Gahr, S., Ditner, A., Gackenbach, J.I., & Yue, Y. (2015, June). A Hall and Van de Castle Analysis of Chinese versus Canadian Dreams as a Function of Sex and Video Game Play. Poster presented at International Association for the Study of Dreams, Virginia Beach, VA. Abstract published in the International Journal of Dream Research, 8(supplement 1), July 2015, Retrieved http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR.

1. Male Results:
Success and striving: Low end male Chinese video
game players evidenced much more dreams
containing success and striving than low end male
Canadians, and was not a significant differentiating
factor between high end males. In traditional
Chinese culture, there is extensive pressure on
youth to strive for success in life and business.
Video games are often not encouraged for youth
because it eats into study time. This may be why
low end players experience more dreams involving
these concepts because so much of their daily
lives in focused around becoming successful.
Sexuality: In both low and high end males, there
was significantly more Canadian players (9%)
having sexual content in their dreams than Chinese
players (0%). This could be due to the way in
which sexuality is viewed in Chinese culture.
Sexuality and talking about sexuality is
discouraged. The lack of reporting of sexuality in
the dreams of Chinese players may be indicative of
this cultural taboo, rather than actual lack of sexual
content in dreams.
Female Results:
Aggression and friendliness: High end gaming
Chinese females indicated much more instances of
aggression than their Canadian counterparts. With
low end females, the trend was reversed. This
could be due an interaction between gender roles
in China and anonymity provided by gaming.
Traditionally, females in Chinese culture are raised
to be kind, polite, “lady-like” and friendly, with
fighting and aggression being seen as very
negative. However, the online video game world
provides a sense of protection, where you can
express yourself, free from gender roles and
ideals. Because female video game players in
China may be using video games to express
emotions otherwise withheld in public, they may be
priming themselves to experience the same
emotions and actions within their dreams.
Participants
Chinese and Canadian University students participated
in this study.
Measures
• Demographics
• Video Game Play Questionnaire
• Social Media Questionnaire
• Dream Intensity Scale
• Recent Dream Report
• Self-Construal
A Hall and Van de Castle Analysis of Chinese versus Canadian
Dreams as a Function of Sex and Video Game Play
Sarah Gahr, Alison Ditner, Jayne Gackenbach and Yue Yu
Introduction
Results
Conclusions
Why study Video Games?
With the release of the 5th version of the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual, the American Psychiatric
Association has made comment on addictions to
gaming, labeling an “Internet Gaming Disorder” and
referencing extreme use of gaming in Asia. China has
the highest rate of internet users and has recently
seen an explosion in the growth of gaming and social
media use, and currently has the largest gaming
population in the world (as seen below).
Video Games and a Cross Cultural Outlook
An examination of cross-cultural aspects of
Internet use is important not only for questions of
addiction, but also to more deeply understand how
they impact users. Their impact on users in China and
North America is relevant to any consideration of
benefits versus risk.
How we structure our sense of reality has
always been informed by culture, and increasingly by
media immersion, such as video game play. By taking
a cross-cultural outlook, we are able to capture a
major personality dimension that impacts reality:
self-construal, or the idea of independence and
interdependence.
Methods
Significant Results of HVCD Coding X Gender X Culture
Participants
In total, there were 906 participants, 254 males and
652 females. There were 451 participants from Canada,
135 males (45 high end video game frequency, 25 low
end) and 316 females (24 high end, 17 low end). There
were 455 participants from China, 119 males (35 high
end, 23 low end) and 336 females (42 high end, 16 low
end), located in Wuhan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Moderate frequency video game players were
omitted from video game group analysis.
Self-Construal
No difference was found between countries for
independence, but a main effect of country on
collectivism was found to be significant, with Canada
having the lowest amount of collectivism self-construal
and Wuhan having the most.
Acknowledgements
Other Investigators
Ming-Ni Lee: National Dong Hwa University; Department of
Counseling and Clinical Psychology
Zongkui Zhou: Central China Normal University; School of
Psychology
Gino Yu: Hong Kong Polytechnic University; School of Design
William Wei: MacEwan University, Business, Asia Pacific
Management
Translators
Chinese: Yue Yu and Shan “Coco” He
Dream Coders
Canadian: Sarah Gahr and Alison Ditner
Hall and Van De Castle Results (HVDC):
After the two independent judges coded all Canadian
Dreams, and translated Chinese dreams, Content Analysis was
undertaken. Significant results can be seen in the figures
below.
Dream Coding
Self reported dreams from Chinese participants were
translated by two independent translators. They were then
coded using Hall and Van De Castle coding by two
independent judges. Translation word counts and judges
reliability scores between translators showed high
reliability with translation. These translations were then
coded by two independent judges.
Canadian dreams were coded by two independent
judges, yielding high reliability.
WuhanTaiwan
Hong
Kong
Canada
Males Females
China Canada China Canada
High Video Game
Play Frequency
Befriender (86% > 33%) Dreamer Involved Success
(80% > 20%)
Sexuality (9% > 0%)
Dead/Imaginary Character
(45% > 0%)
Aggression/Friendliness
(53% > 10%)
Aggression (29% > 4%)
Low Video Game
Play Frequency
Animals (5% > 0%)
Friendliness (30% > 8%)
Success (9% > 0%)
Striving (22% > 4%)
Aggression/Friendliness
(89% > 38%)
Self-Negativity (100% > 50%)
Sexuality (9% > 0%)
Friendliness (30% > 16%) Aggression/Friendliness
(59% > 43%)
Physical Aggression Percent (81%
> 64%)
Indoor Settings (73% > 59%)
Self-Negativity (76% > 59%)
Discussion
The Hall and Van De Castle results demonstrated
that, not only video game play affects dreams, but
culture also acts as a mediator, which affect
certain characteristics of dream contents among
males and females.
-.30
-.24
+.16
-.24
-.27
-.17
+.30
-.24
+.20
-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4 +0.6 +0.8 +1.0
Aggression/Friendliness Percent
Physical Aggression Percent
F/C Index
Indoor Setting Percent
Self-Negativity Percent
Torso/Anatomy Percent
Friendliness
Sexuality
Good Fortune
Canada = 0
mergedchina
Chinese vs. Canadian Dreams HVDC
Differences. Canadian Scores = 0, Chinese
scores are represented by the bars
Aggression/Friendliness
Percent
Physical Aggression
Percent
F/C Index
Indoor Setting
Percent
Self-Negativity
Percent
Torso/Anatomy
Percent
Friendliness
Sexuality
Good Fortune