Subscribe now

Mind

Listening to friends tell you about their dreams helps develop empathy

Most ideas about the function of dreams involve memory consolidation or managing emotions, but dreams may also serve to increase our sense of togetherness when they are shared with others

By Rowan Hooper

8 April 2022

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Dreams may help us bond with others

OJO Images/Getty Images

Sharing dreams may serve a purpose. A study finds that describing the content of our dreams or nightmares – whether boring or truly bizarre – may function to bond people and groups together, and that listening and responding to the strange content of dreams can increase empathy. It even proposes that dream-sharing helped the process of human self-domestication, where people evolved greater self-control, less aggressive tendencies and a keener sense of empathy for others.

“The empathy/human self-domestication theory proposes that once dreams started to be told, this would add a new evolutionary…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers

View introductory offers

No commitment, cancel anytime*

Offer ends 2nd of July 2024.

*Cancel anytime within 14 days of payment to receive a refund on unserved issues.

Inclusive of applicable taxes (VAT)

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account