Meaning (psychology)

Meaning is a concept used in psychology as well as in other fields such as philosophy, linguistics, semiotics and sociology. These multidisciplinary uses of the term are not independent and can more or less overlap. Within each of these fields, there are different ways in which the term meaning is constructed and used; each construction can match related constructions in other fields. At the deepest level, each construction is associated with an epistemological position. The concept of "meaning" is thus used differently in different epistemological traditions in each field. The logical positivists, for example, associated meaning with scientific verification. The meaning of meaning is therefore understood differently in different schools of psychology (as well as in different schools overall).