i ask this question because in most of my lucid dreams the characters just act like it was real. but this one lucid ream i had i was thinking to myself, "man this feels like..." and my mom finished my sentence and said, " a dream". so do the characters have their own thought process or do they think what u want them to think?
Well.. your dreams are a creation of your mind. Your dream characters are doing whatever your subconscious mind wants them to do. If you're lucky you can learn to control them consciously.
Characters in my lucid dreams have challenged my lucidity many times. I know damned well they are MY creations yet they insist that I am their creation and that I am in their dream and usually a good bout of scrapping ensues over whos dream it really is.
While the characters are yours they will not always obey and will refuse to admit they are dream characters. I've argued with a couple of my sisters in lucid dreams, and even showed off my semi god like dream powers to prove it but the would not be convinced.
I'm going to say that dream characters are like children. You may be their 'parent' but your 'children' may not always obey.
Do they have their own thought processes though? I'm going to say no. They have the thought processes that are needed in that particular dream. While you may be lucid you do not have 100% control. Some other part of your mind is at work and creating these characters and landscapes for the lucid you to interact with, and also creating the dialogue of the characters that it conjurs. So it's basically you interacting with you.
I think that when I have characters that challenge who controls the dream it's a way of my own self testing out my fortitude in the dream.