Australian-American Differences in Daydreaming,Attentional Processes,and Curiosity: First Findings Based on Retrospective Reports

Abstract

Using retrospective reports, aspects of daydreaming, nightdreaming, attentional processes, and curiosity were studied in an American and Australian sample. The sample consisted of seventeen to twenty-three year old males (n = 286), seventeen to twenty-three year old females (n = 477), and twenty-four to forty-four year old females (n = 267). Analyses of variance on thirty-three factors of daydreaming, nightdreaming, attentional processes, and curiosity resulted in significant Australian-American differences, main effects, on thirteen factors for seventeen to twenty-three year olds and on five factors for twenty-four year olds. For seventeen to twenty-three year olds, the pattern of significant differences on the factors which dealt with daydreaming characteristics suggested that the daydreaming of Australians was more pleasurable, more sexual, more escapist, more present-oriented, and less practical and planful than for Americans. For twenty-four to forty-four year old women, no apparent patterns of Australian-American differences emerged.