Humphrey, nicholas Dream Interpretation
Sees human beings as needing to learn and modify strategies for social survival and interaction. He says of the human animal, ‘It depends upon the bodies of other animals not merely for immediate sustenance in infancy and its sexual fulfilment as an adult but in one way or another for the success—or failure—of almost every enterprise it undertakes. In these circumstances the ability to model the behaviour of others in the social group has paramount survival value.’ We know that cats, while dreaming, practise stalking and hunting. Humphrey speculates that in dreams humans practise and modify social behaviour.
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