Each person endows certain phenomena and objects of the surrounding world with his own meaning. Often the absence of these values is expressed in quite dramatic manifestations - neurosis, depression, loss of self. The meanings that a person attaches to certain phenomena are called personal, or individual, meaning.
Basic definition
Personal meaning is a term that has become one of the key to modern Western society. In the concepts of Western psychologists, this term has been developed. First of all, this concept was widely reviewed in the works of R. May and W. Frankl. The dictionary gives the following definition of personal meaning. This is a special individual-specific, as well as personality-biased characteristic of certain phenomena.
Individual meaning in Frankl's works
Frankl's individual meaning is that a person "gives life" and that he "takes from the world." According to Frankl, this concept is directly related to the position that a person takes in relation to his fate. Since everyone inevitably has to deal with such experiences as pain, guilt and death, the meaning of life can be found not only through the perception of benefits, but also through suffering.
In studies of this outstanding psychologist, several points are usually highlighted regarding the idea of personal meaning. First, the individual significance of an event is directly related to many things and phenomena. In any of life situations there are opportunities to realize this or that individual meaning. Meaning is a phenomenon inseparable from the values that a person discovers for himself in the outside world on his life path. Frankl, disputing the well-known concept of A. Maslow about self-realization, puts forward his own position. He believes that a person should not devote his life to the realization of the talents laid down in him, but should focus on the realization of certain values and opportunities. In this idea, one can single out something related to the spiritual side of life, for example, the idea of a holistic approach to a person.
Where to look for the meaning?
But if modern psychological knowledge relates value to one of the constituent parts of the personality, then Frankl believes that value should be sought in the outside world, and not inside. And also, taking the concept of meaning beyond the limits of personal being, the scientist comes to an interesting conclusion: a person needs “tense states”. His formula is largely similar to the concept of another scientist - K. Levin, who created a model of the so-called stressed systems. The personal meaning of both one and the second researcher is realized in conditions of discrepancy between the aspirations of the individual and the conditions of external circumstances. In the event that a person is unable to find an individual meaning in difficult life circumstances, personal degradation occurs. To stop this process is possible only by finding new meanings.
The concept of A. N. Leontiev
According to the research of A. N. Leontiev, personal meaning is one of the fundamental components of consciousness. His sensory fabric, according to the scientist, forms the composition of specific images of objective reality, which can either be perceived actually or emerge in the form of images in memory. In addition to meaning, the structure of consciousness contains two more components - meaning and sensory tissue of perception. Sensual fabric allows you to perceive the outside world as a kind of field and object of activity. As for the meaning, it represents this or that content filling the word, sentence or sign of the language. Universal value systems are music, dance, and visual arts.
Personal meaning is a component of consciousness that reflects the significance of certain events for a person. It allows you to determine the ratio of the phenomena of objective reality to the interests of man. If interests and events or objects of the outside world coincide, then they are simultaneously endowed with individual value. Personal meaning and meanings are parts of consciousness that are closely related. The meaning that is perceived by individual consciousness acquires a very special individual meaning.
For example, many students would like to receive good grades. This desire has a common meaning for all, which is also the norm in society. But for one student a good mark will speak about the level of his knowledge and talents. For another, it will mean that he is better than his peers in some respects. For the third, a good mark means receiving a long-awaited gift from parents.
The individual content of the meaning that a certain event acquires for each person, and is called the personal meaning. This phenomenon shows that the social and personal meaning of education is often different. What is important to society may not be significant for the individual and vice versa. If it is important for society that a citizen fulfill his social duties, be a worthy and educated member, beneficial to society, then an individual can have a completely different meaning in getting an education.
The concept of a semantic barrier
People put different individual meanings in words, and this causes many difficulties in understanding. In psychology, such cases are called the semantic barrier. This term was introduced by the domestic psychologist L. S. Slavina. In the process of researching groups of primary schoolchildren, she looked for reasons for the disobedience of some children. It turned out that in many ways this phenomenon was associated with a difference in the meanings of the teacher and the child.
For example, the teacher asks the student a question, trying to “stretch” it and put the best mark. The student believes that the teacher finds fault with him. The teacher can give the grade that seems fair, and the student is confident that the grade is underestimated.
The semantic barrier can arise in any field. For example, between a child and parents or between two adults. It is worth noting that with frequent repetition of mutual misunderstanding, the semantic barrier will become more and more and capture new areas of relationships between people. Then the actions proceeding, for example, from the picky teacher, will cease to be perceived by the student in general. The people clearly describe the phrase "like peas from the wall."
Significance is the main component of meaning
In the process of discovering the concept of "meaning" it is useful to turn to the history of the language: the Old Slavonic word "meaning" meant "mind, way of thinking, wisdom." In Ozhegov’s dictionary there is one more interpretation of this word: it is “content, essence, purpose”. In each of the definitions of the concept of “meaning”, one can trace that it belongs precisely to the mental component of human life.
Psychologists J. Royce and S. A. Powell also noted that personal meaning is a concept associated with the term “significance”. Her people attach to every critical event or aspect of being. When a person loses ideals, a state called existential frustration sets in . V. Frankl calls it an existential vacuum. It is here that lies the cause that causes most modern neuroses. One of the critical qualities for maintaining psychological health is a certain amount of tension, for example, one that may appear due to the presence of meaning.
Meanings in Professional Activities
Of particular importance in the light of this concept is the personal meaning of professional activity. In many cases, today a person is alienated from the object of his labor. The meaning of the work is for him to “leave” the working day as soon as possible and get paid for this, covering basic expenses. But in some cases it also turns out that professional activity has other meanings for a person - it makes it possible to realize one’s talents and gain credibility. In this case, on the contrary, the work can have a therapeutic effect, helping to maintain mental balance in the case when other life spheres temporarily lose their individual meanings.
Functions of Individual Meaning
Researchers Zeigarnik and Bratus wrote that the level of personality development is the level of a value definition, the existence of certain meanings in the world. The main plane of personal development is moral and value. According to these authors, the meaning has the following functions:
- By imparting meaning to certain meanings, the interaction of man and society is carried out. Values are the language of this interaction.
- Adherence to certain values allows a person to be identical to himself and whole. It determines the basic characteristics of the personality, the level of morality. The acquisition of value is the key to the subsequent acquisition of oneself.
- By means of meanings and values, the mental construction of an ideal future takes place, including on the moral side.
Concepts of Hekhausen and Yalom
In the works of Heckhausen, the main components of semantic systems are described. Firstly, these are sense-forming motives. They prompt a person to activity. Secondly, semantic attitudes through which the individual meaning is reflected. Thirdly, these are actions governed by certain moral-semantic attitudes.
The contrast of external and internal with respect to personal and value meanings was also reflected in the studies of I. Yalom. This is a psychotherapist from the USA. Human being, especially in difficult life circumstances, comes down to survival and attempts to find meaning in one's own inner world. Existential psychotherapy allows you to find it outside of the personality. This idea coincides with Frankl's concept.
The look of D. Kelly
American psychologist D. Kelly, who also explored the concept of personal sense, focuses on the inner world of personality. He believes that internal processes are "channels laid in the psyche." It is in their mainstream that the individual predicts the development of events. Individuality, which always perceives reality subjectively, is at the same time in the foreground. As a result, completely strangers can be similar, since approximately the same values can be assigned to the same important events in their lives. The personal meaning of such people coincides. Often it happens and vice versa - close people have completely different views on events.