This entire interaction can be identified as an example of anticipation and Polystasis in action. We anticipate how the other person will behavior, adjust our own behavior in alignment with this expectation, and then act. The other person will soon adjust their own perception of our intentions and our likely future behavior. They modify their anticipation regarding our future interactions with them and act in a manner that aligns with their anticipation. If they anticipate that we will continue to be hesitant and guarded (“hiding something”) then they are likely to be hesitant, guarded and “defensive.”
In essence, we anticipate, and then take actions that fulfill our anticipation. While we usually focus on the way anticipation and self-fulfilling prophecies operate in our waking life, Prather’s introduction of anticipation into his narrative regarding sleep leads us to consider the way these dynamic, feedback-rich processes operate in the world of sleep—and even the world of dreams.
Implications for Sleeping
We are now ready to pose the critical question: What are implications for the processes of sleep and dreaming given the anticipatory perspective offered both by Aric Prather and myself?
Amenability
First, there is the matter of sleep being amendable to anticipation. As Prather (2022, pp. xiii-xiv) notes:
“Sleep isn’t something we do as much as it is something that happens to us. A lot of it is about letting go, getting out of our own way, and training our bodies to recognize the cues at night, and throughout the day, that tell it what it should be doing, and when. The decisions you make that shape your sleep don’t start when you lie down at night. They start the minute you open your eyes in the morning.”
If Prather is correct, then our sleep at night is influenced by our anticipations about sleep that linger with us throughout the day. We have been laboring all day in the garden and expect that we will get a good night of sleep given our exhausted physical state. Alternatively, we have been in stressful meetings all day and anticipate a restless night of sleep. Our anticipations “tell [our body] what it should be doing, and when” regarding the condition of sleep. The forementioned process of self-fulfilling prophecy comes into play at this point.
If we anticipate a restless night of sleep, then we are likely to start worrying about sleep while still awake and will go to bed in a state of apprehension, will a body that is rigid and prepared to “battle” the enemy (“wakefulness”). In preparation for this state of battle, our body activates the sympathetic system which, paradoxically, is the ally of wakefulness. If is virtually a lock that we will lose the war against wakefulness.
What about the post-gardening anticipation of sleep? We will look forward to our night of sleep and its ability to restore our exhausted body. We snuggle into bed both relaxed and relieved. Our body prepares for this anticipated night of repair by switching on the parasympathetic system. This system is a close ally of sleep. We will soon fall asleep, wake up the next morning, and prepare for another day in the garden or engaged in some other physical activity.
Locus of Control
Prather brings in another important point regarding the implication of anticipation. He indirectly points to an important psychological principle called locus of control (Rotter, 1966). At certain times, we feel and believe that we have control over what is about to happen in our life. We anticipate that we are the captain of our ship. This is called an Internal Locus of Control. At other times, we feel and believe that things are “out of control.” What occurs in our life is either too powerful, too distant, or too unexpected for us to be at all influential. We anticipate that someone or something else is the caption of the ship—and we are a willing passenger or have been shanghaied as unwilling passengers. This sometime pleasant, but often unpleasant condition is called External Locus of Control.
