Indigenous Chinese personality and dream content of Hong Kong and Taiwanese people

Abstract

This study investigated whether indigenous Chinese personality traits bear on dream content across Hong Kong and Taiwanese people. The sample contained 100 Hong Kong and 103 Taiwanese participants, who were asked to complete the Self Versus Social Orientation, Family Orientation, Harmony, and Thrift Versus Extravagance scales of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory and provide a dream narrative using the Most Recent Dream Report. Each dream report was coded separately by 2 trained judges using Hall and Van de Castle’s content analysis system and Yu’s Dream Motif Scale. The overall findings indicate that the 4 indigenous Chinese personality attributes have dynamic implications for dream content. Specifically, people who are more harmonious or more family-oriented encounter fewer ego-centered themes, persecutory themes, and aggressive activities in their dreams. In addition, the positive association between the attribute of thrift and dream grandiosity seems to be stronger among Hong Kong individuals than among Taiwanese individuals. This can be explained by the shared Chinese culture but discrete historical backgrounds of Hong Kong and Taiwan.