1983'4, p.16
Shmelev A. G.
The concept of meaning systems in experimental
(RESUME)

The notion of meaning is conceptualized on the basis of the activity approach to description of psychological phenomena. Understanding of meaning in neo-behaviorism, cognitive psychology, and in the methodology of the activity approach are made explicit and compared. For the author meaning is a representational unit which performs in man's mind the function of representation of specific correspondences between objects, motives and intentional operations. When taken as an analytical unit the category of meaning makes it possible to describe in the same time plane and to interconnect two aspects of psychological analysis: representational and behavioral. Realization of the systems approach in experimental psychosemantics results in transformation of the concept of isolated meanings into the concept of meaning systems, the latter being a hierarchical, dynamic and multidimensional entity open to influences from functional components of activity (motives, goals, operational and object contents, etc.).