Monique Lortie-Lussier

Temporal references in dreams and autobiographical memory

In an attempt to determine whether temporal references identified in dreams follow the same temporal distributions as those documented for autobiographical memories, 28 younger women (18–35 years of age) and 30 older women (60–77 years of age) kept a home dream diary for 1 week and then slept 1 night in the laboratory for rapid eye movement sleep dream collection. The following morning, they identified temporal references in their dreams and produced a sample of autobiographical memories using the semantic cuing method. For both groups, there was a linear decrease in temporal references identified in dreams and autobiographical memories with increased remoteness for the last 30 years. As predicted, for the older group, there were similar cubic trends reflecting a disproportionately higher number of both temporal references identified in dreams and autobiographical memories from adolescence/ early adulthood compared with adulthood and childhood. The results support the notion of continuity between waking and dreaming memory processes.

Dramatic Social Change in Russia and Mongolia Connecting Relative Deprivation to Social Identity

Two studies assess peoples reactions in the midst of dramatic social change. The studies examine consequences of social change in Russia and Mongolia after the dismantlement of the Soviet Union. They focus on the impact of social changes that are numerous, negative, and rapid. Specifically, an integration of relative deprivation and social identity theories is proposed. According to hypotheses, it is found that the more people perceive social change as numerous and negative, the more they experience social collective relative deprivation. In addition, the more people perceive social change as rapid and negative, the more they express temporal collective relative deprivation. Both types of collective relative deprivation are linked to collective esteem: Whereas the path from temporal collective relative deprivation is negative in both studies, the valence of path from social collective relative deprivation to collective esteem depends on perceived in-group status of the cultural group.

Working mothers versus homemakers: Do dreams reflect the changing roles of women?

In order to examine potential psychological changes arising from womens new social roles, 15 working and 15 nonworking mothers were asked to report dreams collected within a period of three weeks. In addition, they were administered the Jackson Research Personality Form. Two dreams from each subject were analyzed with selected scales which previous studies had shown to be sensitive to sex differences. On the personality inventory, working mothers were found to have higher social recognition and achievement motives. On the dream content measures, discriminant analyses showed that the two groups could be statistically differentiated on the basis of several scales. In accordance with the notion of continuity between waking and dreaming, working mothers experienced more unpleasant emotions, more male characters, and less residential dreams settings than homemakers. The latter group, surprisingly, had more overt hostility in its dreams. These results suggest that as the trend toward carrying the dual role of wage earner and homemaker is expanding, the gender differences typically observed in dreams content may decrease. They also suggest that the analysis of dream content may prove useful to study the strategies of women adapting to role changes.

Determinants of objective and subjective success of men and women

The objective of the study reported here was to determine whether a set of individual variables predicted both the objective and subjective career success of 156 women and 218 men managers in the Quebec public service. Hierarchical regressions performed separately for each gender revealed that few variables predicted both dimensions of success. Human capital was found to be the most important predictor of objective success, salary and position level, regardless of gender. Men’s advancement to senior management positions was facilitated by age, family situation and mentoring, while that of women was facilitated by selfrated interpersonal skills. Age and self-rated interpersonal skills were the only predictors of subjective success, career satisfaction and job satisfaction, for both genders. Ambition negatively predicted career satisfaction for both genders. Findings are discussed from the perspective of current notions of career success in organizations.

Stress and Coping in the Waking and Dreaming States During an Examination Period

Dream diaries were kept by 35 female undergraduates for two ten-day periods, one of preparation for midterm or final examinations, and an exam-free one. Research questions were whether the stress and negative emotions induced by preparing for exams were reflected in dreams and what types of coping were used both in the waking and dreaming states. There was no consistent impact of the stressful situation on dreams, in terms of incorporation and negative emotions. However, 22 dreamers had incorporation dreams. They reported significantly less active problem-solving strategies in waking than the ones who had no such dreams. While a significant negative correlation was found between harm/threat emotions in waking and negative emotions in dream imagery, a positive correlation was found between positive reappraisal in waking and active problem-solving in dreams. Findings are discussed from the perspective of Lazarus and Folkmans theory of adaptation to stress in waking life.

Vertical inversion of the visual field and REM sleep mentation.

The effects of the vertical inversion of the visual field on REM sleep mental activity were examined to explore the potential involvement of this activity in information processing. In a first experiment, four male subjects slept in the laboratory for two sessions of 6 consecutive nights: 2 adaptation nights, 2 nights of polysomnography and 2 nights of dream collection. During the days preceding Nights 3, 4, 5, 6 of each session, the subjects wore glasses which, during the second session, completely inverted (rotation of 180°) their visual field. In a second experiment with four other male subjects, the order of conditions was reversed and the experimental condition (visual inversion) was introduced twice. The data of the two experiments were combined. Overall, following visual inversion, there were significant increases in the proportion of dreams containing motor and visual difficulties (P<0.005), misfortunes (P<0.05) and dreamer confusion (P<0.05) and a decrease in dreamer participation (P<0.05). Only 4 of the 8 subjects experienced incorporations of the inverted visual field into their dreams and they tended to perform better on two of three tests of adaptation to the visual inversion. The observed changes in dreams are consistent with the notion of continuity between waking and dreaming since they appear to reflect the waking preoccupation and psychological state associated with visual inversion.

The Consistency and Continuity Hypotheses Revisited through the Dreams of Women at Two Periods of their Lives

The purpose of the present longitudinal study was to determine the extent of consistency in dream content at two periods of adulthood as well as continuity with the psychosocial development of the dreamers. Twenty-one women kept a dream diary for a few weeks at intervals of 10, 15 or 17 years. ANOVAs for repeated measures were performed on the mean frequencies per dreamer of different dream elements or ratios of these elements. No significant changes were found. Pearson moment correlations yielded high and significant internal consistency for friendly and aggressive interactions. None of the others were significant. Ratios and indices calculated on subclasses of characters, settings, interactions and emotions revealed significant deviations from female norms, at one or the other of the phases. These different findings are discussed within the theoretical perspective of continuity with developmental stages in womens lives.

Value Orientations of English, French, and Italian Canadian Children Continuity of the Ethnic Mosaic?

The value orientations of 118 8-and 9-year-old Canadian children from English (EC), French (FC), and Italian (IC) backgrounds were investigated relative to the constructs of self-image, ideal self, problem solving, and peer relations. Children were interviewed in their respective languages and their responses evaluated on 10 variables according to a system developed by the investigators. Individualistic and collectivistic value orientations for the EC and FC groups emerged as hypothesized for the self-image and ideal self constructs. ICs were more similar to ECs on these constructs. The significant interaction between sex and ethnicity on several variables underlying all constructs implies different standards of desirable behaviors for daughters and sons within the FC and IC groups. FC and IC parents seem to encourage idealized personal and social values in their daughters. FC girls displayed more interpersonal skills than FC boys, and IC boys demonstrated greater resourcefulness in problem solving. Results are discussed within the context of diminishing ethnic particularisms and distinctive gender-role socialization.

Ontogenetic patterns in the dreams of women across the lifespan.

The present study supports and extends previous research on the developmental differences in womens dreams across the lifespan. The participants included 75 Canadian women in each of 5 age groups from adolescence to old age including 12-17, 18-24, 25-39, 40-64, and 65-85, totaling 375 women. One dream per participant was scored by two independent judges using the method of content analysis. Trend analysis was used to determine the ontogenetic pattern of the dream content categories. Results demonstrated significant ontogenetic decreases (linear trends) for female and familiar characters, activities, aggression, and friendliness. These patterns of dream imagery reflect the waking developmental patterns as proposed by social theories and recognized features of aging as postulated by the continuity hypothesis. Limitations and suggestions for future research including the examining of developmental patterns in the dreams of males are discussed.

Self-Ingroup Relationships Their Variations among Canadian Pre-Adolescents of English, French, and Italian Origin

The individualist and collectivist value orientations of 40 English (EC), 40 French (FC), and 36 Italian (IC) Canadian children, aged 10 to 12, were investigated relative to three themes: ideal self, self-esteem, and peer relations. The study intended to determine whether the individualist value orientations displayed in an earlier study by younger EC children were now shared by those of other ethnic groups. Although most children expressed comparable conceptions of self-esteem and self-centered projections of an ideal self, significant differences persisted, and others emerged with respect to self-ingroup relationships across ethnic and gender groups. As expected, ECs were the most individualist, ICs the most peer oriented, and FCs the most family oriented. Accentuation of gender differences was encountered, but not consistently for the three ethnic groups. Although the North American individualist value orientations of the ECs appeared to reflect egalitarian child-rearing values, the different values toward significant others of the FC and IC male and female preteenagers suggest different parental modes of gender role socialization. Results are discussed within cross-cultural perspectives on self-ingroup relationships, and the implications of the results are discussed with regard to cultural diversity in Canada.