title: Strengths and weaknesses of McNamara's evolutionary psychological model of dreaming.
abstract: This article includes a brief overview of McNamara's (2004) evolutionary model of dreaming. The strengths and weaknesses of this model are then evaluated in terms of its consonance with measurable neurological and biological properties of dreaming, its fit within the tenets of evolutionary theories of dreams, and its alignment with evolutionary concepts of cooperation and spirituality. McNamara's model focuses primarily on dreaming that occurs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; therefore this article also focuses on REM dreaming.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Student, Saybrook University, San Francisco, USA. sandy.olliges@comcast.net
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Olliges
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003142:Communication; D004325:Dreams / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018392:Genomic Imprinting / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011247:Pregnancy; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D029181:Spirituality