Vivências oníricas de estudantes no primeiro ano de graduação: contribuições da Psicologia Cultural Semiótica

Abstract

The investigation of dreams as phenomena integrated into human life constitutes a relevant theoretical and methodological challenge for Psychology. This study is grounded in Cultural Semiotic Psychology and had as its general objective to explore, theoretically and empirically, the interweaving of dream reports and autobiographical narratives in the study of human experiences. Its specific objectives were: to analyze the oneiric and non- oneiric experiences of the participants (graduates of the Interdisciplinary Bachelor's degree - BI) since they decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in psychology; to analyze the semiotic, affective, and self dynamics in the process of crossing the D-ND (Dream/Non-Dream) border; to analyze the dimensions that constitute the GradPsi-NGradPsi (Psychology Undergraduate/Non-Psychology Undergraduate) border and dreams as transit zones of this border; and to theoretically substantiate the relevance of a semiotic-cultural approach to dreams. To achieve them, qualitative research was conducted based on four instrumental case studies with the aforementioned BI graduates in their first year of Psychology. Data construction combined a socio-demographic questionnaire, narrative interviews, dream diaries, and the dream mapping technique. The results demonstrated that: the academic and personal experiences of the participants significantly echoed in their dream reports; the D-ND border is configured as a permeable zone, whose transit is mediated by the acts of telling and making meaning of dreams; the GradPsi-NGradPsi border is composed of institutional, geographical, symbolic, imaginative, oneiric, and relational dimensions, with dreams being an active path for its crossing; and the adopted approach proved potent for conceiving dreams as semiotic objects integrated into the dream-wakefulness continuum. The study offered theoretical, methodological, and practical contributions, reaffirming the study of dreams as a fundamental path for understanding the processes of meaning construction in human experience.