because of a feeling that they don't remember them as
much as they "should." I wanted to discover how the
dream recall ambitions of the participants might change
after a period of systematic involvement with their
dreams.
      But a satisfying memory for dreams involves more
than frequent and complete recall. Even when we
regularly remember our dreams, we may still experience
dream recall to be something that happens to us as a
result of unknown circumstances. We would be more
satisfied if we had some sense of control over our
memory for dreams. My third concern, then, was to build
some foundation for overcoming the tendency towards a
fatalistic perspective on dream recall.
      I wondered if the participants in our project would be
able to become aware of the various factors affecting
their dream recall, and if they might begin to perceive
that some of these factors were potentially within the
realm of their own control. A self-diagnostic checklist
might be helpful so people could see exactly where they
were fatalistic and overlooking opportunities for
developing self-control of their dream recall.(2)
      Finally, the questions that arise concerning dream
interpretation are "What is it that we refer to when we
discuss the meaning of a dream? What requires
interpretation? What kind of experience satisfies the felt
need to interpret a dream?" Different theories of dream
interpretation, of course, provide different answers to
these questions. But dreamers themselves may have
differing goals. I wanted to learn to what extent the
desire for dream interpretation would be fulfilled if the
dreamer was able to develop helpful ideas about a
personal concern from studying a dream. I also wanted
to explore the proposition that people are capable of
interpreting their own dreams. It seemed to me that the
most fruitful approach to this was to observe the quality
and depth of self-understanding that could be obtained
by people when they were provided with only a general
guide to a process of self-discovery using dreams and
journal writing.

30