1966 · Coding system
Hall and Van de Castle: counting what happens in dreams
In 1966, psychologists Calvin Hall and Robert Van de Castle published a system for coding dream reports: who appears, how characters treat each other, what emotions come up and whether the dreamer succeeds or fails.
It turned dreams from anecdotes into data that could be compared across thousands of reports. It's still the most widely used method in dream content research today.
Who appearsHow characters treat each otherWhat emotions come upSuccess or failure
How Undreamt uses it
It shapes how we think about patterns across your journal. We don't show you automated scores yet, because computer coding of dreams is easy to get wrong, and we'd rather give you nothing than give you a number we can't stand behind.