Sleep and Dreaming

What Sleep and Dreaming covers

Sleep and Dreaming is examined in Component 02, Studies and applications in psychology 2. It covers sleep stages, functions and body clocks, Freud's theory of dreaming and the Wolfman, activation synthesis theory and bizarre dreams and insomnia and its treatment.

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Sleep stages, functions and body clocksThe functions of sleep, light, deep and REM sleep, the pineal gland and melatonin, the suprachiasmatic nucleus as an endogenous pacemaker, zeitgebers and jet lag.Open →
• Freud's theory of dreaming and the WolfmanThe unconscious, repression and wish fulfilment, manifest and latent content, dreamwork and dream analysis, and Freud's case study of the Wolfman's dream.Open →
• Activation synthesis theory and bizarre dreamsRandom activation in the pons during REM sleep, the limbic system and synthesis in the cortex, and Williams's study comparing the bizarreness of dreams and fantasies.Open →
• Insomnia and its treatmentSleep onset and sleep maintenance insomnia and their causes, relaxation techniques and sleep hygiene, and the hypothalamus, von Economo's findings and narcolepsy.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Sleep and Dreaming further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Endogenous pacemaker vs Exogenous zeitgeber

  Endogenous pacemaker: an internal biological clock that regulates bodily rhythms. Exogenous zeitgeber: an external cue such as light that resets the body clock.

• Manifest content vs Latent content

  Manifest content: the storyline of a dream as the dreamer remembers it. Latent content: the hidden unconscious meaning behind a dream.

• Sleep onset insomnia vs Sleep maintenance insomnia

  Sleep onset insomnia: difficulty dropping off at the start of the night. Sleep maintenance insomnia: waking during the night or too early and being unable to drop off again.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   How does sleep help to keep the brain healthy?

   Model answer

   Sleep allows the brain to consolidate memories and learning from the day. Sleep also helps to clear waste products that build up in the brain during waking hours.

2. 2

   How does sleep help with physical repair?

   Model answer

   Growth hormone is released during deep sleep, helping to repair tissues and build muscle. Sleep also supports the immune system in fighting infection.

3. 3

   How does sleep support emotional stability?

   Model answer

   Sleep helps people to regulate their emotions and cope with stress. People who lack sleep tend to be more irritable, anxious and moody.

4. 4

   What are the stages of the sleep cycle?

   Model answer

   A sleep cycle passes through the stages of non-REM sleep, from light to deep, and then into REM sleep. Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes and repeats four to six times a night.

5. 5

   What happens during the light stages of sleep?

   Model answer

   Stage 1 is the lightest stage, when a person drifts between waking and sleep and is easily woken. Stage 2 is slightly deeper, and heart rate and body temperature fall.

6. 6

   What is deep sleep?

   Model answer

   Deep sleep, or stage 3, is the stage from which a person is hardest to wake, with slow delta brain waves. Older descriptions divide deep sleep into stages 3 and 4.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Sleep and Dreaming revision questions

What does Sleep and Dreaming cover in OCR GCSE Psychology?

4 subtopics: sleep stages, functions and body clocks, freud's theory of dreaming and the wolfman, activation synthesis theory and bizarre dreams and insomnia and its treatment. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Sleep and Dreaming organised?

By the OCR J203 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.