Do Dreams Predict the Future?

I was watching an episode of Doomsday Preppers (I can't remember why) and saw one family that spending all of it's time and money preparing for doomsday solely because Dianne Rogers (the wife) keeps getting a recurring dream about doomsday.  Their entire lives (hubby, wife and 6-year-old daughter) revolve around this dream.

Which begs the question -- do dreams predict the future? 

No, they don't.  They can influence your own future, but dreams are in no way reliable predictors of future events. 

Case in point: the 1957 Kentucky Derby.  John Nehrud, trainer of the hot favorite, Gallant Man, had a dream that jockey Bill Shoemaker would lose the race by misjudging the finish line.  Nehrud warned Shoemaker about this dream before the race. 

During a stretch drive when Gallant Man was nose to nose with Iron Liege, Shoemaker did indeed misjudge the finish line and stood up in the stirrups as jockeys are supposed to do when a race ends, letting the horse know that he (or she) can finally slow down.  Iron Liege won, with Gallant Man second by a nose (see offical photo finish above.)  Some point to this as proof that dreams can predict the future.

Keep in mind that this is the biggest race of all in American thoroughbred racing. Because it's restricted to three-year-olds, a horse has only one shot at running. Sometimes trainers, owners and jockeys only get one shot at it, too. Jockeys -- even legendary athletes like Bill Shoemaker -- are prone to cracking under extreme pressure.

Being warned about makng a major mistake may cause you make a mistake.

Think about all the times you thought your dreams would predict the future -- a dream about marrying a certain someone, picking the correct lottery numbers -- that sort of thing.  Dreams usually do not come true.  Dreams may give us a peek into our own decision-making abilities and creative imaginations, but do not live your life by them.  Or tell the jockey of your horse about them.

Despite this, Psychology Today reports that 50% of "the general population" believe that they have precognitive dreams.  So why do so many people insist that they have prophetic dreams?  It's because they believe they do -- not because they actually do.  We tend to pay attention to events that reinforce our beliefs and ignore those that don't. This is called confirmation bias.