By Shalin Hai-Jew, Kansas State University
The Construct of Meaning
By Shulamith Kreitler
Nova Science Publishers
2022
438 pp.  

Some researchers may have an idée fixe, an obsessively pursued idea over time, even a lifetime.  Shulamith Kreitler’s grand question relates to how people make meaning.  

Her obsession started when she was a mere three-year-old.  She opens her recent book, The Construct of Meaning (2022), with an early memory of holding a broken knife and wondering if the brokenness denatured the object so that it was no longer a knife.  She shares another memory of Holocaust survivors talking among themselves about the meaning of their survival amidst so much human destruction in WWII.  Her doctoral advisor pointed her towards lexical symbols, which provided some direction for her studies.  She conducted experiments and thought hard along the way.  Another area of interest involved how viewers made meaning of art.  

She explored cognitive orientation, how people formed systems of beliefs (“vectors of dispositions orienting towards specific behaviors”) that informed personal and social actions (Preface, p. viii).  In her research, she found that people may be profiled based on their meaning-making based on four belief types that inform behaviors.  She writes in a later chapter:  

Major constituents of cognitive motivation are beliefs of four types—about oneself, about others and reality, about rules and norms and about goals and wishes—which refer to themes that represent the underlying meanings relevant for cognition, such as controlling situations through knowledge, being free in the world of ideas and fantasy, unraveling the underlying secret of things (Kreitler & Kreitler, 1994, as cited in Kreitler, “The Construction…,” 2022, p. 219)  

 Different personality traits can inform how meaning making occurs in the world:  “Personality traits are patterns of meaning assignment tendencies, characterized by specific features” (p. ix).  The cumulative research is brought together into a meaning system, comprised of tools to explore meaning and the variables that together comprise meaning, apparently in total (p. viii).  Meaning may be personal-subjective but also interpersonally-shared (p. viii).  

The world is itself a complex and challenging space, with a number of different simultaneously possible and contradictory interpretations.  Given the dynamism of the world, each interpretation may be a way station on a long journey.  People’s assigning of meaning “underlies the meaningfulness of life, coping, resilience and other resources which liberate strengths to withstand and hold up against suffering and major physical and psychological difficulties” (Kreitler, 2019, as cited in Kreitler, Preface, 2022, p. ix), such as in times of physical crisis (such as during oncology care).  
 
 

Introduction

The Construct of Meaning can be read as a cumulative text introducing a lifetime of study about how humans and other sentient beings make meaning.  This summarized and original research bolster an instrument created to elicit human profiles of meaning-making and predicting of ensuing behaviors (from that meaning making). The instrument is considered a generally applied one even as the learning came from specific domains.   This work combines theory and experimental empirics.

Kreitler offers a few foundational assumptions of meaning:  

a.  Meaning is communicable.  
b.  Meaning includes a part that is interpersonally shared and another part which is more personal and private.  
c.  Meaning is referent-centered.
d.  Meaning is expressible in multiple modes and means, both verbal and non-verbal.  
e.  Meaning is a complex multi-dimensional or multi-layered construct  (Preface, 2022, p. x)

A referent is a thing that is imbued with meaning.  Meaning “is a unit, which consists of two components:  the carrier of meaning, called referent, to which meaning is assigned, and the meaning assigned to the referent, called meaning value” (Preface, 2022, p. x).  Kreitler writes:  

The package includes 50 – 60 meaning variables that need to be assessed, and a specific procedure of assessment that needs to be acquired and practiced to some extent.  Additionally, what is at stake are not only verbal narratives and communications, but also quasi-verbal ones, drawings, music, and movements; and not only single words but also longer texts and narratives of different genres; and not only static material but also dynamic rolling situations and films.   (Preface, 2022, p. xi)  

Once the system is understood, there “is a computer program that can do most of the coding labor of the meaning expressions and communications” (Preface, 2022, p. xi).  There are two conceptualized uses of the meaning system:  

One is based on using the meaning system for coding the meaning communications of individuals. This procedure results in the individual’s meaning profile, which characterizes the individual’s tendencies for meaning assignment. The same procedure can be applied for characterizing any other expression of communication of meaning. Another application consists in using meaning in order to identify themes that play a role in the individuals’ motivation to undertake a certain course of behavior…The themes are the result of a step-wise meaning guided interviewing of inputs.  The themes are used for assessing, in a questionnaire form, the motivation for a certain course of behavior.  The questionnaire provides scores for the themes in terms of four belief types—about self, others and reality, norms and goals—that constitute the vector of a motivational disposition orienting towards a certain kind of behavior.  This procedure exemplifies the use of meaning for identifying behavioral tendencies.  (Preface, 2022, p. xii)  

This work then reads as a culminating one of a lifelong pursuit executed over 50 years of professional teaching and research.  This book introduces a tool that operationalizes how people (and other sentients) make meaning, and the profiling of people based on that meaning making, which predicts follow-on behaviors.  If people are meaning-driven beings, then it would make sense that many would pursue meaning-informed actions.  This is one of those books that may be best read in order, to understand the evolution of ideas and research practices.

Ubiquitous Meaning-Making among People

To set a baseline for the research, Kreitler offers some of the research from other academic traditions, such as psychology, linguistics, sociology, philosophy, literature, art, logic, mythology, mathematics, information technology, cultural studies, and other fields, in  “What is Meaning:  Past Trails and a New Route” (Ch. 1).   How people make meaning has not been a center of study in the behavioral sciences until recently.  She writes:  

Meaning fulfills a crucial role in all domains but did not yet get the central status in the behavioral sciences that it is expected to have.  The goal of the book is to lay the theoretical and methodological basis for an approach that would be sufficiently inclusive and well-grounded to enable the empirical and theoretical study of meaning and its functioning. (p. 1).  

She poses a basic conundrum:  If meaning is such a pervasive and commonplace part of human existence, is it something sufficiently novel to be worthy of research?  



From the early assessment, nine variables about meaning were extracted:   

a)  The contents of meaning (i.e., the kind of presented information)
b)  The carrier of meaning (i.e., to what is meaning assigned)
c)  The directness of the relation between the input and the assigned meaning (i.e., literal versus non-literal)
d)  The reference of the meaning
e)  The identity of the generator or user of meaning (i.e., whose meaning)
f)  The means or tools used in communicating or expressing the meaning
g)  Functions of meaning
h)  Manner of considering the meaning (i.e., its evaluation by the user)
i)   The context of the meaning (Kreitler, “What is Meaning…,” 2022, p. 9)

These facets informed research into meaning making. Communication was seen as the basic framework for assessing meaning, given human sociality.  In this chapter and throughout, how the research was designed (surveys, experiments, and others), how the respondents were seated, how the data was coded and by whom, are defined specifically.  

Early coding involved the following:  

1.  The input to which meaning is assigned
2.  The contents of the assigned meaning
3.  The directness of the relation between the input and the assigned meaning
4.  Means and tools of expressing the meaning
5.  An integrative meta-meaning variable representing the three points of view:  how should the meaning be considered, its context and its reference (Kreitler, “What is Meaning…,” 2022, p. 12)  

Meaning and Meaning Variables as Components of the Meaning System

“Meaning:  The Definition and Meaning Variables” (Ch. 2) introduces a core part of the Kreitler Meaning System.  Meaning is based on communications between people, who are in interaction.  Some part of meaning “is more socially shared,” another part less so, and yet another part private; the first parts of intersubjective, and the last part is subjective (p. 18).  Meaning “is always, and under all conditions the meaning of something” and does not exist in a void (p. 18).  Meaning may be expressed in different forms of expression and in different modalities.  Meaning is often complex, with “dimensions, layers, and aspects” (p. 19).  
 
Of the complexity, she writes:  

First, the meaning itself may be variegated and include several aspects, while it may not always be evident which aspect is necessary or salient in a given situation.  In order to be viable and useful under various and varying conditions or contexts meaning needs to include many aspects, out of which the adequate one may be selected.  For example, take the referent ‘car.’  The meaning should be broad enough to encompass a variety of circumstances in which the focus may be on repairing it or selling it or buying it or driving in it or storing it or washing it, etc.  In each of these cases the salient aspect of ‘car’ which is relevant changes, for example, its functioning or state or age or brand, and so on.  Second, both on the social and the individual levels, meaning develops slowly, absorbing components from different sources, sometimes integrating them but often letting them stay one alongside the other, without necessarily deleting those components that have proved superfluous or even wrong. Thus, with time, the meaning of any item or cluster grows in volume and components. (“Meaning:  The Definition…,” 2022, p. 19)  

Meaning is not fixed in time.  The functions “of being a referent or a meaning value may be transitory,” and these can  lapse into non-use (p. 20).  

The various designed questions get at defining the dimensions of meaning, the types of relations around the referent and meaning value, the forms of relationships, the shifts in referents, forms of expressions, and “meta-meaning variables” (“Meaning:  The Definition…,” 2022, pp. 22 – 23) and other factors [that to the reviewer read something like diagramming selected sentence communications, in an informal sense].  She writes:  

The list of meaning variables may seem to be a forbidding one from all points of view.  It is long, varied, and unfamiliar. Each of the variables comes with a title, a tag, a code, and a definition…The meaning variables may not make this impression at first sight but they are essentially a friendly lot.  It is only necessary to get familiarized with them in order to be able to get along with them without any difficulties. (p. 23)  

The meaning variables have also been clustered into “larger groupings of meaning variables, within the sets, defined by contents or functions” (p. 27).  

Kreitler defines different types of signs (that represent signified meanings):  arbitrary ones (“which dominates the scenes of language, musical notation and mathematics”), signs like icons that resemble the signified meaning (“Meaning:  The Definition…,” 2022, p. 31), those “related to the signified meaning by cause-and-effect or another association,” signs related to the signified by “psychological resemblance:  metaphor and symbol” (p. 32), and those differing based on levels of complexity (p. 33).  [The reviewer is left realizing a deep sense of professional commitment if this system is to be taken on and applied.  Perhaps there are some fields where others will have a head start…such as logic, linguistics, semiotics, psychology, computer science, semantics, literature studies, and others.]   The “Kreitler Meaning System” is designed to be perhaps comprehensive.  

Assessing Meaning to Create Meaning Profiles

“The Assessment of Meaning” (Ch. 3) introduces the Kreitler Meaning System computer program, with different meaning profiles and “dimensional meaning scales” (p. 65).  This instrument has been assessed for construct validity and instrument reliability.  It is designed for various applications:  

For assessment, it is also immaterial whether the source of the meaning is known or not, what the intention of the communicator in regard to the communication may have been, or whether there has been any intention to communicate at all.   Meaning assessment consists of analyzing the given materials in terms of the meaning system. (p. 65)  

In the world, there is a fair amount of ambiguity in terms of meaning:  

…there are many cases when there is no clearly defined input or stimulus for the assigned meaning. This is characteristic for unsolicited meaning communications, for example, a novel, a story, a film, or an email that have been produced by someone with some kind of intention but not necessarily as a specific meaning communication.  The difficulty here is to identify an adequate, possible or plausible stimulus for the communication.  Sometimes there is an implied or implicit input suggested in the title of the narrative or film or guessed on the basis of the context in which they appear or on the basis of some conception about the communicator or the time and place of the communication. (Kreitler, “The Assessment…,” 2022, p. 66)  

Various in-world phenomena may be interpreted in different ways.  Any stimuli or stimulus may be used as “a meaning-carrier or referent” (p. 66).  Objects are not inherently meaningful per se but have to be understood as bearing particular meaning, so human interpretation—their culture and their imagination—also play a role.  
 
This chapter contains directions for how those who would use the various research instruments should conduct the research, with methodical care and precision.  There are websites for international users.  

kreitlermeaningsystem.com
kreitlermeaningsystem.tau.ac.il

“The Meaning Test for Adults” is shared in Appendix 1, along with various other related assessments.  

Verbal Inputs for Meaning

“The Meanings of Verbal Inputs:  Words, Sentences and Beyond” (Ch. 4) opens as follows:  

All referents originate from inputs or can be traced back to inputs. But not all inputs turn into referents.  An input turns into a referent when meaning is assigned to it.  In this manner the input is introduced into the sphere of meaning.  (p. 100)

This chapter explores various forms of how verbal communications (written and spoken) carry meaning, with different groupings based on different parts of speech.  

Engaging Nonverbal and Quasi-Verbal Materials

“Meaning of Nonverbal and Quasi Verbal Inputs” (Ch. 5) highlights how various types of materials may carry meanings.  In the chapter’s abstract, the author writes:  

The inputs whose meanings were examined include situations (static, dynamic, and computer games), objects (inanimate and animate, including plants and animals), human aspects (images of human beings, faces, movements and postures, the body), special signs (letters, numbers, icons, emoji, memes), sensory inputs (colors, odors, tastes, sounds and tones, internal sensations).  The inputs were presented mostly in the form of images, photographs or drawings.  The responses were mostly verbal.  (p. 125)  

She observes that the meanings of nonverbal inputs are “affected by verbal meanings yet manifest idiosyncratic features based on their special forms, uses and contexts” (p. 125).  As more information is offered, the interpretations of various prompts change and evolve to have multi-layered understandings.  She describes another study involving computer game players, who are asked to explain the meaning of three games of their choice.  Other research participants are asked to communicate the meanings of various common objects:  

The objects whose meaning we explored belonged to different classes:  tools (utensils) (e.g., spoon, computer), furniture (armchair, cupboard), fixtures at home (door, AC), clothes (coat, shoes), food (bread, steak), musical instruments (piano, drum), jewelry (necklace, ring), objects in nature (water, star), and plants (tree, flower).  (Kreitler, “Meaning of Nonverbal…,” 2022, p. 132)

People often make sense of the world in relation to themselves.  When people analyze the meanings of animals, they often engage all four clusters of meaning dimensions:  “actional-dynamic, sensory-perceptual, experiential-cognitive, and contextual-situational” (p. 133).  Humans are “a special class in the context of objects that populate our environment and to which meanings are assigned” (p. 134).  Other depictions of humans involve full body postures without clearly defined gender indicators and other approaches.  

This chapter explores the meanings of letters, in the category of “special signs that are in-between the verbal and the visual ones, using features of both while constituting a genre of their own” (Kreitler, “Meaning of Nonverbal…,” 2022, p. 137).  Numbers also carrying symbolic meanings in some systems of thinking.  

Notably, the meanings of letters and numbers demonstrate the tendency to add in meaning assignment a broader context by referring to conceptual and metaphoric meanings.  In providing symbolic meaning values for numbers, the respondents often base their responses both on cited sources (e.g., religious, mystical cults) and on the external shape of the number (e.g., zero is a hollow circle, like a womb, one is an arrow straight from the earth to God almighty above us, eight is the endless eternity surrounding itself inside-out).  Most of the cited meanings of numbers are metaphorical since they use the number which is a concrete entity for representing an abstract idea. (p. 138)

This chapter includes explorations of meaning-bearing icons, emojis, and memes (particularly Internet ones).  She observes:   “The preliminary conclusions based on our explorations are that the meanings of memes are richer than those of icons in terms of the used meaning dimensions and meaning values but there is less consensus in the meaning values which underscores the similarity of memes to verbal messages rather than to icons and emoji” (Kreitler, “Meaning of Nonverbal…,” 2022, p. 140).  This chapter includes meanings applied to particular sensory inputs, like colors, smells, tastes, sounds and tones, and proprioception and somatosensory sensations felt internally:  “pain, itching, pressure, hunger, thirst, weakness, heaviness, lightness, humidity, temperature, heartbeat, nausea, arousal, fatigue, balance, kinesthetic sense of muscles, as well as pleasure and enjoyment” (p. 144).  There is a short section on synesthesia and human meaning making.  

Meaning within an Evolutionary Framework

“Development of Meaning and the Evolutionary Perspective” (Ch. 6) considers changes in how people perceive meaning in different age ranges, with changes over the human life span.  Toddlers can perceive and reason powerfully even at some months of age, such as distinguishing “solids from liquids using deformation and penetration cues” (Hespos, Ferry, & Rips, 2009, as cited in Kreitler, “Development of Meaning…,” 2022, p. 152).  Three-month-olds can differentiate items by weight and respond appropriately behaviorally (Striano & Bushnell, 2005, as cited in Kreitler, “Development of Meaning…,” 2022, p. 152).  As people age, they add on more meaning dimensions:  “The mean rises from 9.8 in the youngest age group (13 – 18) to 16.8 in the oldest age group (65 – 70), with means of 12.1 and 13.5 in the groups of those in the age ranges 25 – 30 and 45 – 50, respectively” (p. 162).  Meaning profiles of individuals change in differing age groups.  Personality may affect what people focus on:  

Personality inclinations and habits may also predispose the individual to focus on some meaning variables and overlook others.  For example, OCD or anality may enhance interest in meaning dimensions of state, structure and time” (p. 166)

There are sections on meaning making by animals and plants.  Kreitler (2022) writes:  

Meaning in animals is a highly challenging theme.  It suffices to mention the range of species to which the theme refers, the evolutionary scale over which it spreads, the complexity of the factors that make up the communication networks in animals, and the total dependence on nonverbal means of expression and communication which are partly unique to animals.  All these features testify to the important role communication fulfills in the realm of animals. (p. 167)  

 

Meaning System:  Input of Stimuli, Output of Meaning

“The Structure and Functioning of Meaning” (Ch. 7) uses a systems approach to understand meaning.  If systems are comprised of “components, structure, purpose or function, environment, boundary, input and output,” the construct can be applied to meanings where “the components are meaning variables that represent cognitive contents and processes, the structure is in terms of clusters based on the meaning variables and their interrelations; the purpose is to generate and process meaning; the boundary is belonging to the sphere of cognition; the input are stimuli of all different kinds; the output is meanings” (p. 192).  This chapter presents a visual schematic of “the circumplex model of meaning dimensions” (p. 195), which includes sophisticated ideas, but the visualization looks like it might have been created on a typewriter.  


People constantly construct meanings about the world around them, in some cases without much self-awareness of that process, in “The Construction of Meaning” (Ch. 8).  People see meaning as “simply something that is there, as much as air or other self-evident constituents of reality” (p. 209).  The study of human making of meaning may broaden understandings of the mechanics.  The author writes:  

Even in those cases when we assume or feel that we simply retrieve meanings and use them without construction, some degree of construction actually takes place, at least in regard to adjusting the retrieved meaning to the present situation.  Meaning construction goes on even without intent or consciousness on the individual’s part.  (Kreitler, “The Construction…,” 2022, p. 210)  

Meaning making is a sequential and stepwise process, with prior steps affecting subsequent ones and affecting understandings.  Some types of meaning making following particular patterns.  New meanings are additive and build on prior meanings.  Meanings are informed by “the individual’s personal tendencies of meaning and the different properties of the situation, such as familiar objects or inputs, verbal context and behavioral requirements” (p. 212).  

First, there is a change from general statements concerning meaning values and referents to more particular and specific ones…Second, there is a change from homogeneous responses with few individual differences in the first stage to heterogeneous responses in the third stage, reflecting the salience of interpersonally-shared meaning assignment tendencies in the first stage and the increasing involvement of personal subjective meaning assignment tendencies in the third stage.  Third, there is a change from relatively concrete meaning values in the first stage to stating more abstract constructs in the third stage, reflecting the increasing salience of the referent. (p. 215)   

This chapter also engages special cases of meaning-making, such as involving proverbs, particular verbal statements such as “epigrams, sayings, aphorisms, adages” (p. 223), “parables, fables, and allegories” (pp. 224-226), and “metaphors, symbols, comparisons and the exemplifying-illustrative type of relation” (p. 226), and symbols (p. 229).   


“Meaning and Language:  Language as a Tool for Expressing, Communicating and Generating Meaning” (Ch. 9) highlights the criticality of language to communicate meaning.  She observes, “language cannot exist without meaning, whereas meaning exists even without language” (p. 235).  There are aspects of language that “function as hints or signals concerning specific kinds of meaning” (p. 235).  Language itself was found to promote “the expression and communication of specific kinds of meanings more than others” (p. 235).  Language is not only verbal and textual but also visual and multimodal.  


 “Meaning in Cognition:  Cognitive Acts, Problem Solving and Models” (Ch. 10) focuses on the role of human perception and learning and thinking in meaning making, based on a diverse range of human intelligences and abilities.  Applying meaning involves cognition:  

The section on problem solving first deals with problems focused on specific meaning variables (e.g., pattern completion, mirror images, mental rotations, Raven’s matrices, jigsaw puzzles, riddles, and functional fixedness), followed by the description of the contributions and insights of the major sets of meaning variables to the construction of approaches to problem solving.  The findings show that meaning-based models of problem solving are possible, and provide a necessary enrichment to problem solving by enabling the solution of problems that cannot be solved well or at all by the formal standard method or by individuals who have different abilities and tendencies. (p. 249)

The research approach involves both an element of meaning-making assessment and cognition assessment.  Those who enjoy various forms of cognitive play will find this a satisfying chapter related to human capabilities and thinking.  This chapter describes a multi-dimensional psychosemantic model tapping into various aspects of human reasoning and thinking.  

Personality and Meaning Making

“Meaning and Personality:  Traits and Beyond” (Ch. 11) begins with assessing various meaning profiles of people and linking them to personality traits.  The researcher explains:  

The procedure of examining the correlates of constructs in terms of meaning variables was then applied to styles (cognitive styles:  holistic-analytic, monitoring-blunting, chaotic style), personality types (anality, leadership types, authoritarian personality), psychological mechanisms (defense mechanism, self-control), attitudes (place attachment, value orientations), concepts (self-concept), and conceptions (optimism, meaningfulness of life). (p. 289)

The researcher researched questions, such as the following:  What are meaning-making profiles of extroverts?  Neurotics?  Sensation seeking persons?  Those intolerant of ambiguity.  How do these various personality types engage the world in terms of preferred cognitive styles (“preferred ways of dealing with information”) (p. 301)?  What are some different ways to understand clusters of personality traits?  How do various human traits interact?  What do meaning profiles show about how people function in the world?  Deal with threats to the self?  In the appendix, there is “The Self Questionnaire” to help questionnaire takers explore the self for increased self-awareness.  There is another scale in the appendix, one for the “meaningfulness of life.”

Meaning in Emotions

“Meaning in the Sphere of Feelings and Emotions” (Ch. 12) explores how perceived meanings affect the individual’s emotions, leading to various positive and negative emotions, given how values are often applied to various meanings.  This work focuses on some selected emotions—“anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, love, happiness, joy, and hope” and questionnaires (p. 334)

Meaning profiles of emotions are designed to provide insight into the underlying nature and dynamics of emotions. The insight is based on identifying the meaning variables that are related to the emotion.  It is based on the empirical procedure of administering to a sample of individuals the meaning test and at least one standard assessment tool of the emotion.  Coding the results of the meaning test yields the individual’s meaning profile.  The relation between the individuals’ meaning profile and the emotion is detected by correlating the results of the meaning profile with the score of the emotion. (p. 335)

The appendix in this chapter has a tool to help a respondent explore emotions.  


“Intervention for Training, Changing and Improvement of Meaning” (Ch. 13) is all about how to harness the Kreitler Meaning System for various practical applications.  The system does not have to be applied in total but can be used for “targeted interventions in many domains, including cognition, education, personality, emotions, art, health, and communication” (p. 373).  One approach involves the improvement of teaching and learning.  There are exercises that can be used in coding meaning, to train adherents to the method.  That said, it would likely take more than a book to help individual train into the effective use of this tool.  Perhaps it would require training and hands-on practice and feedback.  

Conclusion

Perhaps people are driven by an internal sense of meaning (without which they lapse into ennui).  Perhaps they are not comfortable with mysteries.  Perhaps they will not let mysteries stand.  Perhaps people like to get to the bottom of things.  


A review of Kreitler’s edited collection New Frontiers in Creativity (2019) ran in earlier issue of the C2C Digital Magazine.  

About the Author

Shalin Hai-Jew works as an instructional designer / researcher at Kansas State University.  Her email is shalin@ksu.edu.  

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