Abstract

BALLESTEROS DE VALDERRAMA, Blanca Patricia. The concept of meaning from behavior analysis and other perspectives. Univ. Psychol. [online]. 2005, vol.4, n.2, pp.231-244. ISSN 1657-9267.

This article presents crucial points related to the concept of meaning trying to emphasize some convergences between behavior analysis, other behavioral perspectives, like Staats’ and Ribes-Iñesta’s, and postures outside behaviorism, specially those made by J. Bruner and other representatives of constructivism and constructionism. DeGrandpre (2000) presented some ways how behaviorism can contribute to the “science of meaning” and the “psychology of practical significance”; his suggestions are complemented and analyzed including other representative authors and their approaches to meaning as a concept that has been controversial in behavioral and social sciences, inside and outside psychology. The arguments presented in this paper are related to a study of the meanings of peace in which the author participated as a co-investigator, with psychologists from different theoretical perspectives. Convergences are analyzed around concepts like symbolic behavior, psychological function, verbal community, social convention, between others. When reinforcement is formulated as a relational construct, meaning has to be taken also as a relational concept. It is concluded that there are more congruencies than differences between authors from diverse perspectives, especially upon the relative/contextual and dialectical character of meaning.

Keywords : Meaning; symbolic behaviour; psychological function; practical significance; verbal community; Significado; conducta simbólica; función psicológica; significado práctico; comunidad verbal.

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