Dreams and extraversion: A diary study

Abstract

Dreams have always been fascinating and were interpreted according to cultural norms and beliefs. Based on the continuity between waking and dreaming, one would expect that personality traits are related to dream content. In the present study, of the 108 participants, mostly psychology students, 91 reported at least one dream in a dream diary for 14 days and all participants completed a questionnaire concerning socio-demographic variables, dream recall frequency and extraversion assessed by the NEO-FFI. As expected, extraverted persons had a higher dream extraversion, thus, confirming the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. In addition, extraverted persons had more physical interactions in their dreams and included more positive emotions. Further research might investigate, for example, how modern social networks including social media affect dream content.