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The Words of Adolescents' Dreams: A Quantitative Analysis

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Dreaming, Vol. 13, No. 2, June 2003 (°C 2003)

The Words of Adolescents’ Dreams:

A Quantitative Analysis
Alfio Maggiolini,1,6 Paolo Azzone,2 Katia Provantini,3
Daniele Viganò,4 and Salvatore Freni5

This research detects the most common words recurring in 326 adolescents’ dream lan-
guage. The analyzed dreams have been previously recorded and then transcribed. Grouping
words, we obtained the frequency of the main parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives and
pronouns). Among the nouns, far more frequently represented are terms that refer to impor-
tant objects of an affective relation. Other significant nouns relate to objects linked to both
familial and extra-familial environments. Words related to family relations declined in fre-
quency as age increased and were substituted by terms that refer to relations among friends
and to the external world and its objects. Some of these results can be usefully compared
with the conclusions derived from the application of other methods of content analysis. This
method using dream language analysis could be applied to research concerning dream con-
tent, also through specific dictionaries (groups of words defined and classified in relation
to a certain theme).
KEY WORDS: dream content; text analysis; adolescence.

INTRODUCTION

Recent quantitative studies of dreams were mainly centered upon the analysis of con-
tent, as in the model first outlined by Hall and Van de Castle (1966), then elaborated on
by Domhoff (1996). This kind of analysis made it possible to recognize and quantify the
presence of certain content in the dreams of young adults, both men and women, grouped
in empirically-defined categories.
In the clinical field, quantitative studies of dreams have been carried out within psy-
chotherapeutic research and aimed at verifying some theoretical concepts. In these clinically
1 Facoltà di Psicologia, University of Milan, Bicocca, Italy.
2 Ospedale G. Salvini, Garbagnate, Italy.
3 Istituto Minotauro, Milan, Italy.
4 Ospedale San Gerardo, Monza, Italy.
5 Scuola di Specializzazione in Psichiatria, University of Milan, and Unità di Psichiatria psicodinamica e
Psicoterapia, Ospedale Niguarda, Milan, Italy.
6 Correspondence should be directed to Alfio Maggiolini, Corso Porta Ticinese 4, 20123 Milano, Italy; e-mail:
alfio.maggiolini@tin.it.

107

1053-0797/03/0600-0107/1 °
C 2003 Association for the Study of Dreams
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108 Maggiolini, Azzone, Provantini, Viganò, and Freni

oriented quantitative studies, texts of dreams have been analyzed through methods similar to
those used for the transcription of analytic sessions. Some of these methods are specifically
designed to recognize theoretically pre-defined content that recur in both the patient and the
psychotherapist’s verbalization, and represent a central relational conflict or a typical model
of social relations (Popp, Diguer, Luborsky, Faude, 1996; Luborsky, Crits-Christoph, 1990;
Benjamin, 1996). In contrast, other methods are based on the analysis of the words, intended
as the study of the text rather than of the content, also with the help of “dictionaries” that
classify words according to type (Bucci, 1997).
The most immediate method applicable in the analysis of words is one that takes into
consideration their frequency. Applying this method to the text of a dream can provide
some insight about the dream with no need for interpretative categories defined a priori
(whether empirically or theoretically), nor for dictionaries which classify words according
to a typology created for this specific purpose. This kind of analysis might contribute to
the study and the new appreciation of the linguistic surface, which envelops the content
of recounted dreams. A study of word frequencies does not require a synthesis based on
content categories, and it allows for generalizations that are independent of any theoretical
interpretative model. Thus, the results remain open to many interpretations, as well as to
comparison with analyses of content carried out by other methods.
We chose to apply this mode of analysis of text to dreams of both female and male
adolescents. Our research tries to detect the most common words recurring in adoles-
cents’ dream language, and whether there are any differences depending on gender or
age group. In a previous survey (Azzone, Freni, Maggiolini, Provantini, Viganò, 1998),
in which words from dreams of pre-adolescents were analyzed, results indicated that
linguistic features of dream narratives are widely affected by age and gender in early
adolescence.
In several theoretical models concerning the functioning of dreams, the dream is seen
as an important connection between recent diurnal experiences and the subject’s long-term
memory, as well as “species knowledge” common to all individuals. It is possible that the
most frequent words represent the indicators of the super-individual content of dreams. This
could be a way to recognize universal themes, especially if applied alongside others methods
related to the typical content of dreams or universal themes (Stevens, 1995; DeLaney, 1997;
Garfield, 2001).

METHODS

Research Setting

Recounted dreams have been collected from students of nine schools in Milan, Italy.
The school environment has been privileged firstly for the ease with which this age group can
be encountered. Secondly, schools presumably provide a homogeneous and representative
sample of the adolescent population, given the high percentage of student teenagers.
As far as the pre-adolescence sample (11–13 years old) is concerned, the survey has
taken into consideration two secondary schools from different social contexts, as one is
located in the city-center and the other on the outskirts of Milan. Moreover, as secondary
school is compulsory in Italy, it is reasonable to suppose that a school class would present
a multiplicity of social, economic and demographic conditions.
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The Words of Adolescents’ Dreams 109

The choice concerning high schools was also driven by the wish to survey subjects
as representative of the general population as possible. Thus, we took into consideration
different kinds of high schools in which adolescents from 14 to 19 years old are encountered:
two scientific schools, one artistic school, two technical institutes and two professional
institutes.

Subjects

The sample consisted of 326 subjects (153 male and 183 female). Of these, 145 were
pre-adolescents (11–13 year olds 74 male and 71 female), and 181 adolescents (14–19 year
olds, 79 male and 102 female). The average age was 15.15 years old (DS 2.88).

Data Collection

The researchers (two young psychologists) collected dreams through the subject’s
narration, which was recorded—audio taped—and then transcribed. In order to be able
to record the recounted dreams, two meetings were planned. The first was a collective
meeting held in the classroom, in which the researchers presented the aims of the study and
the methods to be employed. The subjects were told that the study was about the contents of
people’s dreams. On this occasion, the voluntary and anonymous character of the students’
participation was stressed, specifying that the dream would be recorded in the presence of
the interviewer only, and that the content of the interview would not be disclosed to teachers.
The request made to the students was for a recent dream and for as detailed a narration as
possible.
The second meeting took place about two weeks after the first one, and only involved
the students who chose to participate in the survey. Each subject recounted his or her dream
to the interviewer individually, outside the class environment. The interviews took about
fifteen minutes.
The percentage of participants reached 89% of the students involved. In a previous
study dealing with most recent dreams among boys and girls of 12 to 13 years old, 83%
of the girls and 60% of the boys reported a Most Recent Dream (Avila-White, Shneider,
Domhoff, 1999). However, while in the Most Recent Dream’s method the subjects were
required to write down their dream, our procedure was based up the recounted dream.
Participating subjects were requested to report one or more recent dreams. 596 dreams
were so collected: 280 dreams from pre-adolescents and 315 dreams from adolescents.
However, only the first dream recounted by each of the 326 subjects was included in this
analysis.

Procedures for Language Analysis

The dreams collected were transcribed according to the rules elaborated by

Mergenthaler and Stinson (1985), in the Italian version (Mergenthaler, Freni, Giampieri,
Ferrari, 1998) in order to obtain transcriptions adequate for a computer analysis of the
text. The frequency of words was analyzed through a special software program (Textpack).
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110 Maggiolini, Azzone, Provantini, Viganò, and Freni

The program separated words that, while sharing the same root, showed morphologic differ-
ences concerning gender and number, and presented possible alterations of nouns, adjectives
and verbal conjugation (the version 7.0 was developed by Peter Ph. Mohler and Cornelia
Züll; for more information see Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen, Manheim,
www.gesis.org/zuma).
In order to obtain frequency indexes independent of grammatical variations, we have
worked towards the grouping of words. This grouping was necessary in order to avoid
an inadequate proliferation of variables. As a result, we were able to obtain the absolute
frequency of the main parts of the speech. In particular, given the fact that, in Italian,
masculine and feminine as well as singular and plural nouns are distinct, in the case of
nouns it was decided to transform feminine and plural forms into the masculine, singular
form of that same term. For instance, the term amico (male friend) will include amica
(female friend), amiche and amici (female friends, male friends), as would be the case in
the English language.
The absolute frequency of a word was given by the sum of the individual frequencies of
each gender and number of the form. This criterion was also applied to qualifying adjectives
and possessive adjectives. Likewise, all verbal forms were reduced to their infinitive: vedo
(I see), vedevo (I used to see), etc., have been categorized under vedere (to see). The personal
pronouns were grouped in six classes, I, II and III singular and I, II and III plural.
Given the great number of words used at least once in the entire sample, it was neces-
sary to select some subcategories of words for the resulting statistics. To this aim we chose
once again a criterion based on frequency. We selected 15 nouns, 15 verbs and 10 adjectives
which were most frequent in the sample. To this group of words we added 8 nouns, 7 verbs
and 2 adjectives that in previous research specific to early adolescent population had pre-
sented non-homogeneous distribution across the two genders and the different age groups
(Azzone, Freni, Maggiolini, Provantini, Viganò, 1998). Finally, we took into consideration
the frequency of personal and possessive pronouns as well as the total number of words
included in each dream’s narration. Table I reports the complete list of variables entered in
the analyses.

RESULTS

Each dream contained an average of 223.11 words (SD = 173.15). The 10 most
frequent nouns and verbs in the whole sample are reported in Tables II and III respec-
tively. Differences between the two genders in the characteristics of dream language were

Table I. Variables Entered in the Analyses

Nouns
Thing, house, boy/girl, friend, point, person, mother, car, time, fear, street, father, brother/sister,
door, schoolmate, uncle/aunt, animal, ladder, cousin, teacher, window, horse, foot.
Verbs
To do, to go, to dream, to say, to know, to see, to stay, to remember, to find, to wake up, to take, to
succeed, to want, to must, to come, to put, to feel, to enter, to look for, to turn, to seem, to kill.
Adjectives
Odd, small, dark, beautiful, big, alone, normal, high, white, black, fast, long
Pronouns
I, II and III person (singular); and I, II and III person (plural)
Total number of words
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The Words of Adolescents’ Dreams 111

Table II. The 10 Nouns Most Frequently Used in

the Dreams of 326 Adolescents
Relative frequencya
Words Mean SD

1. Thing 1.01 1.74

2. House 0.90 1.57
3. Boy 0.73 1.64
4. Friend 0.71 1.28
5. Point 0.66 1.12
6. Person 0.44 1.04
7. Mother 0.60 1.35
8. Car 0.35 1.10
9. Time 0.33 0.70
10. Fear 0.31 0.80

Note. 153 M and 173 F, mean age = 15.15 ± 2.88.

a Percentageof the total number of words in each
dream.

investigated through a discriminant function analysis. A protected forward procedure was

adopted. First, a discriminant analysis was performed entering all the above reported vari-
ables into one block; the result was highly significant with an F-ratio of 1.55 (n = 326;
dF = 64, 261; p < .0097). As the F-ratio of this first analysis was significant, we pro-
ceeded to enter variables according to a forward stepwise model (see Table IV). F to enter
was set at 3.0. Out of the 64 variables, 7 were included in the final model: 4 nouns and
3 verbs. No adjective or pronoun was sufficiently distinctive that it could provide a basis
for discriminating between male and female subjects. The resulting classification matrix
showed moderate accuracy in assigning each dream to one of the two genders, with correct
classification reaching 73.86% for males and 61.85% for females.
One noun, “friend,” was more frequent in male dream narratives, while female subjects
used the nouns “mother,” “fear” and “boy/girl” (the Italian ragazzo/a) more often.
In addition, boys’ dreams contained a higher number of instances of the verbs “to
wake up” and “to feel,” while girls’ dreams were characterized by a higher frequency of the
auxiliary verb “to must.”

Table III. The 10 Verbs Most Frequently Used in the

Dreams of 326 Adolescents
Relative frequencya
Verbs Mean SD

1. To do 2.34 2.64
2. To go 1.98 2.42
3. To dream 1.85 2.09
4. To say 1.67 2.42
5. To know 1.27 2.31
6. To see 1.44 1.97
7. To stay 1.14 1.65
8. To remember 0.90 1.79
9. To find 0.76 1.47
10. To wake up 0.65 0.90

Note. 153 M and 173 F, mean age = 15.15 ± 2.88.

a Percentage of the total number of words in each dream.
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112 Maggiolini, Azzone, Provantini, Viganò, and Freni

Table IV. Frequencya of Words in Male vs Female Dreams (Discriminant Analysis)

Males (n = 153) Females (n = 173)
Words mean SD mean SD F (df = 1,318) p

Mother 0.25 0.65 0.90 1.70 18.22 .000

Must 0.35 0.86 0.79 1.28 14.65 .000
To wake up 0.77 1.01 0.55 0.77 7.55 .006
Friend 0.82 1.29 0.61 1.27 7.95 .005
Boy 0.54 1.37 0.91 1.83 6.53 .011
Fear 0.21 0.67 0.39 0.90 5.05 .025
To feel 0.46 1.05 0.36 0.92 3.65 .057

Note. F to enter = 3.0; N = 326 (153 M and 173 F, mean age = 15.15 ± 2.88).
a Percentage of the total number of words in each dream.

The effect of age on dream language was investigated through multiple regression,
first in the whole sample and then in male and female adolescents separately. A protected
forward stepwise approach was adopted.
With respect to the global sample, the preliminary regression including the 64 linguistic
variables in one block proved highly significant, yielding an F-ratio of 3.16 (n = 326;
dF = 64, 216, p < .000000) and an R 2 of .44. In the subsequent forward stepwise multiple
regression (see Table V) F to enter was set at 3. Thirteen variables were included in the
model: the total number of words, 9 nouns and 3 verbs. R 2 was .36. Significant or highly
significant ß values were observed for all but 2 variables included in the final equation.
In the whole sample the frequency of most nouns (“mother,” “ladder,” “horse,” “brother/
sister,” “house,” “point,” “animal” and “cousin”) and of the verb “to go” decreased with
age. On the other hand, the frequency of the total number of words, the frequency of the
verbs “to remember” and “to do” and of the noun “car” increased with age.
For male adolescents, the multiple regression including all variables in one block
showed an F-ratio of 2.23 (n = 153; dF = 64, 88; p < .00025) and an R 2 of 0.62. In the
subsequent forward stepwise multiple regression (see Table VI) 10 variables were included
in the model, that is, the total number of words included in each dream narrative: 5 nouns,

Table V. Relation Between the Frequency of Words and the

Age of Dreamers in 326 Adolescents
Variables Beta p

Total number of words .60 .000

Mother −.18 .001
To remember .16 .002
Ladder −.14 .004
Horse −.11 .014
Brother/sister −.11 .019
House −.12 .038
Point −.13 .006
Car .13 .008
Animal −.10 .028
Cousin −.09 .064
To go −.11 .046
To do .10 .081

Note. 153 M and 173 F, mean age = 15.15 ± 2.88.

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The Words of Adolescents’ Dreams 113

Table VI. Relation Between the Frequency of Words and the

Age of Dreamers in 153 Male Adolescents
Variables Beta p

Total number of words 0.64 .000

To want −0.20 .005
Car 0.19 .004
Mother −0.19 .006
To do 0.25 .005
Animal −0.13 .040
Point −0.21 .008
To remember 0.17 .026
Ladder −0.15 .042
III person (singular) −0.20 .078

Note. Mean age = 15.05.

3 verbs, and 1 personal pronoun. R 2 was 0.43. For all variables but one ß values were
statistically significant.
In the male sample, the total number of words included in each dream narrative in-
creased with age. Dream narratives of older adolescents contained more often the noun
“car,” while the frequencies of the nouns “mother,” “animal,” “point” and “ladder” were
lower than in younger subjects. The frequency of two verbs, namely “to remember” and “to
do,” increased with the dreamer’s age. The frequency of the verb “to want” was higher in the
language of younger adolescents’ dreams. Finally, the use of pronouns in the third singular
person decreased with age in the male sample, although not to a significant degree. The
frequency of adjectives never reached the threshold F value for inclusion in the equation.
For female teenagers, multiple regression on age of the frequency of the above-
mentioned linguistic variables—entered in one block—yielded an F-ratio of 2.07 (n = 173,
dF = 64, 108; p < .0004) and an R 2 of .55. For female adolescents, the subsequent forward
stepwise multiple regression equation (see Table VII) included 7 variables: the total num-
ber of words included in each dream narrative, 4 nouns, and 2 verbs. R 2 (.39) was similar
to that observed for the male sample. All ß values were significant or highly significant,
the only exception being “ladder,” whose ß got very near to significance threshold. As in
the male sample, the total number of words included in each dream narrative increased
with the dreamer’s age. In female adolescents’ dream narratives the frequencies of four
nouns decreased with age: “mother,” “brother/sister,” “horse” and “ladder.” One verb (“to
go”) showed a similar trend, while “to remember” was used more often by older girls. No
adjective or personal pronoun reached the threshold F value for inclusion in the equation.

Table VII. Relation Between the Frequency of Words and

the Age of Dreamers in 174 Female Adolescents
Variables Beta p

Total number of words 0.68 .000

To go −0.31 .000
Mother −0.21 .001
Brother – Sister −0.15 .016
Horse −0.15 .018
To remember 0.15 .024
Ladder −0.12 .056

Note. Mean age = 15.05.

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114 Maggiolini, Azzone, Provantini, Viganò, and Freni

DISCUSSION

The total number of words contained in the dream narratives, told by the subjects
participating in the present research, appears higher than that reported by other authors.
In a study on Most Recent Dreams of 12–13 year-old boys and girls the median length
was 125 words for the girls, with a range of 5 to 463, and 89 words for the boys, with a
range from 11 to 360 (Avila-White, Schneider, Domhoff, 1999). This could be explained
by the fact that one tends to use more words when telling a dream than writing it. In dream
research the different measurement techniques (as questionnaire vs. diary) affect the results
(Schredl, 2002).
Among the most frequent words, we found generic terms and word that referred to
the activity of sleeping, dreaming and remembering. An example of generic terms is cosa
(thing), in absolute terms the most frequently used noun. Also “point” and “time” are nouns,
although in the sentences they are more often used with their adverbial function (“at a certain
point,” “one time” . . . ). We also found words that could be more indicative not only of the
language features in which they are told, but also of the content of dreams.
Among the other nouns, far more frequently represented are terms that refer to impor-
tant objects of an affective relation, and above all, are connected to friendship (“friend,”
“boy/girl”). This datum appears in agreement with the affective and relational dimension
typical of adolescence, in which friends’ circles and sentimental relations progressively
become more important than family relations. In this connection, it is interesting to note
that the word “mother”, unlike “father,” is among the most frequent nouns; however, the
frequency of “mother” decreases in both males and females’ vocabulary.
Other significant nouns related to objects linked to both familial and extra-familial
environments, such as “home” and “car.” In this case it is important to underline the absence
of words related to the school realm, which is the extra-familial environment most frequently
shared by adolescent students.
Dreams concerning the use of cars are, by contrast, rather frequent, and often refer
to accidents or loss of control, which in turn are typical contents of dreams (DaLaney,
1997; Garfield, 1999; Grinstein, 1983). In our social context the use of a car is an important
symbolic indicator of individual autonomy. Obtaining a driving license symbolizes for the
adolescent the achievement of the status of young adult. The last noun to appear in the list is
“fear,” a confirmation of the importance of this emotion in remembered dreams. However,
it is possible that the procedure used to collect dreams led to privilege the choice of dreams
with a strong emotional content.
Among verbs, some related to the narration of dreams and to the process of dreaming
(“to dream,” “to remember,” “to wake up”). Also the frequency of the verb “to see” might
indicate the importance of perception in dreams and in the narration of dreams. Others were
verbs indicating an action (“to do,” “to go”), or knowledge (“to know”), which point at the
different subjective functions of dreams: the subject of perception, of knowledge and of
action (“I remember that I dreamt about seeing one thing. Then I went towards it, knowing
that I would have found . . . ”).
The verb stare has a complex function in Italian, for it is used not only to describe a
static function (like the English “to stay”), but it also indicates the beginning of an action
(stare per fare is the Italian translation of “going to do”). Likewise, the verb trovare means
both “to find” and, in its reflexive form trovarsi, “to be in a place.” The latter meaning is
more often found in dream narratives: “Mi trovavo in una stanza . . . ”, “I was in a room . . . .”
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The Words of Adolescents’ Dreams 115

In our previous research on early adolescents (both males and females) we found
that the most common nouns in the whole sample were “house” and “mother.” The most
frequent verbs were “to go” and “to do.” Boys’ dreams contained a higher proportion of
verbs, reflexive forms and of words such as “animal,” “long,” “to enter” and “to kill.” Girls
used intransitive verbs more often and words like “teacher,” “horse,” “to take” and “to put”
(Azzone, Freni, Maggiolini, Provantini, Viganò, 1998).
In the dreams of adolescents, terms that appear to be more bound to childhood and
to dream symbolism decrease. The frequency of the word “horse” in female dreams and
that of “animal” in male dreams decreases, while the use of the term “ladder” diminishes in
both genders. Words related to family relations also drop their frequency (“brother/sister”
decrease in females, “mother” in the dreams of both boys and girls), and are substituted
by terms that refer to relations among friends and to the external world and its objects (for
instance, “car”). The use of the verb “to remember” increases in both genders. This also
marks a greater linguistic mastering of dream narratives. Similarly, the increase of the total
number of words in narratives of both male and female adolescents is indicative of cognitive
development and of a more advanced linguistic competence.
One can ask, in what way does the counting of the words of a dream narrative relate
to the dream experience? It is hard to define what a dream is (a series of images that occur
during sleep, the brain’s efforts to make sense of signals generated by the lower brain, an
experience shared through social interactions), and a generally acceptable working definition
for dreaming is still not possible (Pagel, Blagrove, Levin, States, Stickgold, White, 2001).
There is a crucial foundational role of language in dream formation: the association between
image and latent thought always rests on a specifically linguistic relationship. The dream
while it is being dreamed is experienced, but our memory of that experience, whether
we report it or not, is the text of the dream. When we work with dreams, we can only
work with the report of a dream, and we are doing the same when we report a waking
experience (Kilroe, 2000). Also, research on automatically detected word recurrences in
dream associations could be useful in finding the thoughts that produce the dream (Barcaro,
Calabrese, Cavallero , Diciotti, Navona, 2002).
Some of our results can be compared with the conclusions derived from the application
of other methods of content analysis. According to other studies, in the dreams of pre-
adolescents differences relative to gender and age groups concerned, above all, the concept
of aggression. The largest differences between 12–13 year-olds and young adults were
related to aggression. Data on physical aggression were much higher in teenagers than in
young adults, as the 12–13 year-olds was more likely to be outdoors and in unfamilial
settings (Avila-White, Schneider, Domhoff, 1999). In our present research, we did not find
any similar difference in the frequency of words related to aggression, while in our previous
study on pre-adolescents the verb “to kill” was by far more frequent in boys than in girls.
According to our findings, the frequency of the word “mother,” “brother/sister” and
“animal” in males’ dreams decreases, while that of “car” increases. In other words, our
research highlights the change in contents related to objects of relations, a result that is
consistent with what other studies have claimed. Indeed, results of a longitudinal study on
home dreams and waking fantasies of boys and girls between ages 9 and 15 show that joint-
gender peer groups became more frequent, and girls showed a decline in the percentage of
animals in their dreams (Strauch, Lederbogen, 1999).
According to our study, boys appear less oriented than girls towards relationships with
the other gender and more interested in friendship (the word “friend” was more frequent
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116 Maggiolini, Azzone, Provantini, Viganò, and Freni

in male dreams narratives). In contrast girls, besides dreaming about friends, seem to be
clearly thinking in terms of sexual differences: female subjects used more often than males
the noun ragazzo/a (“boy – girl”), a term, which in Italian is used also in the sense of
boy-friend or girl-friend. This datum clearly shows the reduction of gender difference due
to the necessity of not analyzing the difference between masculine and feminine words in
Italian. This datum can be compared with the conclusions emerging from other studies on
dream content. Generally speaking, these results might be consistent with the home dreams
studies reviewed by Domhoff (1996), in which boys dream mainly about male characters
while girls display a more balanced distribution of male and female subjects.
Finally, boys appear to be more active in relation to the process of dreaming and to
the description of feelings; indeed, boys’ dreams contained a higher number of instances of
the verbs “to wake up” and “to feel.” Girls, on the other hand, experience feelings of fear
and a sense of duty, as the high frequency of the verbs “must” and “to fear” in their dreams
demonstrates.
In conclusion, the results of our research show that the language of dreams differs
according to age group and gender. This method of analysis does not allow differentiating
a dream language study from a content study, a problem concerning all the researches on
recounted dreams. For this purpose, a comparison between nocturnal and diurnal narratives
would certainly be useful, as it would allow for the differentiation between these two distinct
types of texts and the individuation of the most typical words in dreams. It would then be
possible to compare the most recent dream with a waking fantasy or with a recent waking
life episode, which was somehow powerful and striking for the subject.
This kind of research can be developed further with the creation of dictionaries, either
theoretically or empirically oriented. They could include words concerning emotions (pos-
itive and negative), relationships such as the ones referring to aggression, friendship and
the like, and cognitions (as perception or belief verbs). It would be also possible to analyze
the frequency of predefined cluster of words.

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