The social construction of dream sharing: disclosure between intimate partners

Abstract

Psychology thus far has been the leading discipline in the study of dreams and supposes dreams are intrapersonal. Through the theoretical lens of Social Construction of Reality and the framework of self-disclosure, this study focuses on how intimate couples share dreams as a communicative process. Social Construction of Reality is the creation, maintenance, and transformation of reality through social interaction (Deetz, 1982). Crotty (1998) states that social construction involves 'knowledge' and 'meaningful reality' that is based on 'human practices, being constructed in and of interaction between human beings and their world' (p. 42). This social construction of 'meaningful reality' provides the basis for this study. The method of gathering data included a focus group of five participants followed by narrative or conversational interviews with six individual participants. The focus group was guided by the work of Morgan (1997) and Stewart (1990) and the narrative interviews were based on the work of Kvale (1996) and Mishler (1991). Together the Review of the Literature and methodology sections provide a foundation for research on the way relationship is constituted through communicative dialogue of dream sharing. Three primary themes emerged from analysis of the Human Science capta: (1) relational turning points, (2) mutuality, and (3) dream dialectics.