[Jungian Cognitive Functions] Functions & Dreams: The Fabric That Connects Them

[Norrsken]

My friend [MENTION=30122]Tony Snark[/MENTION] mentioned to me that if it's at all possible that an individual's cognitive functions could have a direct or indirect effect of what their dreams majorly consists of. He thinks that people who uses Si would dream about something happening in the past, Se having more exciting and physical dreams, and so on so forth. What do you guys think of this theory? What is your MBTI type and what do you usually dream about?

 

[Lord Lavender]

Hmmm as myself being a Ne dom I have random and bizarre stereotypicaly Ne dreams such as Wonderland scenes, ideas for stuff such as game shows and devices and bizzare sinearos and I rarely have good or bad dreams just surreal dreams but some do take a more fun or nightmareish twist. Like for the fun ones it was a swimming water game and for the nightmarish twisty ones one was being trapped in a time loop inside a cage.

 

[Norrsken]

Hmmm as myself being a Ne dom I have random and bizarre stereotypicaly Ne dreams such as Wonderland scenes, ideas for stuff such as game shows and devices and bizzare sinearos and I rarely have good or bad dreams just surreal dreams but some do take a more fun or nightmareish twist. Like for the fun ones it was a swimming water game and for the nightmarish twisty ones one was being trapped in a time loop inside a cage.

How does your other functions come into play when these dreams materializes inside your head?

 

[Population: 1]

Interesting topic. I love analyzing dreams. Which is ironic because I usually have the blandest and most normal dreams of anyone I know. So boring that I'll usually only realize I'm dreaming because one little detail will be off and defy reality. Then occasionally I'll have an action packed adventure or a really bizarre surreal experience.

I have no idea how introverted feeling might effect that. I do notice I rarely talk in my dreams but other people are quite chatty. It's been postulated that other people in our dreams are merely representations of aspects of ourselves so maybe it's an Fi internal dialogue thing.

 

[Lord Lavender]

How does your other functions come into play when these dreams materializes inside your head?

I think hmmm that Ne is making up all those ideas and Ti means it trys to make logical sense and the Fe in me manifests in making sure other people are in the dreams for me to have people to share and interact with Si showing up in little ways like occasionally revisiting a old place I went to in the past and consistency of the people in certain situations.

 

[Norrsken]

I do notice I rarely talk in my dreams but other people are quite chatty. It's been postulated that other people in our dreams are merely representations of aspects of ourselves so maybe it's an Fi internal dialogue thing.

I hardly, if ever, talk in my dreams either. The dreams talk for me, so to speak. Interesting.
I'll chime back in later to describe my own dreams here, but yes, I love dream analysis as well.

 

[INTJMom]

My friend @Tony Snark mentioned to me that if it's at all possible that an individual's cognitive functions could have a direct or indirect effect of what their dreams majorly consists of. He thinks that people who uses Si would dream about something happening in the past, Se having more exciting and physical dreams, and so on so forth. What do you guys think of this theory? What is your MBTI type and what do you usually dream about?

Since cognitive functions to some degree are dictated by brain chemistry, it makes sense to me that cognitive functions would likely have some effect on dreams, but I wouldn't begin to imagine HOW MUCH influence.

I'm an INTJ - dominant Ni (Introverted Intuition).

My dreams almost always take place in or near the house I grew up in and never in any house I've ever lived in since then,
though they also take place in buildings I have never seen, they're just imaginary.
I also have dreams set in the elementary school I went to.
Sometimes my dreams are set in the street of a town or in the woods or a field, all unfamiliar.

There's almost never anyone else in my dreams.
I hardly ever dream of people I know, except for my kids.

Understanding the meaning of my dreams is something I have been interested in for many years.
Important things I've learned about dreams:
They are the product subconscious mind processing thoughts and feelings.
Usually they are a reflection of "how I am feeling at this time in my life".
Some people say they never dream, but it is probably more likely they just don't remember them because people who don't dream can become psychotic.
The best resource for dream interpretation I have ever found is this:
Full text of "Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted, or what's in a dream: a scientific and practical exposition"
Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted - Gustavus Hindman Miller · 1901
I have it in a word document so I can search it more quickly and easily, especially since some of the vocabulary is "odd".

 

[Norrsken]

My dreams are always about a few things: Being lost, losing control or autonomy, or the feeling of non-existence. In the first subject, many of my dreams consists of me wandering through places I've never seen or been before in my wakening world, and I never seem to find what I'm looking for. Or maybe I don't have anything to look for, but still, the vacant feeling inside of me still wishes to find it, whatever the subject of the it may be. Losing something and never getting it back is also another one that keeps happening every time I go to sleep, which is always annoying. In the second subject, it's always the same; I'm in a car, either alone or with a passenger, and I can't control the car as it speeds and swerves dramatically. I never get hurt or die but it is never the less a very stressful thing to dream about. The final subject is one that I find simultaneously comforting and distressing. I am within the world but never a part of it. I'm in a glass looking in, looking at life as it happens organically and never being a part of it. It's something I experience every day in my life and then it reflects in these dreams too. I never speak and people never even look at me in those types of dreams. Of course, sometimes, when I can especially control myself in dreams, I like to help the ones who seem like they are asking for some kind of support in the dream, and then, I'm a hero, if only in theory.

 

[Ashtart]

My dreams have a quite aggressive nature and are most very adventurous. The colors are vividly, often.

 

[Norrsken]

I just had one of the most saddest dreams the other night. I dream that I was visiting an old friend in a school environment to tell her congratulations for the new position that she applied to. She said she felt that she deserves it for all the hard work she's done for the school, and she has flaxen hair. Her smile seems so calm, genuine, and serene, and I lost it. I started sobbing. She tried to comfort me and asked me why all the tears. And I told her, "Because you're you. How can I replace you? You can complete a puzzle but without that one missing piece, it's never what it seems. It'll never be the same. You will always be that missing piece to me."

It's like this dream represents someone I used to know.
Only, I've never met this woman before.

 

[Population: 1]

I just had one of the most saddest dreams the other night. I dream that I was visiting an old friend in a school environment to tell her congratulations for the new position that she applied to. She said she felt that she deserves it for all the hard work she's done for the school, and she has flaxen hair. Her smile seems so calm, genuine, and serene, and I lost it. I started sobbing. She tried to comfort me and asked me why all the tears. And I told her, "Because you're you. How can I replace you? You can complete a puzzle but without that one missing piece, it's never what it seems. It'll never be the same. You will always be that missing piece to me."

It's like this dream represents someone I used to know.
Only, I've never met this woman before.

Interesting. Perhaps she represents a part of you. Something you feel you have lost?

 

[Norrsken]

Interesting. Perhaps she represents a part of you. Something you feel you have lost?

I wonder if kindred spirits really do have a place in our reality after all. Perhaps she is someone of a prior lifetime before this one, because in the dream, she really did felt familiar. Her spirit just seemed so.. As if she really was an old friend of mine. And to see her go broke my heart in the dream. I woke up feeling numb for a while. It was really just odd.

But you could be right as well and could represent something psychological instead. Hm.

 

[VILLANELLE]

I'm an ENFJ.

I've often dreamt of random stuff. I don't know if there's any reason for my dreams. What usually happens in my dreams are, people leave me, or laugh at me. I've been eaten/chased by a bear in a dream, dealt with spiders, or animals leaving me. I had one dream where I was in my old high school but I kept getting lost/taken back to the same class, like some maze. I kept going after this cat, and a family member was there, too. It was really strange. I don't remember all of my dreams, and a lot of my memories of them are vague, but some of them I remember very vividly and it's kind of weird/upsetting. So many people tell me dreams don't mean anything, but I don't know what to believe.

 

[VILLANELLE]

I hardly, if ever, talk in my dreams either. The dreams talk for me, so to speak. Interesting.
I'll chime back in later to describe my own dreams here, but yes, I love dream analysis as well.

I don't talk in my dreams, either. Rarely.

 

[Zeego]

Back when I was still a strong believer in the Grant/Beebe stack, I had a theory that dreams allow us to act out our shadow functions, and our dream persona is the shadow of our waking persona. So for example, as an INTP, in dreams I'd be an ENTJ. I don't currently believe in this, however.