Synchronizing Déjà Vu and the Unconscious Mind

Are deja vu experiences potentially connected to the theory of synchronicity? Working Title: Synchronizing the Conscious Mind and False Recollection Events Topic:  The goal of my research paper is to investigate the parallels between Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity and the deja vu phenomenon. By conducting research about both subjects through a specific lens, I will use synchronicity as a lens through which to examine some people's experiences of "deja vu" as a "meaningful coincidence.”  Research Question:  Are people more prone to experiencing deja vu experiences if they are consciously aware of these occurrences, just as Jung theorizes people become more prone to synchronicities once they initially recognize them? Theoretical Frame:  Carl Jung’s informative text Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle is my primary foundation for building my own synthesis between deja vu and synchronicity. The specific chapter that I will be implementing into my o...

Kurt Forrer's "The Dream as a Posthypnotic Command" compares dreams to being hypnotized. The author questions if human action is that of free will, or if it is all predetermined by the unconscious content of our dreams.      My second literature review investigates a piece by a particularly important author named Kurt Forrer. This chapter, titled “The Dream as Posthypnotic Command,” written in Forrer’s own scientific journal investigating psychopathology, describes how the processes of hypnosis and dreaming may be connected. The author suggests that the familiarities and unconscious motivations enlisted upon one being hypnotized may manifest themselves in the same way that one who has had a vivid dream begins to feel uncanny familiarities after their dream experience. The main idea in Forrer’s text is that we are all motivated by our dreams, and that all of our decisions are pre-determined by the unconscious mind. A very compelling statement made by the author says, “In s...

    A case study shows that the main contributors to increasing deja vu frequency are awareness of the phenomenon, but also distress caused by its occurrence. A test subject helped to prove this theory in an experiment summarized by Christine Wells and her colleagues.      For my first literature review, I decided to delve straight into the strongest connection between theoretical research and real-life: my primary case study. This research journal article, titled "Persistent Psychogenic Deja Vu: A Case Study," begins to investigate a possible correlation between increased anxiety levels and increased frequencies in deja vu experiences. As a result, a new approach to explaining the phenomenon of false recollection may stem from research focused on sample groups of subjects without conventional brain biology. The person used for analysis is a British man in his early twenties who reports a very high amount of deja vu experiences have occurred in his dai...

By carefully analyzing data, a research question that strongly synthesizes my ideas will provide an important start to my writing process. Currently, my approach for writing my research paper is to create a comparative analysis of both Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity and the general theory of deja vu. My potential research questions are all meant to find some common ground between these theories, and possibly use Jung's analysis of synchronicity in order to provide an explanation for the deja vu phenomenon. The contenders for my research question are: 1. Is the deja vu experience a subjective one, whose outcome is determined by the experiencer? 2. How can Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity being recognized by those who want to make certain experiences memorable correctly describe the unconscious sources of deja vu? 3. Are people more prone to experiencing deja vu experiences if they are aware of the occurrences, just as Jung theorizes people become more prone to synchronic...

Countless theories exist to explain deja vu, and extensive research will hopefully reveal some  common ground shared by each theory in order to validate various perspectives. This way, an  attempted explanation for the phenomenon can be made with an open mind.      Since Blog #1, my perspective on the deja vu phenomenon has definitely become more open-minded. I began this research with the idea that parallel universes must be the cause of false-recognitions, but after doing some research, I’ve found viable evidence for many other causes such as a past life, paranormal contact, psychological disorders, recurring dreams, and brain biology. My standpoint has done the opposite of refine—I’ve become much more open to other ideas, which will definitely reduce my own bias as I do further research to get a well-informed point-of-view.       While searching through the internet, the most important key words to use were: deja vu, phenomenon, experience...