotherplanet

orvisitingadifferentpartoftheun

iverse

35.3

80

11.0

84

3.1

82

110

Handtools(e.g.,hammer,screwdriver,tinopener,etc.)

35.3

80

13.4

73

4.6

65

80

Somethingseriouslywrongwithyourbody

33.6

82

11.5

81

2.7

85

58

Blowingawindinstrumentoraflute-shapedobject(e.g.,clarinet,trumpet,verticalbambooflute,

harmonica,etc.)

32.2

83

11.5

81

2.6

86

13

Beinginappropriatelydressed

31.9

84

12.4

78

4.9

60

52

Encounteringadeityinsom

eform

31.9

84

9.0

91

2.3

91

47

Seeingextra-terrestrials

31.2

86

7.6

95

1.7

95

51

Seeinganangel

30.9

87

9.9

87

2.5

89

17

Creatureswithbothhuman

andanimalcharacteristics

30.8

88

11.7

80

4.5

67

43

Lunaticorinsanepeople

30.4

89

6.8

96

1.7

95

78

Peoplewantingtotakeadva

ntageofyou

29.6

90

7.8

94

1.6

98

100

Holesorcrevices

29.1

91

8.8

92

1.3

100

21

Floodsortidalwaves

28.8

92

6.2

98

2.0

93

45

Seeingafaceveryclosetoy

ou

28.7

93

9.3

90

2.6

86

86

Spouseorloverhavingextramaritalrelationsorbeingunfaithfu

l

28.6

94

11.0

84

3.5

78

26 Yu


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Tabl

e

1.(continued)

Item

no.

Dreamtheme

Prevalence

Recurrence

Regularity

%

Rank

%

Rank

%

Rank

2

8

Seeingyourselfasdead

28.2

95

8.2

93

2.3

91

2

2

Tornadoesorstrongwinds

27.9

96

4.8

104

0.9

103

1

4

Beingnude

27.3

97

9.4

89

3.5

78

4

4

Beinghalfawakeandparalyzedinbed

26.2

98

9.9

87

3.2

81

4

2

Killingsomeone

25.0

99

6.3

97

1.9

94

4

6

SeeingaUFO

24.4

100

5.7

101

1.2

101

4

9

Beingananimal

22.9

101

6.2

98

0.8

105

2

3

Earthquakes

22.6

102

4.8

104

0.5

109

8

Beinglockedup

20.8

103

4.7

106

0.8

105

5

4

Aflyingobjectcrashing(e.g

.,aircraft)

20.2

104

4.9

103

0.8

105

2

5

Beingamemberoftheoppositesex

19.0

105

5.0

102

1.6

98

9

8

Havingasexualrelationship

withabigwheelorcelebrity

17.1

106

5.9

100

1.7

95

2

6

Beinganobject(e.g.,tree,r

ock,etc.)

15.1

107

3.5

108

0.9

103

6

0

Becomingacertainformof

deity

13.4

108

4.6

107

1.1

102

8

9

Otherweapons

10.3

109

3.5

108

0.8

105

5

5

Someonehavinganabortion

5.4

110

0.8

110

0.2

110



11/35

Table

2.FrequenciesofDream

ThemesOccurringLastNight(n

143)

Item

no.

Dreamtheme

Frequency

Ranka

Prevalence

Recurrence

Regularity

103

Encounteringthepersonthatyoulikeoryouwanttosee

35

2

2

2

31

School,teachers,andstudying

28

1

1

1

84

Reunitingwithalong-lost

schoolmate

11

7

11

13

6

Arrivingtoolate,e.g.,missingatrain,abus,etc.

8

12

14

9

38

Failinganexamination

6

10

8

11

81

Searchingforacertainpla

ce

6

8

6

6

109

Rollingoutofbed,cleanin

gup,goingtoschoolorwork

6

6

4

4

1

Beingchasedorpursued,butnotphysicallyinjured

5

3

5

5

41

Beinginamovie,fiction,o

rdrama

5

19

22

18

82

Searchingforsomething

5

9

9

7

108

Wakingfromsleep

5

27

24

21

7

Swimmingorvacationing

4

17

16

15

11

Flying,soaring,orfloating

throughtheair

4

15

10

8

65

Performingalotofdifficultactionstogetthroughaseriesofhurdleasifyouwerea

stuntman

4

36

26

23

2

Beingphysicallyattacked(e.g.,beaten,stabbed,raped,etc.)

3

53

60

47

24

Insect,spiders,worms,orawormlikething(e.g.,earthworm,caterpillar,etc.)

3

40

42

50

30

Beingunabletofind,orem

barrassedaboutusing,atoilet

3

31

27

32

83

Reunitingwithalong-lost

felloworchildhoodplaymate

3

11

13

16

85

Reunitingwithsomeoneth

atyouhavenotseenforalongtim

e(otherthanfellows,

childhoodplaymates,andschoolmates)

3

28

28

27

105

Eatingcandies,ice-cream,

orsweetmeat(e.g.,lollipop,Chupa

Chups,chocolate,ice

pop,cake,etc.)

3

19

20

14

5

Eatingdeliciousfoods

2

16

12

9

12

Falling

2

5

3

3

14

Beingnude

2

97

89

78

17

Creatureswithbothhumanandanimalcharacteristics

2

88

80

67

18

Yourteethfallingout,losingyourteeth,oryourteethrotting

2

71

63

37

20

Havingmagicalpowers(otherthanflying,soaring,orfloating

throughtheair)

2

24

21

17

32

Sexualexperiences

2

37

39

33

36

Apersonnowaliveasdea

d

2

24

35

37

50

Beingachildortheprevio

usselfagain

2

18

19

24

28 Yu


12/35

Tabl

e

2.(continued)

Item

no.

Dreamtheme

Frequency

Ranka

Prevalence

Recurrence

Regularity

59

Beingpersecuted

2

60

65

68

61

Beingblamedorpunished

2

4

7

12

62

Blamingothersfordoings

omethingwrongly/makingtroubles

/committingmistakes

2

22

29

35

66

Becomingabigwheelorc

elebrity

2

48

43

40

70

Beingabandoned

2

57

56

63

73

Havingthoughtsorbeliefs

thatothersdonothave

2

51

40

31

74

Dogs

2

29

25

28

86

Spouseorloverhavingextramaritalrelationsorbeingunfaithful

2

94

84

78

94

Feelingdog-tired,lackofstrengthinthewholebody,andverydifficulttomove

butyouhavenotstoppe

d,andkeepwalkingveryhard

2

23

23

24

107

Seeingyourselfsleeping

2

35

35

30

4

Beingfrozenwithfright

1

39

49

45

9

Dragons,tortoises,orsnak

es

1

75

83

76

10

Findingmoney,winninga

lottery,orbecomingrich

1

46

57

58

16

Havingsuperiorknowledgeormentalability

1

32

32

36

21

Floodsortidalwaves

1

92

98

93

22

Tornadoesorstrongwinds

1

96

104

103

42

Killingsomeone

1

99

97

94

51

Seeinganangel

1

87

87

89

53

Discoveringanewroomathome

1

73

62

57

54

Aflyingobjectcrashing(e

.g.,aircraft)

1

104

103

105

56

Somepeopleplottingagainstyou

1

63

67

78

57

Playingaplucked-stringin

strumentorananalogousthing(e.g

.,violin,guitar,

Chineselute,ancientCh

inesezither,etc.)

1

47

46

48

64

Feelingthatmostpeoplec

annotbetrusted

1

70

77

68

67

Blamingyourself

1

43

44

43

69

Livinginaverybighouse

1

21

17

19

71

Somepeoplearespyingon

ortalkingaboutyou

1

48

50

56

72

Beingtracked

1

69

74

89

76

Othersnotgivingyoupropercreditforyourachievements

1

55

52

59

(table

continues)



13/35

Tabl

e

2.(continued)

Item

no.

Dreamtheme

Frequency

Ranka

Prevalence

Recurrence

Regularity

87

Knives,swords,ordaggers

1

61

59

64

88

Gunsorcannons

1

74

76

65

89

Otherweapons

1

109

108

105

90

Shootingorremoteattacks(e.g.,firingagun,shootinganarro

w,vacuumsurgefist,

qigongattacks,etc.)

1

76

69

73

91

Rescuingsomebody

1

13

15

21

92

Hittingsomethingorsome

one

1

30

40

43

93

Encounteringadevilinsomeform

1

59

54

53

96

Comingintocontactwithabigwheelorcelebrity

1

52

46

49

97

Havingaloveaffairwitha

bigwheelorcelebrity

1

62

51

53

99

Caves,caverns,orgrottoes

1

64

70

86

101

Flyingintoarage,getting

intoatemper,orcursing

1

26

33

33

104

Birds

1

44

53

52

106

Blamingothersforblamingyouwrongly

1

64

61

72

110

Handtools(e.g.,hammer,

screwdriver,tinopener,etc.)

1

80

73

65

a

Da

taextractedfromTable1.

30 Yu


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and 31 (school, teachers, and studying) were the two most often reported dreamthemes. Those themes that ranked high in the prevalence, recurrence, and regu-larity ratings were more commonly dreamed by the participants in the night priorto this research study. Among the top 32 prevalent dream themes shown in Table 1,

only one theme, 75 (failing or performing very badly in front of others [e.g.,teachers, classmates, bosses, colleagues, etc.]) had not been dreamed by theparticipants during the previous night.

The Most Frequent, Earliest Experienced, and Most Important/Meaningful

Dream Themes

The most frequent dream themes reported by the participants were 103(encountering the person that you like or you want to see) (28.7%), 31 (school,teachers, and studying) (22.8%), 12 (falling) (10.1%), and 109 (rolling out of

bed, cleaning up, going to school or work) (10.1%). The earliest experienceddream themes most often reported by the participants were 1 (being chased orpursued, but not physically injured) (12.7%), 31 (school, teachers, and studying)(10.5%), and 12 (falling) (9.7%). The mean age in years at which their earliestthemes were recalled was 8.02 4.547. The most important/meaningful dreamthemes reported by the participants were 103 (encountering the person that youlike or you want to see) (26.1%), 31 (school, teachers, and studying) (9.9%),and 35 (a person now dead as alive) (9.3%).

Item Analyses

In addition to the original seven items of the Paranoia scale, two newitems, 67 (blaming yourself) and 106 (blaming others for blaming youwrongly), which are germane to the issue were entered into the analyses. Allnine items were strongly correlated with the scale (see Table 3). Among the nineitems, Items 76 (others not giving you proper credit for your achievements)and 106 (blaming others for blaming you wrongly) most effectively discrim-inated between participants of different paranoid levels. By contrast, the dis-crimination indices for Items 73 (having thoughts or beliefs that others do nothave) and 80 (something seriously wrong with your body) were relatively

low, suggesting that these two items did not contribute much information fordifferentiating between high and low paranoia scorers. Furthermore, thesquared multiple correlations indicated that these two items contributed theleast to the internal consistency of the scale. After the removal of Items 73and 80, the alpha reliability coefficient dropped mildly from 0.877 to 0.870,which was still well above the conventional cutoff of 0.7.

Although all eight additional items for the Delusional scale exhibited bothadequate classical and logistic item analytical indices, only seven items were addedto the original 23 items to even out the number of items (see Table 4). All originaland new items for the Ego Ideal scale exhibited adequate indices except Item 18

(your teeth falling out, losing your teeth, or your teeth rotting), the item-scalecorrelation coefficient of which was below the conventional .30 level. The original



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Item 35 (a person now dead as alive) was removed because of its low indicesrelative to those of both the original and new items.

Some themessuch as 79 (committing a serious crime or blunder [other than

murder]) and 71 (some people are spying on or talking about you)loaded onboth the Ego Ideal and Persecution scales with adequate indices but were allottedto the Ego Ideal scale after considering the relative magnitudes of the indices andtheir face validity. Six new items with the highest corrected item-total correlation,squared multiple correlation, and discrimination values were appended to theoriginal 14 items to create a new 20-item Ego Ideal scale (see Table 5). Theresulting internal consistency indices for the Delusional and Ego Ideal scales werevery highthat is, 0.944 and 0.929, respectively.

Eight other existing scales were revised using similar procedures as depictedabove (see Tables 613). In addition, three new scalesUnusual Creature, Object-Relation, and Convenient Dreamingwere constructed by including a selection of

relevant themes (see Tables 1416). An inclusive approach was adopted; relevantthemes, even those only tangentially related to the construct that the scale isintended to measure, were entered into the analyses. All resulting Cronbachs alphareliability values were higher than those previously reported (Yu, 2010a, 2010d). Atotal of 11 DMS items were not allotted to any scales. The finalized version of theDMS is shown in the Appendix.

Item 18 (your teeth falling out, losing your teeth, or your teeth rotting) wasonly weakly correlated with the Ego Ideal, Grandiosity, Persecution, and Sensori-motor Excitement scales, but its correlation coefficients with the SensorimotorExcitement (r .286) and Ego Ideal scales (r.280) were mildly larger than its

correlations with the Persecution (r .264) and Grandiosity (r .216) scales.Item 30 (being unable to find, or embarrassed about using, a toilet) exhibited

Table 3.Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Paranoia Scale (n 1183)

Itemno. Dream themes

Classical Logistic

r r2 Difficulty Discrimination

Original items

62 Blaming others for doing somethingwrongly/ making troubles/ committingmistakes

.628 .420 .863 0.539 1.253

64 Feeling that most people cannot be trusted .641 .418 .862 0.350 1.10971 Some people are spying on or talking

about you.671 .458 .859 0.046 1.433

73 Having thoughts or beliefs that others donot havea

.517 .285 .875 0.042 0.038

76 Others not giving you proper credit foryour achievements

.679 .483 .858 0.005 3.000

78 People wanting to take advantage of you .650 .433 .863 0.630 1.49080 Something seriously wrong with your bodya .536 .290 .870 1.082 0.443

Additional items67 Blaming yourself .650 .425 .861 0.178 1.366

106 Blaming others for blaming you wrongly .650 .460 .861 0.114 2.760

Note. r Corrected item-total correlation;r2 Squared multiple correlation; Cronbachs if itemdeleted. The two items with the largest discrimination indices are bolded.a The item was removed in the finalized scale. for all nine items being included in the scale .877; for the finalized 7-item scale .870.

32 Yu


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moderate correlations with the Ego Ideal (r .473), Sensorimotor Excitement (r.446), Sex (r .369), and Convenient Dreaming (r .435) scales. Item 13 (being

inappropriately dressed) had a somewhat stronger correlation with the Ego Idealscale (r .516) than with the Sex scale (r .495), although the effect sizes of both

Table 4.Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Delusion Scale (n 1179)


Classical Logistic


Original items

16 Having superior knowledge or mental ability .512 .424 .943 0.359 0.74320 Having magical powers (other than flying,

soaring, or floating through the air).589 .448 .943 0.626 0.824

52 Encountering a deity in some form .546 .537 .943 0.701 0.83056 Some people plotting against you .603 .509 .942 0.185 0.89159 Being persecuted .581 .512 .942 0.150 0.86260 Becoming a certain form of deity .463 .376 .944 1.824 0.78461 Being blamed or punished .645 .538 .942 1.608 0.96462 Blaming others for doing something

wrongly/ making troubles/ committingmistakes

.647 .545 .942 0.539 1.189

64 Feeling that most people cannot be trusted .631 .479 .942 0.346 1.08166 Becoming a big wheel or celebrity .686 .588 .941 0.056 1.180

71 Some people are spying on or talking aboutyou .672 .517 .941 0.050 1.194

72 Being tracked .572 .433 .943 0.347 0.89273 Having thoughts or beliefs that others do

not have.576 .389 .943 0.051 0.752

76 Others not giving you proper credit for yourachievements

.666 .531 .942 0.013 1.393

77 Having a superior status .711 .629 .941 0.213 1.54378 People wanting to take advantage of you .658 .499 .942 0.629 1.41979 Committing a serious crime or blunder

(other than murder).639 .482 .942 0.232 1.103

80 Something seriously wrong with your body .557 .368 .943 0.607 0.89086 Spouse or lover having extramarital relations

or being unfaithful.392 .236 .944 1.103 0.569

91 Rescuing somebody .635 .487 .942 0.940 1.02896 Coming into contact with a big wheel or

celebrity.625 .504 .942 0.024 1.103

97 Having a love affair with a big wheel orcelebrity

.533 .512 .943 0.203 0.717

98 Having a sexual relationship with a bigwheel or celebrity

.437 .350 .944 1.643 0.696

Additional items43 Lunatic or insane people .525 .351 .943 0.796 0.78446 Seeing a UFOa .448 .458 .944 1.226 0.65147 Seeing extra-terrestrials .470 .484 .943 0.851 0.66451 Seeing an angel .502 .467 .943 0.801 0.74267 Blaming yourself .632 .482 .942 0.194 1.152

93 Encountering a devil in some form .541 .384 .943 0.164 0.711101 Flying into a rage, getting into a temper, orcursing

.594 .458 .942 0.515 0.898


Note. r Corrected item-total correlation;r2 Squared multiple correlation; Cronbachs if itemdeleted. The two items with the largest discrimination indices are bolded.a The item was removed in the finalized scale. for all items being included in the scale .944; forthe finalized 30-item scale .944.



17/35

correlations were large. On the other hand, Item 14 (being nude) was morerobustly correlated with the Sex scale (r .512) than with the Ego Ideal scale (r.418). Item 36 (a person now alive as dead) was more related to the Ego Ideal

(r .511) and Object-Relation (r .507) scales than to the Grandiosity scale (r.481).

Table 5.Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Ego Ideal Scale ( n 1172)

Item no. Dream themes

Classical Logistic


Original items

6 Arriving too late, e.g., missing a train, a bus,etc.

.531 .391 .942 1.041 0.738

13 Being inappropriately dressed .516 .382 .942 0.813 0.73630 Being unable to find, or embarrassed about

using, a toilet.473 .266 .942 0.354 0.649

31 School, teachers, and studying .524 .403 .942 2.605 0.86335 A person now dead as alivea .427 .218 .943 0.052 0.46436 A person now alive as dead .511 .305 .942 0.676 0.59138 Failing an examination .576 .448 .941 1.097 0.94161 Being blamed or punished .713 .580 .940 1.156 1.55862 Blaming others for doing something wrongly/

making troubles/ committing mistakes.678 .538 .940 0.425 1.535

64 Feeling that most people cannot be trusted .607 .463 .941 0.369 1.17471 Some people are spying on or talking about

you

.671 .513 .940 0.009 1.383

76 Others not giving you proper credit for yourachievements

.671 .543 .940 0.035 1.633

78 People wanting to take advantage of you .634 .474 .941 0.661 1.39680 Something seriously wrong with your body .560 .385 .942 0.619 0.93581 Searching for a certain place .667 .648 .940 1.197 1.118

Additional items3 Trying again and again to do somethinga .513 .302 .942 0.188 0.693

14 Being nudea .418 .319 .943 1.206 0.59118 Your teeth falling out, losing your teeth, or

your teeth rottinga.280 .138 .944 1.133 0.265

19 Seeing yourself in a mirrora .487 .268 .942 0.139 0.66733 Losing control of a vehicle (e.g., car, aircraft,

etc.)a.531 .312 .942 0.354 0.844

67 Blaming yourself .650 .486 .941 0.137 1.305

69 Living in a very big housea .612 .398 .941 0.568 1.02070 Being abandoneda .572 .424 .941 0.120 1.02872 Being trackeda .545 .384 .942 0.373 0.94975 Failing or performing very badly in front of

others (e.g., teachers, classmates, bosses,colleagues, etc.)

.735 .611 .940 0.645 1.687

79 Committing a serious crime or blunder(other than murder)

.638 .499 .941 0.255 1.191

82 Searching for something .692 .669 .940 0.967 1.32186 Spouse or lover having extramarital relations

or being unfaithfula.434 .285 .943 1.087 0.631

101 Flying into a rage, getting into a temper, orcursing

.636 .466 .941 0.393 1.157

102 Being absent from classes or examinationsa .596 .423 .941 0.006 0.815

103 Encountering the person that you like or youwant to seea .513 .329 .942 2.965 0.622



34 Yu


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Confirmatory Factor Analyses

Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the goodness of fit ofthe delusional model formed by the latent constructs Ego Ideal, Grandiosity,and Persecution. The initial model was set up using the 60 delusional dreamthemes of the Ego Ideal, Grandiosity, and Persecution scales. Each of the 60delusional dream themes was mapped onto oneand only onecorrespondinglatent construct based on the item analyses reported above. The three latentconstructs were specified to load on the upper order construct Delusion. Thediagrammatical representation of the model is shown in Figure 1. Given that

only four latent constructs were included in the model to explain the responsesto the 60 items, the absolute fit indices were reasonable, 2(1707) 9612.993,

Table 6. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Grandiosity Scale (n 1180)


Classical Logistic


Original items

16 Having superior knowledge or mentalability

.578 .437 .910 0.252 1.156

20 Having magical powers (other than flying,soaring, or floating through the air)

.645 .467 .909 0.483 1.178

32 Sexual experiences .435 .326 .913 0.309 0.52641 Being in a movie, fiction, or drama .605 .412 .910 0.700 0.90550 Being a child or the previous self again .549 .350 .911 0.847 0.74152 Encountering a deity in some form .567 .519 .911 0.667 0.95560 Becoming a certain form of deity .469 .349 .913 1.736 0.86866 Becoming a big wheel or celebrity .709 .587 .907 0.016 1.80169 Living in a very big house .640 .454 .909 0.567 1.18673 Having thoughts or beliefs that others do

not have.567 .366 .910 0.024 0.852

77 Having a superior status .711 .611 .907

0.144 2.269


celebrity.619 .489 .909 0.004 1.203


.571 .506 .910 0.202 0.886


.472 .405 .912 1.518 0.809

Additional items10 Finding money, winning a lottery, or

becoming rich.550 .352 .911 0.055 0.903

18 Your teeth falling out, losing your teeth,or your teeth rottinga

.216 .084 .918 1.323 0.199

35 A person now dead as alivea .411 .223 .914 0.107 0.400

36 A person now alive as deada

.481 .265 .912 0.767 0.55346 Seeing a UFO .478 .455 .912 1.109 0.78447 Seeing extra-terrestrials .501 .485 .912 0.776 0.79248 Traveling to another planet or visiting a

different part of the universe.537 .384 .911 0.544 0.905

51 Seeing an angel .533 .466 .911 0.721 0.926




19/35

Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation 0.064; Goodness-of-Fit In-

dex 0.778; Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index 0.762, and the comparative(Normed Fit Index 0.964; Comparative Fit Index 0.971) and parsimonious

Table 7. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Persecution Scale (n 1170)


Classical Logistic


Original items

1 Being chased or pursued, but not physicallyinjured

.574 .439 .933 1.718 0.983

2 Being physically attacked (e.g., beaten,stabbed, raped, etc.)

.599 .465 .932 0.031 0.840

3 Trying again and again to do something .524 .337 .933 0.205 0.6484 Being frozen with fright .479 .395 .934 0.235 0.667

11 Flying, soaring, or floating through the air .519 .348 .934 0.930 0.77912 Fallinga .453 .327 .935 1.842 0.60715 Being tied, unable to move .549 .456 .933 0.552 0.90729 Vividly sensing (but not necessarily seeing or

hearing) a presence in the rooma.405 .269 .934 0.755 0.558

37 Being on the verge of falling .575 .422 .933 0.249 0.93339 Being smothered, unable to breathe .544 .358 .933 0.343 0.888

56 Some people plotting against you .611 .520 .932 0.208 1.05959 Being persecuted .631 .555 .932 0.162 1.29763 Entering or passing through a narrow space .618 .449 .932 0.232 1.09072 Being tracked .583 .436 .933 0.352 1.02479 Committing a serious crime or blunder

(other than murder)a.634 .461 .932 0.266 1.119

Additional items8 Being locked up .511 .336 .934 1.135 1.040

18 Your teeth falling out, losing your teeth, oryour teeth rottinga

.264 .120 .936 0.942 0.299

21 Floods or tidal wavesa .501 .438 .934 0.846 0.85422 Tornadoes or strong winds .538 .436 .933 0.830 0.99123 Earthquakesa .459 .356 .934 1.143 0.87126 Being an object (e.g., tree, rock, etc.)a .394 .268 .934 1.830 0.698

27 Being killed .556 .462 .933 0.603 0.79828 Seeing yourself as deada .500 .382 .933 0.971 0.72933 Losing control of a vehicle (e.g., car, aircraft,

etc.).584 .410 .933 0.291 1.099

34 Fire .563 .384 .933 0.048 0.95040 Ferocious beasts .567 .404 .933 0.114 0.96042 Killing someone .550 .363 .933 1.061 0.83549 Being an animala .446 .324 .934 1.156 0.83154 A flying object crashing (e.g., aircraft)a .492 .333 .934 1.196 0.98261 Being blamed or punisheda .607 .441 .932 1.479 0.97364 Feeling that most people cannot be trusteda .607 .475 .932 0.366 1.18771 Some people are spying on or talking about

youa.628 .506 .932 0.001 1.161

78 People wanting to take advantage of youa

.593 .446 .933 0.720 1.13486 Spouse or lover having extramarital relations

or being unfaithfula.372 .191 .935 1.114 0.571

93 Encountering a devil in some form .558 .358 .933 0.192 0.854


36 Yu


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fit values (Parsimony Normed Fit Index 0.930; Parsimony Goodness-of-FitIndex 0.726) were remarkable.

All three lower order constructs loaded similarly highly on the upper orderconstruct Delusion, the estimate for the constructs Ego Ideal and Persecution being

Table 8. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Erotomania Scale (n 1181)


Classical Logistic


Original items

32 Sexual experiences .484 .332 .829 0.208 0.67266 Becoming a big wheel or celebrity .654 .505 .813 0.001 2.25486 Spouse or lover having extramarital relations



celebrity.618 .476 .817 0.041 1.945


.613 .494 .817 0.197 1.392


.527 .399 .828 1.350 1.207

Additional items25 Being a member of the opposite sexa .360 .161 .837 1.983 0.53141 Being in a movie, fiction, or drama .545 .356 .824 0.649 0.94270 Being abandoned .468 .299 .830 0.170 0.659

103 Encountering the person that you like oryou want to see

.474 .256 .831 3.045 0.638


Table 9. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Appetite-Instinct Scale (n 1178)


Classical Logistic


Original items3 Trying again and again to do somethinga .460 .251 .873 0.087 0.5455 Eating delicious foods .539 .476 .869 0.689 0.986

10 Finding money, winning a lottery, orbecoming rich

.531 .312 .869 0.045 0.991

32 Sexual experiencesa .341 .196 .879 0.169 0.08469 Living in a very big house .665 .482 .862 0.376 1.975

77 Having a superior status .655 .557 .863 0.098 3.00081 Searching for a certain place .642 .636 .863 0.942 1.511

Additional items7 Swimming or vacationing .563 .372 .867 0.608 1.036

53 Discovering a new room at homea .463 .260 .872 0.816 0.56566 Becoming a big wheel or celebrity .624 .510 .864 0.015 2.10882 Searching for something .686 .658 .860 0.765 1.822


.499 .275 .871 2.802 0.629

105 Eating candies, ice-cream, or sweetmeat(e.g., lollipop, Chupa Chups,chocolate, ice pop, cake, etc.)

.556 .483 .868 0.567 0.901




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larger than that for the construct Grandiosity. Item 75 (failing or performing verybadly in front of others [e.g., teachers, classmates, bosses, colleagues, etc.]) loadedmost highly on the construct Ego Ideal, followed by Items 61 (being blamed orpunished) and 62 (blaming others for doing something wrongly/ making troubles/committing mistakes), and the path estimate for Item 13 (being inappropriatelydressed) was the smallest. This pattern of loadings was consistent with the findingsof the item analysis (see Table 5). A first-order model in which the upper order

construct Delusion was removed with all remaining parameters left unchanged wasconfigured for testing the intercorrelations between the latent constructs Ego Ideal,

Table 10. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Sensorimotor Excitement Scale (n 1172)


Classical Logistic


Original items

1 Being chased or pursued, but not physicallyinjured

.560 .398 .889 1.869 0.842

3 Trying again and again to do something .533 .331 .890 0.190 0.6914 Being frozen with fright .486 .398 .891 0.208 0.733

11 Flying, soaring, or floating through the air .557 .349 .889 0.866 0.88112 Falling .481 .332 .892 1.673 0.66863 Entering or passing through a narrow space .620 .431 .887 0.200 1.39281 Searching for a certain place .626 .448 .887 1.210 1.153

Additional items2 Being physically attacked (e.g., beaten,

stabbed, raped, etc.)a.538 .374 .890 0.051 0.645

15 Being tied, unable to movea .537 .410 .890 0.567 0.94418 Your teeth falling out, losing your teeth, or

your teeth rotting

a

.286 .115 .896 0.873 0.323

29 Vividly sensing (but not necessarily seeing orhearing) a presence in the rooma

.389 .244 .893 0.813 0.537

30 Being unable to find, or embarrassed aboutusing, a toileta

.446 .216 .892 0.375 0.621

33 Losing control of a vehicle (e.g., car, aircraft,etc.)a

.539 .322 .890 0.320 1.000

37 Being on the verge of falling .588 .409 .888 0.217 1.12739 Being smothered, unable to breathea .549 .359 .890 0.344 0.98244 Being half awake and paralyzed in beda .413 .251 .893 1.104 0.73757 Playing a plucked-string instrument or an

analogous thing (e.g., violin, guitar, Chineselute, ancient Chinese zither, etc.)a

.448 .438 .892 0.014 0.726

58 Blowing a wind instrument or a flute-shaped

object (e.g., clarinet, trumpet, verticalbamboo flute, harmonica, etc.)a

.419 .431 .893 0.800 0.746

65 Performing a lot of difficult actions to getthrough a series of hurdle as if you were astunt man

.549 .358 .889 0.192 0.971

80 Something seriously wrong with your bodya .548 .337 .890 0.630 0.97194 Feeling dog-tired, lack of strength in the whole

body, and very difficult to move but youhave not stopped, and keep walking veryhard

.598 .397 .888 0.485 1.067

Note. r Corrected item-total correlation;r2 Squared multiple correlation; Cronbachs if itemdeleted. The two items with the largest discrimination indices are bolded.a The item was removed in the finalized scale. for all items being included in the scale .895; for

the finalized 10-item scale .847.

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Grandiosity, and Persecution (see Figure 2). The overall resulting fit indices re-mained the same, with the path coefficients resembling those of the first model. Thethree latent constructs, especially Ego Ideal and Persecution, were highly corre-lated.

Analyses of Convergent and Discriminant Validity

The criterion-related validity of the DMS was assessed by testing its associa-tions with neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. It was hypothe-sized that if the DMS scales serve as some valid constructs for describing respectivesets of dream themes, they would be correlated more strongly with neuroticism and

Table 11. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Sex Scale ( n 1178)


Classical Logistic


13 Being inappropriately dressed .495 .309 .672 0.511 0.935

14 Being nude .512 .323 .671 0.516 2.16625 Being a member of the opposite sex .371 .148 .699 1.274 0.76130 Being unable to find, or embarrassed about

using, a toilet.369 .159 .704 2.000 0.172

32 Sexual experiences .466 .307 .680 0.227 1.94845 Seeing a face very close to youa .303 .104 .709 1.114 0.41255 Someone having an abortiona .281 .088 .716 2.487 0.82686 Spouse or lover having extramarital relations



.471 .292 .684 0.886 1.984

Note. r Corrected item-total correlation;r2 Squared multiple correlation; Cronbachs if itemdeleted. The two items with the largest discrimination indices are bolded.a

The item was removed in the finalized scale. for all items being included in the scale .718; forthe finalized 7-item scale .708.

Table 12.Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Fighting Scale (n 1174)


Classical Logistic


42 Killing someone .531 .322 .862 1.116 0.59454 A flying object crashing (e.g., aircraft) .420 .182 .869 1.486 0.55568 Pillars, rods, staffs, or stick-shaped things .585 .390 .858 0.143 0.80087 Knives, swords, or daggers .715 .575 .847 0.179 2.35688 Guns or cannons .698 .613 .849 0.104 1.54389 Other weapons .468 .245 .868 2.264 0.73190 Shooting or remote attacks (e.g., firing a gun,

shooting an arrow, vacuum surge fist,qigong attacks, etc.)

.668 .556 .851 0.146 1.253

92 Hitting something or someone .686 .490 .849 0.697 1.21595 Balls or globoid .591 .421 .859 0.721 0.613

110 Hand tools (e.g., hammer, screwdriver, tinopener, etc.)

.544 .342 .862 0.354 0.692

Note. r Corrected item-total correlation;r2 Squared multiple correlation; Cronbachs if itemdeleted. The two items with the largest discrimination indices are bolded. for the 10-item scale .870.



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openness to experience (convergent validity) than with extraversion (discriminantvalidity). The NEO-FFI Neuroticism scale demonstrated significant, positive cor-relations with most DMS scales, with the exceptions of the Grandiosity, Appetite-Instinct, Fighting, and Unusual Creature scales (see Table 17). Most of the corre-lation coefficients reached the .001 significant level. The NEO-FFI Openness wasmoderately correlated with the Grandiosity scale, Fighting scale, Unusual Creaturescale, and six other DMS scales. The NEO-FFI Extraversion scale was negatively

associated with only four DMS scales. The differential patterns of the associationsindicated that the responses to the DMS scales could not be fully explained by asingle factor, such as dream recall frequency.

Table 13. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Animal Symbolism Scale (n 1178)


Classical Logistic


9 Dragons, tortoises, or snakes .538 .298 .810 0.459 0.702

17 Creatures with both human and animalcharacteristicsa

.469 .266 .818 1.263 0.410

24 Insect, spiders, worms, or a wormlike thing(e.g., earthworm, caterpillar, etc.)

.521 .302 .813 0.502 0.499

40 Ferocious beasts .606 .375 .802 0.034 0.90349 Being an animala .479 .251 .818 1.730 0.49374 Dogs .526 .322 .814 0.740 0.60099 Caves, caverns, or grottoes .574 .490 .806 0.072 1.548

100 Holes or crevices .537 .465 .812 0.667 1.228104 Birds .592 .363 .804 0.228 1.760

Note. r Corrected item-total correlation;r2 Squared multiple correlation; Cronbachs if itemdeleted. The two items with the largest discrimination indices are bolded.a The item was removed in the finalized scale. for all items being included in the scale .828; for

the finalized 7-item scale .809.

Table 14. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Unusual Creature Scale (n 1182)


Classical Logistic


17 Creatures with both human and animal

characteristics

.507 .276 .797 0.703 0.417

26 Being an object (e.g., tree, rock, etc.) .401 .220 .808 1.804 0.56329 Vividly sensing (but not necessarily seeing or

hearing) a presence in the rooma.383 .189 .813 0.499 0.120

46 Seeing a UFO .530 .444 .795 0.786 0.83747 Seeing extra-terrestrials .523 .443 .795 0.447 0.79449 Being an animal .499 .307 .798 0.833 0.91151 Seeing an angel .520 .416 .795 0.370 1.29552 Encountering a deity in some form .628 .510 .783 0.241 2.51660 Becoming a certain form of deity .504 .313 .799 1.589 0.80593 Encountering a devil in some form .538 .335 .795 0.234 0.645


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DISCUSSION

Of the 110 dream themes, 51 were dreamed by more than half of the partici-

pants. Excluding the newly developed themes, 37 themes demonstrated a preva-lence rate above 50%, compared with the average of 26 themes in the previousstudies (Yu, 2008a, 2009b, 2010d, 2011a). The prevalence rates of many dreamthemes were substantially raised after the items were elaborated. For instance, theprevalence rates of Themes 7 (swimming or vacationing), 10 (finding money,winning a lottery, or becoming rich), 41 (being in a movie, fiction, or drama),and 50 (being a child or the previous self again) in this studywere 69.9%, 51.3%, 67.9%, and 69.2%, respectively. The prevalence rates of the

Table 15. Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Object-Relation Scale (n 1177)


Classical Logistic


28 Seeing yourself as deada .359 .175 .840 1.587 0.395

35 A person now dead as alive .444 .220 .835 0.010 0.51436 A person now alive as dead .507 .294 .830 0.649 0.61750 Being a child or the previous self again .531 .312 .829 0.760 0.82570 Being abandoned .500 .321 .831 0.127 0.89583 Reuniting with a long-lost fellow or

childhood playmate.658 .664 .818 0.681 3.000

84 Reuniting with a long-lost schoolmate .633 .659 .820 0.925 2.76085 Reuniting with someone that you have not

seen for a long time (other than fellows,childhood playmates, and schoolmates)

.653 .517 .818 0.326 1.961

86 Spouse or lover having extramaritalrelations or being unfaithful

.414 .270 .837 1.032 0.705


.508 .274 .831 2.581 0.773

45 Seeing a face very close to youa .356 .139 .840 1.150 0.60574 Dogs .483 .246 .833 0.382 0.775


Table 16.Classical and Logistic Item Analyses for the Convenient Dreaming Scale (n 1183)


Classical Logistic


5 Eating delicious foods .396 .164 .791 0.784 0.5276 Arriving too late, e.g., missing a train, a

bus, etc..533 .329 .764 0.943 0.666

30 Being unable to find, or embarrassed aboutusing, a toilet

.435 .196 .782 0.020 0.531

102 Being absent from classes or examinations .558 .353 .761 0.441 0.696107 Seeing yourself sleeping .561 .500 .759 0.098 0.772108 Waking from sleep .615 .546 .748 0.214 0.798109 Rolling out of bed, cleaning up, going to

school or work.571 .350 .757 1.603 0.717

Note. r Corrected item-total correlation;r2 Squared multiple correlation; Cronbachs if itemdeleted. The two items with the largest discrimination indices are bolded. for the 7-item scale .793.



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corresponding items (7 [swimming], 10 [finding money], 41 [being in amovie], 50 [being a child again]) for the previous age-matched samples wereobviously lowerthat is, 43.3%, 38.8%, 42.6%, and 68.4% in Yus 2010d sample,and 35.7%, 47.0%, 49.6%, and 55.4% in Yus 2011a sample. The overall marked

increase in the prevalence of dream themes suggests that the refined dream list ismore effective than previous versions for reflecting the modus operandi of dreamexpression and capturing the motifs of respondents dreams.

The DMS is distinguished by its proficiency in describing the themes experi-enced by over 90% of participants with dream recall in the night prior to taking partin the present research study. It is noteworthy that these participants had notreceived any presleep information and instructions, which can have powerful effectsfor prompting nocturnal conscious activities (Yu, 2006c). Since a sample of dreamsspontaneously recollected from a randomly designated day following sleep withoutan experimental intervention can contain a sizable amount of typical themes, those

prominent dream motifs shared by many people probably occur far more constantlythan what contemporary researchers generally believe.

Figure 1. Standardized solution for the second order confirmatory factor analytic model of the 60delusional dream themes.

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The rank-ordered frequencies of themes dreamed by participants in the pre-ceding night were largely consistent with the dream prevalence, frequency, andrecurrence profiles replicated in the present study and Yus (2008a, 2009a, 2009b,

2010d, 2011a) several previous studies using the retrospective-scale method. More-over, all 18 new themes, which were designed along the lines of dream predispo-sitions discovered in Yus studies, were dreamed by a substantial number ofparticipants, with the prevalence rates of 14 new themes exceeding 50%. Thisscenario is even more impressive when it is considered that some new themessuch as Item 65 (performing a lot of difficult actions to get through a series ofhurdle as if you were a stunt man)were scripted in a precise and detailedmanner. Accordingly, it is unlikely that things happened in dreams by chance.

There are clearly rules that govern the formation of dream images. The themesthat top the three rank-ordered incidence lists are far more frequently dreamed by

people than those at the bottom of the lists. Some patterns of dream language usagecan be observed even within a set of interrelated prevalent dream themes. For

Figure 2.Standardized solution for the first order confirmatory factor analytic model of the 60 delusionaldream themes.



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instance, being blamed is more prevalent than blaming oneself in dreams. Thisresonates with the notion that dream thoughts, particularly intangible ones, pref-erentially find concrete expression via visualization; therefore, during dreaming,guilt feeling manifests itself in the form of being criticized by an external agentrather than introspectively criticizing oneself. Similarly, dreaming about rolling outof bed, cleaning up, and going to school or work is more common than dreaming ofwaking from sleep or seeing oneself sleeping probably because the former dream

scene can more effectively relieve the sleeper of the tasks incompatible with sleepthan the latter.On the strength of the findings generated by both classical and logistic item

analyses, the scales previously devised for assessing the major predispositions thatmodulate dream content were modified to improve their psychometric quality.Three new scales were developed to measure the incidence of symbolizing peoplewith unusual creatures, dealing with object-relation issues, and processing sleep-disturbing stimuli in dreams. Overall, the internal consistencies of all the scaleswere high; the convergent and discriminant validity of the DMS scales beingsubstantiated by the differential patterns of their associations with neuroticism,extraversion, and openness to experience, the three universal personality traits that

can be reliably measured. Moreover, the three-factor DMS delusional model wascorroborated by the confirmatory statistical procedures, which indicate that re-sponses to 60 of the DMS dream themes can be properly explained by theinterrelated lower order factors Ego Ideal, Grandiosity, and Persecution, which inturn can be accounted for by the higher order factor Delusion.

In addition to evaluating the types of motifs that predominate a personsdream experiences, the DMS scales can serve as some useful indicators of thepotential meanings of a dream theme. In light of the relative magnitudes of itscorrelations with various scales, dreams featuring teeth rotting or losing ones teethmost probably spring from dental excitation. On the other hand, the feeling of

pressure on the bladder cannot fully explain the experience of being unable to find,or embarrassed about using, a toilet in dreams, given the finding that this theme was

Table 17.Correlations With the NEO-FFI Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness Scales(n 500)

Scales NEO-FFI

DMS Neuroticism Extraversion Openness

Paranoia rs .294, p .001 rs .123,p .01 rs .055,p .224Delusion rs .183, p .001 rs .063,p .159 rs .100,p .05Ego ideal rs .291, p .001 rs .093,p .05 rs .076,p .089Grandiosity rs .054, p .227 rs .034,p .446 rs .101,p .05Persecution rs .227, p .001 rs .105,p .05 rs .101,p .05Erotomania rs .131, p .01 rs .019,p .672 rs .092,p .05Appetite-instinct rs .062, p .167 rs .086,p .054 rs .087,p .053Sensorimotor excitement rs .218, p .001 rs .062,p .171 rs .128,p .01Sex rs .175, p .001 rs .116,p .01 rs .114,p .05Fighting rs .085, p .060 rs .014,p .758 rs .097,p .05Animal symbolism rs .113, p .05 rs .035,p .438 rs .050,p .265Unusual creature rs .013, p .774 rs .023,p .613 rs .106,p .05Object-relation rs .182, p .001 rs .021,p .648 rs .077,p .086

Convenient dreaming rs .169, p .001 rs .004,p .932 rs .115,p .01

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most strongly correlated with the Ego Ideal scale, not the Sensorimotor Excitementscale. Likewise, dreaming of being inappropriately dressed may have both ego-idealand sexual implications, whereas being naked in dreams is more an erotic idea thana concern of self-adequacy. Notwithstanding the expediency of classifying dream

themes into categories, it should be cautioned that as pointed out by Yu (2009a,2009b, 2010d, 2011a), each theme can be interpreted in multiple fashions oraccounted for by several dream predispositions. For example, the theme feelingdog-tired, lack of strength in the whole body, and very difficult to movebut youhave not stopped, and keep walking very hard may be a compromise of the conflictbetween Rapid Eye Movement atonia and the compulsive urge to explore, whichare associated with the Sensorimotor Excitement predisposition and the Appetite-Instinct predisposition, respectively.

Similar to Yus (2008a, 2008c, 2009a, 2009b, 2010d, 2011a) previous findings,themes of natural disasters, including floods or tidal waves (rank: 92nd), tornadoesor strong winds (rank: 96th), and earthquakes (rank: 102nd), as well as themes

involving ferocious beasts (rank: 58th) and threat-avoidance skills, such as shootingarrows (rank: 76th), ranked consistently low in the dream prevalence profile.Although some prominent dream themes consist of physical threats, such as Items 1(being chased or pursued, but not physically injured) and 65 (performing a lotof difficult actions to get through a series of hurdle as if you were a stunt man), thepredicaments described in these themes bear no direct resemblance to the physicalthreats that prehistoric people tackled in their natural habitats. Perhaps, thesesensorimotor themes, as they did in ancient times, function as a general, symbolicrepresentation of the fight or flight response to any threats people face nowadays.

In contrast to themes involving natural disasters and physical threats, some

prototypes of convenience dreams were found to be quite common, and Freudsclassic example rolling out of bed, cleaning up, going to school or work was oneof the most frequent dream motif reported by the participants. Theoretically, alldreams are dreams of convenience insomuch as they serve the function of prolong-ing sleep by converting stimuli into images that are compatible with the internalworld. Weaving external sensory stimuli into a dream eliminates the cues that alertthe sleeping ego to the existence of the outer world. Quenching visceral needs in theform of hallucinations or creatively resolving issues that preoccupy the dreamer inwaking life constitutes a persuasive reason for the outward-directed, action-ori-ented mental apparatus to stay asleep. Because visual inputs from the externalworld, which provide clues for making sense of what happen surrounding us in the

daytime, are minimal during sleep, objective interpretation gives way to egoisticassociation from which dream images are derived. This is, in essence, a projectivecontextualization process whereby subjective meanings are assigned to the stimuliexperienced, which, in turn, are assimilated into the internal schema.

Besides dreams of convenience, many dream themes that demonstrated a highprevalence rate are connected with emotional concerns and object-relation.Themes 103 (encountering the person that you like or you want to see), 84(reuniting with a long-lost schoolmate), and 83 (reuniting with a long-lost fellowor childhood playmate) ranked very highly in the prevalence, recurrence, andregularity profiles. The item encountering the person that you like or you want to

see was, among the 110 dream themes, most frequently experienced by theparticipants and was considered to be the most important/meaningful dream



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themes. If dreaming as a phenomenological experience promotes adaptation towaking life, it seems that issues processed by such a coping mechanism can include,but is not limited to, physical threats. In addition, some apparently pleasurablethemessuch as encountering the person that you like or you want to see,

eating delicious foods, eating candies, ice-cream, or sweetmeat (e.g., lollipop,Chupa Chups, chocolate, ice pop, cake, etc.), swimming or vacationing, andliving in a very big house were found to prevail in dreams. This suggests thatapart from providing an arena for threat simulation, dream consciousness mightaccomplish an adaptive function by creating some pleasant scenarios, in whichdreamers directly fulfill their wishes.

Endless rehearsal of threats without building up proper buffers is reminiscentof repeated traumas, which eventually leads to learned helplessness and hopeless-ness. On the other hand, incessant solace is detrimental because it only makes theego labile to injuries. Therefore, the optimal way to promote adaptation is themixture of intermittent setbacks and gratifications that strengthens the ego to

confront and capitalize on everyday challenges.

CONCLUSION

The overall evidence provided by this study lends further support to theuniversality, recurrence, and constancy of typical dream themes, and the reliabilityand validity of the DMS. In contrast to the stance that dream consciousness is ameaningless epiphenomenon resulting from a bewildering array of informationprocessing, this study demonstrates that motifs occurring in dreams are highly

stable, and possess intrinsic predispositions that modulate the formation of dreamnarratives. When a need cannot be satisfied or a concern has not yet been solved,whether pertaining to the physiological or psychological type or a combination ofboth, an unpleasant stimulus is created and should be fended off to preserve sleep.Perhaps, regardless of whether they are remembered, dreams signify an attempt tosearch for a well-fitting solution to those issues that have been suppressed or havenot been sufficiently worked through in waking life.

REFERENCES

Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1985). The NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Lutz, FL: PsychologicalAssessment Resources, Inc.

Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. In J. Strachey (Ed. Trans.),The standard edition of thecomplete works of Sigmund Freud(pp. 1627). London, England: Hogarth Press.

Freud, S. (1940). An outline of psycho-analysis. In

3 dream motif scale

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