Abstract

Dreams have meaning, as such, they are not just the random firing of the brain. This goes in line with the finding and theories about dream-work presented by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), where by he discussed dreams in terms of guardians of sleep continuity. In his view, dreams represent emotional surges resulting from the day's unresolved issues that emerge to the surface, where by their function is to contain and diffuse these emotional waves. The current study casts light on the link between the 'dream-work' and the unconscious; explains the distinction that Freud drew between the 'manifest content' of a dream and 'latent dream thoughts'; discusses the differences among the main distorting processes; and, finally, evaluates the inter-disciplination and application of Freud's philosophy of the unconscious to better understand the consumer mind and personality in general, and the individual motives impacting on the purchase and consumption behaviour in particular.