LotsOfEssays.com

EFFECTS OF PRESLEEP STIMULI ON DREAM EXPERIENCES: AN ARTICLE CRITIQUE

This research critiques an article reporting the results of a psychological experiment. The article critiqued is as follows:

Carpenter, Kimberly A. (1988). The effects of positive and negative presleep stimuli on dream experiences. Journal of Psychology, 122(1), 3337.

The findings of the critique are presented in relation to 11 separate factors. These factors are variables, operational definitions, hypotheses, subjects, sample selection, study type, statistical methods and outcomes, conclusions of author, type of design, strengths and weaknesses of design, and methodological critique.

I. The independent variable in the study reported in this article was the type of presleep stimuli. The dependent variable in the study reported in this article was the character of dream content. Dream content was rated on a fivepoint scale that ranged from very positive to very negative.

II. The independent variable presleep stimuli was operationally defined as positive and negative. The positive stimulus was a picture of a couple standing on a deck overlooking the ocean with their arms around one another, The negative stimulus was a picture of dead soldiers in Beirut. The dependent variable dream content was operationally defined in relation to content characterization. Dream content was rated on a threepoint scale that included positive, neutral, and negative as characterizations of the dream experience.

III. A specific hypothesis was not stated explicitly in the article. The reader reasonably may infer, however, that the hypothesis was that the character of presleep stimuli influences the character of dream content. The reader also would infer that the relationship between presleep stimuli and the character of dream content would be positive, i. e., positive presleep stimuli produces positive dream content, and negative presleep sti...