Searching: PsycARTICLES Choose Databases • • Select a Field (optional) AND • Select a Field (optional) AND Select a Field (optional) Add RowRemove Row • • • Basic Search Advanced Search Search History • • • Result List Refine Search 1 of 1 Title: Violence, sex, and dreams: Violent and sexual media content infiltrate our dreams at night. Authors: Van den Bulck, Jan. School for Mass Communication, KU Leuven University, Leuven, Belgium Çetin, Yakup. Faculty of Education, Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey Terzi, Ömer. Faculty of Art and Design, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Bushman, Brad J.. School of Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, US, bushman.20@osu.edu Address: Bushman, Brad J., School of Communication, The Ohio State University, 3016 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH, US, bushman.20@osu.edu Source: Dreaming, Vol 26(4), Dec, 2016. pp. 271-279. N L M T i t l e A b b r e v i a t i o n : Dreaming US : Educational Publishing Foundation Human Sciences Press, Inc. Netherlands : Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press Corrected by:Correction to Van den Bulck et al. (2016) DOI: http://dx.doi.org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern. edu/10.1037/drm0000042 1053-0797 (Print) 1573-3351 (Electronic) English dreams, violent media, sexual media, cognitive neoassociation theory [Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 26(4) of Dreaming (see record 201660837-001). In the article, there is a typo in the first column, second row of Table 1. The text should appear as Violent media use. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Many people today are immersed in media similar to fish in water. Electronic devices provide virtually unlimited access to media. Although people consume media during their waking hours, the media they consume might also affect their dreams during sleeping hours. The media often contain violence and sex. On the basis of cognitive neoassociation theory, we predicted that violent and sexual media content would prime related thoughts in semantic memory. In this study, 1,287 Turkish participants completed a survey about their media consumption and their dreams the previous night. We measured the frequency of their media consumption and the violent and sexual content of the media they consumed on a regular basis and on the day before the survey. We also measured whether they had a dream the night before they completed the survey and dream content if they dreamed (51.5% dreamed). We measured whether participants had dreams with violent and sexual content. Similar results were obtained for regular media consumption and for media consumption on the day before the survey. For both measures, media consumption was positively related to dreaming frequency. Media content also influenced dream content. Specifically, participants who consumed violent media tended to have violent dreams, and participants who consumed sexual media tended to have sexual dreams. These results are consistent with cognitive neoassociation theory and extend the theory by showing that it also applies to sleeping hours as well as waking hours. The results also have practical implications. Media can influence our thoughts, even when we are asleep. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) Journal Article *Dreaming; *Mass Media; *Sexuality; *Violence; Semantic Memory Consciousness States (2380) Developmental Psychology (2800) Human Male Female Turkey Childhood (birth-12 yrs) School Age (6-12 yrs) Adolescence (13-17 yrs) Adulthood (18 yrs & older) Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs) Thirties (30-39 yrs) Middle Age (40-64 yrs) Empirical Study; Quantitative Study Electronic Journal; Peer Reviewed Journal First Posted: Nov 10, 2016 20161110 20161222 American Psychological Association. 2016 http://dx.doi.org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/1 0.1037/drm0000036 drm-26-4-271 2016-54555-001 Ask-A-Librarian Violence, Sex, and Dreams: Violent and Sexual Media Content Infiltrate Our Dreams at Night Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Screen Media Are Ubiquitous Media and Dreams Theoretical Foundation for Present Study Overview of Present Study Method Sample Measures Results Descriptive Statistics Content of Dreams in General Chronic Effect of Media Exposure on Dreams Content of Dreams the Night Before the Study Media Use the Evening Before the Study Yesterday’s Media Use as a Predictor of Last Night’s Dreaming Discussion Limitations and Future Research Conclusion References Listen By: Jan Van den Bulck School for Mass Communication, KU Leuven University Yakup Çetin Faculty of Education, Fatih University Ömer Terzi Faculty of Art and Design, Yıldız Technical University Brad J. Bushman School of Communication, and Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, and Department of Communication Science, VU University Amsterdam; Acknowledgement: Jan Van den Bulck is now at the Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan. Ömer Terzi is now at Vocational High School, Istanbul Şehir University. See page 292 for a correction to this article. All that we see or seemIs but a dream within a dream.— EDGAR ALLAN POE, A Dream Within a Dream As the poet Edgar Allan Poe suggested, the line between being awake and being asleep can become blurry at times. What we see during the day can influence what we dream about at night. It is a common assumption of many theories on the origin of dreams that what we see during the day in the real world can influence our dreams at night (e.g., Nielsen & Powell, 1992; Schredl, 2003). The present study addresses a different question: Can what we see in the virtual world in the day also influence our dreams in the night. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that violent and sexual media observed during waking hours can infiltrate our dreams during sleeping hours (Poe, 1902). Screen Media Are Ubiquitous People today are immersed in the media similar to fish in water. People can be exposed to media such as video games, TV programs, social media, communication technology, and much more, anytime, anywhere, as long as they have a device with a screen. There are plenty of devices with screens. TV shows can be viewed on a traditional TV set but also on portable devices such as a tablet computer. Video games can be played on a desktop computer, but also on a laptop computer, a game console, a mobile telephone, or even a watch. Media devices follow young people into the bedroom and even into bed (Van den Bulck, 2007). It has been well established that all of this screen time competes with sleep. A review of 67 studies on media use and sleep in adolescents and children found that media use is associated with delayed or reduced sleep time (Hale & Guan, 2015). The present research focuses on a different question—Can media affect our dreams while we sleep? Media and Dreams It is well known that media can affect people when they are awake. The present study investigates whether the media can also affect people when they are asleep. Even once asleep, a person does not appear to be out of reach of the media. There is growing evidence that media content may affect dream content. For example, a study of 2,546 adolescents from Belgium found that 33% reported nightmares connected to TV content (Van den Bulck, 2004). In open-ended questionnaires about fright reactions to media content, nightmares are also often reported (Cantor, Byrne, Moyer-Gusé, & Riddle, 2010). An interesting historic comparison found that the content of nightmares tends to reflect what is most scary in a given culture at the time (Schredl, Anders, Hellriegel, & Rehm, 2008). Thus, themes from movies and TV started to replace imagery about the bogey man or ghosts from earlier eras. One study found that people who watched black and white TV were more likely to report dreams in grayscales than were people who had only experienced color TV (Murzyn, 2008). However, nightmares are not the only possible outcomes of media use. In one study, more than half of the young respondents also associated media content with pleasant dreams (Van den Bulck, 2004). The present research examines two other types of dreams—those with violent and sexual content. Researchers have distinguished between short-term and long-term effects of media use on dreaming (Schredl et al., 2008). Thus, the present study distinguishes overall media exposure and exposure immediately before bedtime on dream content. Theoretical Foundation for Present Study The present study is grounded in cognitive neoassociation theory (Berkowitz, 1984). According to Berkowitz (1984), “the aggressive ideas suggested by a violent movie can prime other semantically related thoughts, heightening the chances that viewers will have other aggressive ideas in this period” (Berkowitz, 1984, p. 411). Berkowitz’s theory is based on the cognitive psychology concept of spreading activation within a network in memory (e.g., Collins & Loftus, 1975). Human memory is represented using a network that consists of nodes and links. The nodes represent concepts, and the links represent associations among concepts. Thoughts send out radiating activation along associative pathways, thereby activating other related thoughts. In this way, violent scenes depicted in the mass media can prime or activate related aggressive thoughts. Habitual exposure to violent media can make aggressive constructs chronically accessible in memory (Bushman, 1998). Although cognitive neoassociation theory was proposed to account for violent media effects, the basic concepts can be extended to other types of content as well, such as sexual content. The present research provides a novel extension of cognitive neoassociation theory by testing whether it applies to dreams as well as to thoughts during waking hours. Overview of Present Study The present study aims to add to the literature in at least three ways. First, previous research has mainly focused on nightmares. Apart from being frightening, dreams can also be violent or sexual. Thus, we investigated the relationship between violent and sexual media use on violent and sexual dreams. Second, much research has focused on the overall volume of media use. We also distinguish between exposure to violent and sexual media content. Third, we distinguish between chronic media exposure and media exposure just before going to bed. In the present study, 1,287 Turkish individuals 10–60 years old completed a survey about their media consumption and their dreams. On the basis of cognitive neoassociation theory, we predicted that exposure to media containing violent and sexual content would infiltrate participants’ dreams. Specifically, we predicted that exposure to violent media would lead to violent dreams and exposure to sexual media would lead to sexual dreams. We predicted parallel effects for chronic media exposure and media exposure the day before the dreaming period. Method Sample Participants for this study were 1,287 Turkish individuals between 10 and 60 years of age (M = 22.6, SD = 6.8; 64.8% female). Of the 1,287 participants, 600 were children recruited from public and private schools from Istanbul (parental consent rate = 100%; children assent rate = 100%). The remaining 687 participants were adults recruited from social networking sites where people shared posts about media (e.g., movies, TV programs, video games). Measures After reporting their gender and age, participants reported the number of hours they spent consuming media (e.g., TV, Internet, DVD, movies, video games, music) on any device (e.g., handheld, tablet, computer, TV) on weekdays and on weekends. The number of hours of media consumption on weekdays was multiplied by 5, the number of hours of media consumption on weekends was multiplied by 2, and the two values were summed to obtain a total measure of weekly media consumption. Next, participants were asked whether the media they consumed contained violence and whether it contained sex (1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4= often, 5 = always). Participants were asked whether they dreamed and whether their dreams included violent content and sexual content (1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often, 5 = always). The next instructions were as follows: “Now we want to ask a few questions about last night. Think back and try to remember.” We asked if they had any dreams they remembered, and if so how violent their dreams were (1 = not violent, 2 = somewhat violent, 3 = violent, 4 = very violent) and how sexual their dreams were (1 = not sexual, 2 = somewhat sexual, 3 = sexual, 4 = very sexual). Finally, we asked them whether they consumed any media less than 90 min before bedtime and if so how violent the media were (1 = not violent, 2 = somewhat violent, 3 = violent, 4 = very violent) and how sexual the media were (1 = not sexual, 2 = somewhat sexual, 3 = sexual, 4 = very sexual). A debriefing followed. Results Descriptive Statistics In our sample, 67.4% of participants said they dreamed at least sometimes, 24.9% said they dreamed rarely, and 7.7% said they never dreamed. Although the difference between males and females was small, males reported dreaming somewhat more frequently than did females, t(1,261) = 2.85, p < .004, d = 0.16. There was a small negative correlation between age and dreaming frequency, r = −.08, p = .004. When asked how often they were exposed to violent media content, 17.9% claimed they never saw any violent media content. More females (20.5%) than males (12.7%) said they were never exposed to violent media content, t(1,255) = −7.32, p < .0001, d = 0.41. Age was unrelated to violent media exposure, r = .001, p > .97. Almost half of the respondents (46.6%) claimed never to be exposed to sexual media content. More females (52.5%) than males (35.6%) said they were never exposed to sexual media content, t(1,255) = −8.77, p < .0001, d = 0.50. There was a small but significant positive correlation between age and sexual media consumption, r = .09, p = .004. Content of Dreams in General We asked our participants how often their dreams were violent and sexual. Violent dreams occurred at least sometimes among 81% of participants. More males (82.4%) than females (80.2%) reported having violent dreams, t(1,243) = −5.11, p < .0001, d = 0.29. Age was unrelated to violent dreams, r = .04, p = .12. Sexual dreams were reported by 48.5% of participants at least occasionally. There was a large difference between males and females, with 72.1% of the males versus 36.2% of the females reporting they had sexual dreams, t(1,255) = 11.52, p < .0001, d = 0.65. Age was positively related to sexual dreams, r = .13, p < .0001. Chronic Effect of Media Exposure on Dreams We ran three multiple regression analyses to examine what media use variables predicted self-reported dreaming frequency and dream content. Each analysis controlled for gender and age. The results are depicted in Table 1. Regression Analyses Based on Regular Media Exposure The first regression analysis examined the self-reported frequency of dreaming, regardless of content. The model explained 9% of the variance. Overall media use was a significant predictor of more frequent dreaming, as was frequency of exposure to violent media. The second regression analysis explained 16% of the variance in self-reported violent dreams. Exposure to violent media content was the strongest predictor, although overall media exposure and sexual media exposure were also significant predictors. The third regression analysis examined the frequency of dreams with sexual content. Frequency of exposure to sexual media content was the strongest predictor and the only significant one. The model explained 31% of the variance in self-reported sexual dreams. Content of Dreams the Night Before the Study Slightly more than half of the sample (51.5%) said they had dreamed the night before they answered the questionnaire questions. The majority (51.0%) reported their dreams had not been violent, 35.5% said their dreams were somewhat violent, 7.7% reported violent dreams, and 5.6% had very violent dreams. Males reported somewhat more violent dreams than females did (Cramer’s V = .16, p < .001), but age was not significantly related to violent dreams, r = .01, p = .72. More than three quarters of the respondents did not report any sexual dream the night before (77.3%), 17.8% had a somewhat sexual dream, 4% had a sexual dream, and 0.9% had a very sexual dream. There was a considerable difference between males and females, with males more likely to report having sexual dreams (Cramer’s V = .31, p < .0001). Age was not significantly related to sexual dreams, r = .07, p = .07. Media Use the Evening Before the Study More than half of the respondents (55.0%) reported not being exposed to any violent media content the evening before the study, 28.8% described their media content as somewhat violent, 11.9% indicated it was violent, and for 4.2% it was very violent. Males were more likely than females to report higher levels of violent media use (Cramer’s V = .16, p = .008), but age was unrelated to violent media use, r = −.03, p = .443. More than three quarters of the respondents (77.6%) reported not being exposed to any sexual media content the evening before the study, 16.8% described their media content as somewhat sexual, 4.7% indicated it was sexual in nature, and 0.9% said it was very sexual. Males were more likely to report higher levels of sexual media content (Cramer’s V = .19, p < .001). Age was not significantly related to sexual media use, r = −.08, p = .097. Yesterday’s Media Use as a Predictor of Last Night’s Dreaming Respondents were asked whether they had dreamed the previous night, and if so, whether the previous night’s dreaming had been violent or sexual. Table 2 shows the results of three regression analyses that looked at the previous night’s exposure to violent media content as a predictor of such dreaming. Each analysis controlled for gender and age. Regression Analyses Based on Media Exposure Within 90 Minutes of Bedtime Because whether or not participants had dreamed the night before the study was a dichotomous variable (1 = dreamed, 0 = did not dream), the first regression analysis was a logistic regression analysis. There were no significant predictors of having dreamed. Whether or not the respondent reported a dream did not appear to coincide with higher or lower levels of exposure to violent or sexual media content. The second analysis showed that violent media use was the best predictor of violent dreams. The analysis explained 25% of the variance. The third analysis showed that exposure to sexual media content was the best predictor of sexual dream content, although exposure to violent media content also predicted sexual dreams. The model explained 33% of the variance. Discussion The participants in our study reported regularly dreaming. They reported high levels of violent dreams. Dreams with sexual content also occurred, but they were reported less frequently. Consistent with cognitive neoassociation theory (Berkowitz, 1984), the content of the dreams appeared to be related to the content of their media use. Violent media viewing was associated with more violent dreams. Sexual media viewing was associated with more sexual dreams. This link seems to work in both directions. Overall media exposure was a significant predictor of all dependent variables over and above the content-specific variables (with the exception of sexual dreaming frequency, which appears to be explained mainly by exposure to sexual media content). These findings also have practical implications because they provide obvious recommendations for sleep hygiene: avoid media with violent and sexual content. Limitations and Future Research It is important to take two admonitions into consideration (Hale & Guan, 2015). First, we have to be aware of the limitations of the fact that the data in this study were based on self-reports, although it is difficult to study dream content without relying on the self-reports of the dreamer. Second, we must be cautious about making causal inferences. People whose dreams are more sexual, or whose dreams are more violent, may be more likely to expose themselves to sexual or violent content, respectively. Therefore, the causal direction of this study is uncertain. However, some indicators suggest that the relationships in this study offer a consistent image. The type of media exposure was the best predictor of the type of dream content. It is also possible that a third factor is related to media consumption and dream content. One possible third factor might be socioeconomic statues (SES). Although it is true that media use is common even in economically deprived areas, the use of some media devices (e.g., smartphones) and the sheer amount of screen time likely differs as a function of SES. A third limitation is that we combined different types of media use. Previous research has shown that different types of media use (e.g., listening to music, checking Facebook, watching TV or movies, playing video games) are related to different types of dreams (e.g., Gackenbach & Boyes, 2014a, 2014b). A fourth limitation is that our study was conducted using a sample of Turkish participants. Previous research has shown that media use and dream associations differ for people of different cultural backgrounds (e.g., Gackenbach & Gahr, 2015). Thus, we do not know whether the results of this study will generalize to participants from other countries. For example, sexual media is censored in Turkey (Freedom House, 2015), with even slight innuendo earning regulatory fines for indecency (Hur̆riyet Daily News, 2013). We believe the use of a Turkish sample is beneficial in other regards. Most previous dream studies have been conducted in other countries (e.g., Belgium, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, United States). Conclusion The results from the present study show that media effects are not limited to waking hours. Media exposure can also influence dream content during sleeping hours. Edgar Allen Poe was right in noting, “All that we see or seem. Is but a dream within a dream.” The present research suggests that as people see violent and sexual media, these images can infiltrate their dreams at night. References Berkowitz, L. (1984). Some effects of thoughts on anti- and prosocial influences of media events: A cognitive-neoassociation analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 410–427. 10.1037/0033-2909.95.3.410 Bushman, B. J. (1998). 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Sleep, 30, 1220–1223. This publication is protected by US and international copyright laws and its content may not be copied without the copyright holders express written permission except for the print or download capabilities of the retrieval software used for access. This content is intended solely for the use of the individual user. Source: Dreaming. Vol. 26. (4), Accession Digital Object Identifier: 10.1037/drm0000036 • Result List • Refine Search • 1 of 1 Dec, 2016 Related Information Find Similar Resultsusing SmartText Searching. Tools ive der te Welcome to the Online Library! Top of Page • Mobile Site • iPhone and Android apps EBSCO Support Site • Privacy Policy • Terms of Use • Copyright © 2018 EBSCO Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. • pp. 271-279) Number: 2016-54555-001 
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