Date Thesis Awarded
5-2024
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Science (BS)
Department
Psychology
Advisor
Joanna Schug
Committee Members
Joanna Schug
Kevin Vose
Jerry Watkins III
Abstract
The present work establishes a framework to analyze the expression of a phenomenon known as sleep paralysis in varying cultures. Sleep paralysis experiences can influence an individual’s worldview and larger-scale cultural movements. Cultural background, religious identity, linguistic interpretation, cognitive function, and experiences of trauma are all analyzed as factors that contribute to a person’s experience of sleep paralysis. The current work seeks to take the cycle of fear (of sleep paralysis), resulting in increased instances of sleep paralysis, that exists on an individual level and expand this concept to a larger cultural scale. As elements of an individual’s culture work to inform an experience of sleep paralysis, sleep paralysis informs these things in turn. This cycle works to both construct and substantiate fascinating pieces of folklore. This work also explores how fear and anxiety regarding sleep paralysis and an experience known as sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome (SUNDS) can impact a person’s physiological health.
Keywords: sleep paralysis, folklore, SUNDS
Recommended Citation
Kasper, Lucia C., "Shared Nightmares: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Sleep Paralysis and the Role of Cultural Background on Its Expression" (2024). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 2175.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/2175
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