Manifest dream content, sex role orientation archetypes and the menstrual cycle : an experimental investigation

• Main Author: Osborn, Claire Barbara
• Other Authors: Faber, Phillip
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2015
• Subjects: Psychology - General
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15801

Bibliography: pages 253-280. === Previous research has found that dream content may vary as a function of the menstrual cycle. Parameters which have been found to fluctuate with the menstru.al cycle include sexual and aggressive content of dreams, dream unpleasantness, the frequency of dream recall and maternal and heterosexual dream content. This research also investigated the possibility that agency, communion and archetypality may fluctuate across the menstrual cycle. In addition to this the effect of sex-role orientation was investigated. There were consequently two groups of subjects, one with a masculine sex-role orientation and another with a feminine sex-role orientation. The subjects were 14 women aged between 21 and 28, who did not take a contraceptive pill, who had regular menstrual cycles, and who did not suffer from any severe form of psychopathology. Dream reports were obtained from both home diaries and REM awakenings. Basal body temperatures were recorded daily to enable the phase of the menstrual cycle to be accurately determined.