What Is Manifest Content?

Definition:

According to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the manifest content of a dream includes the actual images, thoughts and content contained within the dream. The manifest content is the elements of the dream that we remember upon awakening.

In his book The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud suggested that the content of dreams is related to wish fulfillment. Freud believed that the manifest content of a dream, or the actual imagery and events of the dream, served to disguise the latent content, or the unconscious wishes of the dreamer.¹

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_References

_{¹ Freud, S. (1900). The Interpretation of Dreams.}