Outline and evaluate two theories relating to the functions of sleep The 1st theory I have chosen to look at is the problem solving theory the thinking being it is basically when you are asleep you dream, and these dreams may help you solve waking problems that you may have. Examples of this are the inventor of the automatic sowing machine who had a problem with the hole in the needle. One night he had a dream and from it became inspired and so moved the hole to the bottom of the needle enabling it to work and solving his problem. It dates back to time such as the Greeks and the Ancient Egyptians who thought solving gave many answers and people still use it now. One popular technique is to write a problem on a sheet of paper and place it under your pillow and the hope that your dream helps.
Problems with this theory are that you cannot 100% prove it to be true because it may just be a coincidence and we do not always solve problems in our dreams. Another is that we only remember on average 5% of our dreams so are the other 95% solving problems but we don’t remember them. It isn’t likely and even if it were the surely we would remember them in order to solve our problem. A positive point is it is one of the oldest theories (Greeks, Egyptians) and is still believed by many you be true so it must have at least a small amount of truth to it
The second theory I have chosen to do is Freud’s wish fulfilment theory which states we dream about what we desire or “disguised expressions of the unconscious desires and impulses.” Freud developed this from his own experience of a patient not recovering and himself discovering the problem which is what he wanted. Sometimes though it is not as clear as it seems symbolism is used and things may not always be what they seem. Hajek & Belcher (1991) did a study with smokers who had quit many years after quitting many of them still dreamt of smoking but after dreaming of it felt guilt and panic. Those with the most guilt and panic were less likely to start smoking again the study does not show how the dreams were useful though.
The most positive criticism of this theory is that it was the first systematic theory of dream functions and that the dreams can provide us with information from the unconscious that we would not have previously had. However, it is improbable that there is much repression of unacceptable desires in today’s liberal and permissive society. Also Hayes (1994) stated that is dreams are wish fulfilling then there should be a stronger food and eating content. Finally like the problem solving it is hard to test and will probably never be proved 100% right or wrong wither way.