In many ancient societies, such as those of Egypt and Greece, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be unravelled by people with certain powers.

In modern times, various schools of psychology and neurobiology have offered theories about the meaning and purpose of dreams.

Most people currently appear to interpret dream content according to the Freudian theory of dreams in countries, as found by a study conducted in the United States, India, and South Korea.

People appear to believe dreams are particularly meaningful: they assign more meaning to dreams than to similar waking thoughts.