Actually, no. I'm usually lucid in those dreams that I remember, so I'm fully aware of the fact that this is a dream. This is hardly true of everyone, but a lot of people report a surreal feeling when they dream.

Further, even if you believe that emotions are felt only if you believed the dream was real, my point about how you feel emotions while watching movies or reading books still stands.

Just because the Novice comes out crying doesn't mean she believes what she saw was real. Take Egwene's third test. She was certainly far more aware than is usual in the arches, yet she comes out deeply pissed that she had to leave Rand again. Though she knew the events weren't real, she felt very strong emotions about them.


But one doesn't follow the other. People feel emotions for lots of fake things. Also, take what are called "Dreams of absent-minded transgressions". These are documented and well studied examples of where a person dreams of something they want to prevent themselves from doing while awake. There are theories that these help overcome addictions. Not only does the person feel immediate guilt upon waking up, but what they feel from it drives them to alter conscious behavior. Which proves quite conclusively that believing in a dream has nothing to do with feeling emotions related to what you dream.


But that's an unfair example, at least in comparison to dreams. You don't enter a dream knowing its going to be fake. You figure it out as you go along. Things don't make sense, and hey presto, you know its a dream and start having fun.