Week Three: Potential Research Questions and Promising Sources

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 synchronicities once they initially recognize them?

4. Are possible explanations for synchronicity events applicable to explaining the deja vu phenomenon?

The main goal in mind while looking for sources was to first explain both phenomena on their own, and to then find some connecting texts that could provide some means of comparison. With these comparative texts, a lens can be formed in order to read the singular explanations, allowing for a strong compare/contrast theme to exist in my research. Some sources (those that are annotated are my favorites!) are:

Forrer, Kurt. “Synchronicity: Did Jung Have It Right?” International Journal of Dream Research, vol. 8, no. 2, Oct. 2015, pp. 152–163. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=111140906&site=ehost-live.

IMPORTANT QUOTE: “15. Determinism as the Solution to the Riddle of Synchronicity. In view of strong evidence that the dream is the precursor of waking, synchronicity is no longer a mystery, but becomes simply a series of déjà vus.”

Forrer, Kurt. “‘To Test or Not to Test; That Is the Question.’: Is There a Way of Verifying the Validity of the Interpretation of Our Dreams?” International Journal of Dream Research, vol. 7, no. 2, Oct. 2014, pp. 153–169. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=118205053&site=ehost-live.

IMPORTANT QUOTE: “Part of the discussion is an investigation into synchronicity, which is, as I show, dream-based like the déjà vu and really a factor of the a serial manifestation of a dream that in its mechanics is akin to variations of a musical theme.”

Jung, C. G. “Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle.” Synchronicity, Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 1–2, doi:10.1515/9781400839162-003. 

ANNOTATION: This source is the main explanation of the theory of synchronicity by Carl Jung himself. This chapter proposes that synchronicities are only recognized by those who give meaning to them, and once people distinguish synchronicities as significant, they are more likely to experience them in higher volumes. Carl Jung’s theories about how the experience is subjective may be used to compare to the deja vu phenomenon, which is usually recognized more by experiencers who give the occurrence meaning. 

Kime, Philip. “Synchronicity and Meaning.” Journal of Analytical Psychology, vol. 64, no. 5, Nov. 2019, pp. 780–797. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/1468-5922.12546.

Lawson, Thomas T. “Synchronicity.” Carl Jung, Darwin of the Mind, 1st ed., Routledge, 2008, pp. 177–201, doi:10.4324/9780429472701-5.

ANNOTATION: This source is the chapter in Thomas Lawson’s book Carl Jung, Darwin of the Mind. This book gives further analysis of Carl Jung’s ideas, and this chapter specifically dives further into the idea of synchronicity. This chapter also incorporates examples and sources from other instances and uses their connections of Jung’s theory of synchronicity in order to enrich his ideas with applicable examples.

Micali, Stefano. “The Repetition of a Singularity: Phenomenology of Déjà Vu.” Philosophy Today, vol. 62, no. 3, Summer 2018, pp. 897–1007. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5840/philtoday20181130243.

O’Connor, Akira R., et al. “Novel Insights into False Recollection: A Model of Déjà Vécu.” Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, vol. 15, no. 1-3, Taylor & Francis Group, 2010, pp. 118–44, doi:10.1080/13546800903113071.

IMPORTANT QUOTE: “Researchers have converged on a definition of déjà vu that emphasises the (erroneous) sensation of familiarity, and the subjective nature of the state. In healthy people, it is hypothesised that the state arises temporarily as a result of an erroneous sensation of familiarity.”

ANNOTATION: This source provides scientific explanations for the subjectivity of the deja vu experience, and begins to connect deja vu to the “erroneous” association of events in the conscious mind. This statement above can be used to link deja vu to synchronicity because it shows that both phenomena result from a person linking otherwise-unrelated events. More information about increased occurrences and higher levels of awareness of the phenomenon are likely to be investigated in this source, as well.