Even if dreams have no physiological or psychological functions, human beings gradually invented uses for them. In more technical terms, dreams have an "emergent" function that develops through culture. For example:
* In a great many societies, dreams are used by shamans to diagnose illness (often thought to be caused by evil or angry spirits) and to enter the spiritual world. In that sense, shamans were the first psychoanalysts, and Freud and Jung are modern-day shamans.
* In some societies, dreams are used to find game, predict the weather, or prophesy about the future. In our society, at least since about 1900, they have been used in psychotherapy, although not as much in recent years when the emphasis is on short-term therapy and on thinking sensible thoughts. Dreams can be an "occasion" for a reticent patient to talk more personally, especially when we note that people do not take as much personal responsibility for their dreams as they do most of their other thoughts, making dreams easier to talk about.
* In our society, dreams are also an excuse to say something intimate to someone, maybe a tentative way to see if a deeper relationship is possible, as in "I had this nice dream about you last night."
* Finally, the phrase "I had this dream last night..." is a platform to say whatever nonsense, lie, or fantasy someone might have on his or her mind, because there's no way to determine if the claim is true or not. Now, we have every reason to believe that people are honest when they are reporting their dreams for academic studies, as we explain in our section on representative samples and the quality of our data. But, when the popular dream hustlers tell you of their amazing dreams and promise that you can have similarly amazing dreams if you buy their book or attend their workshops, then hold on to your hat -- and your wallet.
* In a great many societies, dreams are used by shamans to diagnose illness (often thought to be caused by evil or angry spirits) and to enter the spiritual world. In that sense, shamans were the first psychoanalysts, and Freud and Jung are modern-day shamans.
* In some societies, dreams are used to find game, predict the weather, or prophesy about the future. In our society, at least since about 1900, they have been used in psychotherapy, although not as much in recent years when the emphasis is on short-term therapy and on thinking sensible thoughts. Dreams can be an "occasion" for a reticent patient to talk more personally, especially when we note that people do not take as much personal responsibility for their dreams as they do most of their other thoughts, making dreams easier to talk about.
* In our society, dreams are also an excuse to say something intimate to someone, maybe a tentative way to see if a deeper relationship is possible, as in "I had this nice dream about you last night."
* Finally, the phrase "I had this dream last night..." is a platform to say whatever nonsense, lie, or fantasy someone might have on his or her mind, because there's no way to determine if the claim is true or not. Now, we have every reason to believe that people are honest when they are reporting their dreams for academic studies, as we explain in our section on representative samples and the quality of our data. But, when the popular dream hustlers tell you of their amazing dreams and promise that you can have similarly amazing dreams if you buy their book or attend their workshops, then hold on to your hat -- and your wallet.
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