The effect of cognitive functions on dreams

[BlackholeRoad]

Discussssss. And totally post examples too.

I tend to have dreams that involve tunnels, in fact I have a whole network of tunnels I keep coming back to in my dreams, and they're often convoluted, snaking off in all sortsa directions. And dilapidated buildings, sometimes involving zombies, sometimes grotesque...somethings I can't describe? And even a combination of the two, a really long unfinished building, it never was completed, it just kind of atrophied and there was something in it following me. Just one of quite a few recurring themes I experience. Any thoughts on what that involves function-wise? If there exists any correlation at all, I'm trying to figure out how much the functions impact dreams or if they're just highly personal and inconsistent within types/quadras.

[kadda1212]

Wow. Interesting. My dreams sometimes are similar and also involve underground tunnels and stuff like that. Often there are also pools of water, sometimes those tunnels or underground chambers look like parts of a canalization, sometimes it looks more like a cavern with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. I'm never alone in those caverns, there is something lurking there. Often zombies or alligators, following me or trying to eat me.
Sometimes I find an exit out of the cavern and it leads into a different setting, maybe a forest. When I'm in a forest I often have bow and arrows with me and feel like I'm hunting for something.
It may also be an old city, full of little streets with timbered houses, a huge cathedral and a castle. There's a train station there and often I'm dreaming of taking the train or riding the bus around this city. Sometimes I'm walking through a deserted shopping mall there, searching for someone I was supposed to meet. Then I return to a parking deck to search for my car. Sometimes I end up driving around with my car, never reaching my destination.
Another setting which is quite frequent in my dreams is a hotel. In those kind of dreams various people I know are involved. But often I'm supposed to save them from some danger.
And of course I'm dreaming of my house with additional rooms and hallways, staircases, attics and cellars. Sometimes full of stuff, like globes, harps, pianos, all covered in dust. Once I had this dream of a small door appearing in one corner of my room and it lead to one of these rooms that were full of things, but something was waiting for me there, I knew and I didn't want to enter the room. To lead over to the real scary nightmares I can remember: I was looking out of the kitchen window into the garden and there was a man walking around, with a black tail coat and a top hat and an unrecognizable face. Just walking around in the garden and sometimes looking up. I was so scared he would try to enter the house.
Another nightmare was about two children who were sitting in my living room, one was blindfolded, the other gagged. There was another girl standing in the room, who kept screaming and was swallowing nails and fixing pins. And I desperately tried to make her stop, but it didn't work.
I can try to think of more. My dreams are often very vivid and I can remember a lot of them.

[BlackholeRoad]

Wow. Interesting. My dreams sometimes are similar and also involve underground tunnels and stuff like that. Often there are also pools of water, sometimes those tunnels or underground chambers look like parts of a canalization, sometimes it looks more like a cavern with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. I'm never alone in those caverns, there is something lurking there. Often zombies or alligators, following me or trying to eat me.
Sometimes I find an exit out of the cavern and it leads into a different setting, maybe a forest. When I'm in a forest I often have bow and arrows with me and feel like I'm hunting for something.
It may also be an old city, full of little streets with timbered houses, a huge cathedral and a castle. There's a train station there and often I'm dreaming of taking the train or riding the bus around this city. Sometimes I'm walking through a deserted shopping mall there, searching for someone I was supposed to meet. Then I return to a parking deck to search for my car. Sometimes I end up driving around with my car, never reaching my destination.
Another setting which is quite frequent in my dreams is a hotel. In those kind of dreams various people I know are involved. But often I'm supposed to save them from some danger.
And of course I'm dreaming of my house with additional rooms and hallways, staircases, attics and cellars. Sometimes full of stuff, like globes, harps, pianos, all covered in dust. Once I had this dream of a small door appearing in one corner of my room and it lead to one of these rooms that were full of things, but something was waiting for me there, I knew and I didn't want to enter the room. To lead over to the real scary nightmares I can remember: I was looking out of the kitchen window into the garden and there was a man walking around, with a black tail coat and a top hat and an unrecognizable face. Just walking around in the garden and sometimes looking up. I was so scared he would try to enter the house.
Another nightmare was about two children who were sitting in my living room, one was blindfolded, the other gagged. There was another girl standing in the room, who kept screaming and was swallowing nails and fixing pins. And I desperately tried to make her stop, but it didn't work.
I can try to think of more. My dreams are often very vivid and I can remember a lot of them.

That's trippy, I have some very similar dreams. Interesting stuff, I can totally picture these scenes cuz they occur in my dreams too.

There's one part of my strange tunnel world that's accessed via a normal old manhole in a street, but there's a hanging ladder that falls into a huge square cement room, the only light coming from the manhole entrance, and a large rectangular part in the middle leading to a large tunnel. That tunnel leads to a smaller square room with more tunnels, and one notable part of the system is if you keep following the tunnels to the right, it leads to a platform with railing built into the side of a silo of virtually unknown size, and there are two doors, one on either end of the long-ish platform, which going into the right-most door was a dream unto itself, dunno if I wanna describe that one lol.
Then there was another one where I was younger in the dream, like 14 I think, and again there was a very large square room but it looked more like a subway tile sort of texture, and there were many people crowded in it as if there was some sort of calamity that they were all survivors of, a lot looked upset, some were crying, some were very calm, some were even laughing with friends. Set in three of the walls was a normal-sized square tunnel, and I entered one of them and there were smaller groups of between 2-4 people talking, smoking, generally hanging out and it was pretty straight-forward at first, maybe a turn here or there, then it got to where all I ended up seeing was one guy walking back towards where there were more people and nobody else, more turns, the overhead lights got dim, the walls were dirtier, slowly turning a rust color, and at that point for some reason I named the tunnel The Snake? Dunno why. But the dark and the rust got thicker, until there was a corner where the dark was actually tangible, like it was its own entity, and I ran away from it, then woke up.
Just a couple examples of this weird tunnel world I have in my dreams, there are way more.

I too have a lot of dreams of abandoned town settings, usually trying to survive some sort of zombie apocalypse haha. This'll be an excessively long reply if I continue to go into detail. What do yah think that means function-wise though? If anything at all. I wanna say it's a rendition of Ni, but I can't say for sure.

[kadda1212]

That's trippy, I have some very similar dreams. Interesting stuff, I can totally picture these scenes cuz they occur in my dreams too.

There's one part of my strange tunnel world that's accessed via a normal old manhole in a street, but there's a hanging ladder that falls into a huge square cement room, the only light coming from the manhole entrance, and a large rectangular part in the middle leading to a large tunnel. That tunnel leads to a smaller square room with more tunnels, and one notable part of the system is if you keep following the tunnels to the right, it leads to a platform with railing built into the side of a silo of virtually unknown size, and there are two doors, one on either end of the long-ish platform, which going into the right-most door was a dream unto itself, dunno if I wanna describe that one lol.
Then there was another one where I was younger in the dream, like 14 I think, and again there was a very large square room but it looked more like a subway tile sort of texture, and there were many people crowded in it as if there was some sort of calamity that they were all survivors of, a lot looked upset, some were crying, some were very calm, some were even laughing with friends. Set in three of the walls was a normal-sized square tunnel, and I entered one of them and there were smaller groups of between 2-4 people talking, smoking, generally hanging out and it was pretty straight-forward at first, maybe a turn here or there, then it got to where all I ended up seeing was one guy walking back towards where there were more people and nobody else, more turns, the overhead lights got dim, the walls were dirtier, slowly turning a rust color, and at that point for some reason I named the tunnel The Snake? Dunno why. But the dark and the rust got thicker, until there was a corner where the dark was actually tangible, like it was its own entity, and I ran away from it, then woke up.
Just a couple examples of this weird tunnel world I have in my dreams, there are way more.

I too have a lot of dreams of abandoned town settings, usually trying to survive some sort of zombie apocalypse haha. This'll be an excessively long reply if I continue to go into detail. What do yah think that means function-wise though? If anything at all. I wanna say it's a rendition of Ni, but I can't say for sure.

That's quite detailed. I often feel like I return to the same places in my dreams, but they're always a little bit different and I couldn't describe it that well. Often it feels like a deja vu and I can't tell whether I really dreamed the same place before. But I suppose what you described is lucid dreaming which I don't do that often.

I have to think about whether there is a connection to cognitive functions and what it could be. I believe that people who like to daydream and overall have a more vivid imagination also could have the more civid dreams. Others just experience the common themes in dreams (having to write a test, being naked, getting lost, not being somewhere on time...) or they often dream about friends and family. People in my dreams are often people I don't know in real life.
What is typical for dreams is that they are mostly linear, somehow I have a determination, I know what I have to do and where I have to go. It feels best when I gain full control. It's hard to describe, what I once experienced: a very strange change of perspective - I was standing in that city of my dream and suddenly the landscape flipped over and I could see all the houses towering up above me, almost how I would imagine a 4-dimensional perspective. Very weird. But I guess it's Ni, sometimes Se. Fe when people are involved. Sometimes gets very strong because I behave even more emotional and expressive in my dream than in reality.

[squirreltual]

If there exists any correlation at all

no

[kadda1212]

I think, there could be a correlation. There's definitely a connection between you're personality and your dreams, it's all connected through your psyche. So why not? It's to easy to say there is none.
Look up theories on dreams, e.g. Calvin Hall. He believes dreams are cognitive processes and certain conceptions are present in our dreams:

ourself (how we see ourselves and our prominent roles in life)

others ( how we react to others around us)


the world (optimism vs. pessimism)


morals (what is accepted as human beings and what are our limits)


conflict (conflicts within our psyche)

[squirreltual]

People in my dreams are often people I don't know in real life.

In dream analysis this would normally mean all characters within the dream represent parts of you.

Personality and dreams are definitely connected - archetypes are all played out within dream states. But socionics cognitive functions and dreams are different entities (your socionics type is not your personality whereas your subconscious is very much a large part of you). Dreams are good place to explore on their own terms (a better place imo) and I really hate the idea of socionics muddying it.

[BlackholeRoad]

That's quite detailed. I often feel like I return to the same places in my dreams, but they're always a little bit different and I couldn't describe it that well. Often it feels like a deja vu and I can't tell whether I really dreamed the same place before. But I suppose what you described is lucid dreaming which I don't do that often.

I have to think about whether there is a connection to cognitive functions and what it could be. I believe that people who like to daydream and overall have a more vivid imagination also could have the more civid dreams. Others just experience the common themes in dreams (having to write a test, being naked, getting lost, not being somewhere on time...) or they often dream about friends and family. People in my dreams are often people I don't know in real life.
What is typical for dreams is that they are mostly linear, somehow I have a determination, I know what I have to do and where I have to go. It feels best when I gain full control. It's hard to describe, what I once experienced: a very strange change of perspective - I was standing in that city of my dream and suddenly the landscape flipped over and I could see all the houses towering up above me, almost how I would imagine a 4-dimensional perspective. Very weird. But I guess it's Ni, sometimes Se. Fe when people are involved. Sometimes gets very strong because I behave even more emotional and expressive in my dream than in reality.

Mmm, I don't dream so vividly ALL the time, a lot of dreams get lost because they are vague settings, just simple houses or more abandoned places that just blend in with the rest. So I know what you're saying. I've had plenty of deja vu dreams too.

That would explain quite a lot, I'm halfway in my own world most of the time, haha. Interesting that you have a purpose to pursue in a dream, I think I can honestly say I've never had that in a dream. Always kinda wandering, or just going with it. I hope I can have a dream that's goal-driven sometime. And that dream sounds pretty awesome, I suppose you were probably flipping out when your perspective changed? lawl punz. I'd be curious to know what something like that would mean. And I think that's pretty detailed and vivid, in contrast to what you said about your dreams previously

[BlackholeRoad]

I'd think that since both dreams and cognitive functions are related to information metabolism, that there'd be a correlation. If I recall, DJ Arendee and Renna on Youtube talked about the effects of functions on their dreams, not saying that completely shuts down any arguments against that, but it has been talked about by people who're pretty invested in this stuff. @squirreltual the aforementioned correlation definitely wouldn't strip dreams of their highly personalized content, it'd just hint at some sort of underlying purpose/format to the dreams and embellishment of certain aspects of them based on functions.

[Narc]

I've had an apocalyptic dream or two in my time. One in particular had me passing out on my 18th birthday into a coma and waking up in a different house where all the lights were out and me and my brother were the only people left, because the government had sent operatives in to dispose/contain anyone still alive, so we were basically in hiding. I can't really do it justice, but it had a very twilit vibe and I woke up feeling very unsettled.

But I've also had a dream where I was walking around a park in Scotland completely naked and was pretty much okay with that. So there.

[Kalinoche buenanoche]

i saw that i was looking for something and i was asking a bunch of nuns if they had seen it. they told be to ask the rest who were still at the monastery.then i went to find them and i did but they were leaving and didnt bother much with what i asked. then i saw that i was walking in a street with many ghetto-ish people and there was a hospital nearby. then i saw that i was putting sth beneath a very old bed in the woods.it was so old that grass had started to grow on it. then i saw that i wanted to apply for sth like a job and i had trouble preparing my papers. then i saw that i wanted to reach my parents on the phone but they would not pick it up (((

[BlackholeRoad]

I think dreams are more likely to be shaped by the information that you have internalized and your current situation and environment rather than your IM. It's a matter of functional 'filling' rather than functions themselves. As such, dreams would be too idiosyncratic, too dependent of your personal experiences, your past, present, and future, to interpret them in light of IEs and IM.


This is conventional dream analysis. Lets see, dreaming of tunnels:

Tunnel — A tunnel in the dream represents generally the desire of the dreaming to investigate the unconscious and all those things with which he has not got into contact up to now yet. Tunnel is often understood as fear of an uncertain future, - one comes out again, this promises a favorable destiny. Sometimes there stands behind it the recollection of own birth, - then psychotherapy can become necessary to process the natal trauma. Importantly for the dream interpretation it is as the dreaming feels the tunnel whether he is afraid or gets a fright or whether he is protected in the tunnel. Possibly he feels in him also caught. Who enters in a tunnel which frightened also in the dream the sudden darkness, him surrounds - he will go through in the awake life possibly a weakness period which will be soon overcome, however.

(arab.) - wander through: one inclines to judge more unfavorably certain things than they are in reality.
(europ.) - one sees uncertainty before itself and is not able to hope for a better future

Buildings in dreams often signify our bodies or personalities. The building may also represent intellect or understanding. When we are about to embark on a new project, we may dream of exploring unfamiliar rooms in a well-known house. If we dream of buildings that are dilapidated and in ruins, it may indicate challenges in business or in love, with the likelihood of loss. Decayed dirty or crumbling buildings may indicate that your self-image has suffered.


Uncertainty in future, confusion, sense of incapacity resulting in depreciated self-image.

Well fuck, maybe I shouldn't have broadcasted my tripped-out internal world of freaky tunnel weirdness and structural atrophy, I probably come off as kinda crazy now ahahaha o_o

But seriously, thanks for the analysis, immensely interesting stuff, I love love LOVE this topic and am happy whenever anyone has something to say about it.
@octo, I think that's about as scary as any dream I've had hahaha @Narc, as freaky as that dream may have been to you, it actually sounds pretty badass @the16types, the details are neat, I'd be curious as to what they mean, especially the ghetto people haha @JadaeRat, that sounds a lot like some of my Identical friend's dreams, except sort of a mix between yours and mine, she has tunnel dreams too but they're vividly colorful and she uses the tunnels to communicate with ancient gods sometimes, dunno how that works haha

[squirreltual]

If you're interested in Jungian dream analysis, John Betts has an excellent podcast series which is available free on iTunes (and many other places probably). It covers lots of ground in enough detail for you to properly analyse your own dream diary. I found it so useful I can't recommend it highly enough.

[squirreltual]

Are their interpretations for having a lot of dreams where Earth splits open and floats, fighting under terrain, lake waters are plastic and nothing is underneath, a zombie bar (dont ask...) is the upstairs to a cross walk in the middle of a desert (also, dont ask...) etc? They're all dreams where the world begins to split and then split more.

My brother thinks dreams are sensory stimulus filtered in while dreaming, which can make sense for somethings like being hot = nightmare or dog barking = talking fur. But he meant all dreams, and maybe he is right for himself. He is a very simple person.

it means u r deep like an onion

[BlackholeRoad]

If you're interested in Jungian dream analysis, John Betts has an excellent podcast series which is available free on iTunes (and many other places probably). It covers lots of ground in enough detail for you to properly analyse your own dream diary. I found it so useful I can't recommend it highly enough.

That sounds neato and I'll get right on it Thanks!

[kadda1212]

I'm IEI and have never had a tunnel dream. I've had a lot of dreams where I have to go to the toilet really bad and every single cubicle in the public toilet is gross, and eventually I have to sit on a piss-covered seat or something equally horrid... but I don't think that's socionics related, it's a completely different one of my neuroses.

I've heard you dream about that, when you really have to go to the toilet. I never dream such dreams, I usually wake up and simply go to the toilet. But I once dreamed I was in a desert, when I was actually really thirsty. That was one time and I was still a child.

[mu4]

Do you mind if I move this thread to psychology?

[BlackholeRoad]

Do you mind if I move this thread to psychology?

Not a problem with me!

[Beautiful sky]

I always dream of my relationships. Either of my family, or my friends. I never dream of objects or experiences with objects and things. It's almost always with a group of close family members and something revolving around us being together in some way or another.

[Eldanen]

I don't have very many dreams these days. A few years back, I used to be flooded with them. Now it's a very rare thing that I remember any of them. Mine are usually pretty mundane. I might dream of something because I talked about it that day with a friend, or something like that. Maybe dream contents relate to superid functions... I'm always having a fantasy party in my head when I'm awake, so I have relatively ordinary dreams.

[Pookie]

1. Never scared while dreaming. I can be getting chased by crocs, but all my brain does is navigate through it.

2. My most recurring dream is when i get up and go to the toilet. And i have to pee. And then i ask myself if im sleeping. And i say no. And then i pee. And then i wake up. And then i shower.

[ashlesha]

the only recurring thing in my dreams is a feeling like i'm striving after something and running into all sorts of obstacles and frustrated, like being on a treadmill.

when i was a kid i had a recurring dream of falling into a rabbit hole and getting stuck and it terrified me. got to the point where i'd be running through the field and i'd be like oh, noooo, and try to wake myself up because i knew it was coming.

[kadda1212]

when i was a kid i had a recurring dream of falling into a rabbit hole and getting stuck and it terrified me.

You watched too much Alice in Wonderland.

[xerx]

Discussssss. And totally post examples too..

Jung believed that dreams were manifestations of archetypes (animus, shadow, etc.) present in the unconscious, and that dreams were a gateway to this inner, spiritual world. A large part of the unconscious involves aspects of our personality that we don't - or don't wish to - acknowledge as a part of us during our waking existence.

Jung drew a distinction between developed and archaic functions. The latter are pushed down by the stronger functions: logic "represses" ethics, sensing represses intuition, leading to neurosis in extreme cases.

Most linear extrapolations:

anima/animus archetype = super-id
shadow archetype = id

Another aspect of the unconscious is the collective unconscious, which is shared by all humans and isn't type related.