Meaning Reconstruction as Discourse Research Method

The paper focuses on a person's verbal reaction to an object as a combined cultural product of the individual that involves his/her values, knowledge and actions/tools. The empirical research was aimed at analyzing the attitudes that exist in Russian soci- ety towards the social group of businesspersons, and to explore the modality of this image. For these purposes, a method of meaning reconstruction was employed in the form of unfinished sentences and topic-focus articulation. The research outcomes show that the majority of judgments made by the subjects were by no means based on reali- ty, thus proving the stereotypical character of individuals' attitudes towards the social group of businesspersons. These judgments mostly represent a negative image of the businessperson based, in contrast to the positive one, on logical reasoning and particu- larly differentiated in terms of concepts. Furthermore, this negative image proved to be much more rooted in personal values than the positive one. The paper clearly demon- strates that consistent regulation and classification of verbal reactions allow for the reconstruction of the verbal image and of the meaning of the object for the subject.

1. Vlasov P.K. Psihologija zamysla organizacii. Har'kov, 2004.
2. Vlasov P.K., Ganchuk V.S. Organizacionno)psihologicheskoe issledovanie integracii v organizacii // Vestnik Har'kovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija "Psihologija". 1997 . Vyp. 395.
3. Vlasov P.K., Manichev S.A., Suhodol'skij G.V. Organizacionnaja psihologija. SPb.; Har'kov, 2008.
4. Gebert D., Fon Rozenshtil' L. Organizacionnaja psihologija. Har'kov, 2006.
5. Matezius V. O tak nazyvaemom aktual'nom chlenenii predlozhenija // Prazhskij lingvisticheskij kruzhok. M., 1967.
6. Suhodol'skij G.V. Vvedenie v matematiko)psihologicheskuju teoriju dejatel'nosti. SPb., 1994.
7. Suhodol'skij G.V. Vvedenie v matematiko)psihologicheskuju teoriju dejatel'nosti. SPb., 1998.
8. Ticher S., Mejer M., Vodak R., Vetter E. Metody analiza teksta i diskursa. Har'kov, 2009.
9. Hacker W. Arbeitspsychologie. Psychische Regulation von Arbeitstaetigkeiten. Bern, 1986.