Abstract
Many different interpretive frames can be brought to bear on the same experience. Heidegger described this space of possible meanings as the “horizon of interpretation.” This horizon can be understood as a probability distribution of possible meanings, instantiated as the relative activation of the brain’s interpretive networks in response to sensory input. From an evolutionary perspective, correctly identifying the significance of incoming sensory information is a critical adaptive challenge. Consistent with its adaptive importance, the horizon of interpretation is constrained by a set of core motivational systems that function as broad “categories of meaning.” These constraints fluctuate from moment to moment as different goal states are activated or deactivated, with concomitant shifts in the horizon of interpretation. The distribution of meanings that an individual can derive from an experience will thus be heavily influenced by his or her active goals.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aarts H (2007) On the emergence of human goal pursuit: the nonconscious regulation and motivation of goals. Soc Pers Psychol Compass 1:183–201
Austin J, Vancouver J (1996) Goal constructs in psychology: structure, process, and content. Psychol Bull 120:338–375
Bargh JA, Chartrand TL (1999) The unbearable automaticity of being. Am Psychol 54:462–479
Bargh JA, Gollwitzer PM, Lee-Chai A, Barndollar K, Trötschel R (2001) The automated will: nonconscious activation and pursuit of behavioral goals. J Pers Soc Psychol 81:1014–1027
Barsalou L (1983) Ad hoc categories. Mem Cognit 11:211–227
Bishop C (2006) Pattern recognition and machine learning. Springer, Berlin
Boroditsky L (2001) Does language shape thought?: Mandarin and English speakers’ conceptions of time. Cogn Psychol 43:1–22
Camus A (1955) The myth of sisyphus. Anchor, New York
Carver CS, Scheier M (1998) On the self-regulation of behavior. Cambridge University Press, New York
Corr PJ (2004) Reinforcement sensitivity theory and personality. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 28:317–332
Crick NR, Dodge KA (1994) A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychol Bull 115:74–101
Darwin C (1872) The expression of the emotions in man and animals. John Murray, London
Desimone R, Duncan J (1995) Neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. Annu Rev Neurosci 18:193–222
DeYoung CG, Gray J (2009) Personality neuroscience: explaining individual differences in affect, behavior, and cognition. In: Corr P, Matthews G (eds) The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology. Cambridge University Press, New York
Dilthey W (1883/1991) Introduction to the human sciences (trans: Makkreel RA, Rodi F). Princeton University Press, Princeton
Djikic M, Oatley K, Zoeterman S, Peterson JB (2009) On being moved by art: how reading fiction transforms the self. Creat Res J 21:24–29
Downey G, Freitas AL, Michaelis B, Khouri H (1998) The self-fulfilling prophecy in close relationships: rejection sensitivity and rejection by romantic partners. J Pers Soc Psychol 75:545–560
Elliot AJ, Thrash TM (2002) Approach-avoidance motivation in personality: approach and avoidance temperaments and goals. J Pers Soc Psychol 82:804–818
Emmons RA (1986) Personal strivings: an approach to personality and subjective well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol 51:1058–1068
Frankl V (1971) Man’s search for meaning. Pocket Books, New York
Gadamer HG (1960/1994) Truth and method (trans: Weinsheimer J, Marshall DG). Continuum, New York
Gibson J (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
Graziano W, Eisenberg N (1997) Agreeableness: a dimension of personality. In: Hogan R, Johnson J, Briggs S (eds) Handbook of personality psychology. Academic, New York
Heidegger M (1927/1962) Being and time (1st English edn). Blackwell, Oxford
Hirsh JB (2010) The weight of being: psychological perspectives on the existential moment. New Ideas Psychol 28:28–36
Hirsh JB, Inzlicht M (2008) The devil you know: neuroticism predicts neural response to uncertainty. Psychol Sci 19:962–967
Hirsh JB, DeYoung CG, Xu X, Peterson JB (2010) Compassionate liberals and polite conservatives: associations of agreeableness with political ideology and moral values. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 36:655–664
Hirsh JB, Mar RA, Peterson JB (2012) Psychological entropy: a framework for understanding uncertainty-related anxiety. Psychol Rev 119:304–320
Isbell LA (2009) The fruit, the tree, and the serpent: why we see so well. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Kasser T, Ryan RM (1993) A dark side of the American dream: correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. J Pers Soc Psychol 65:410–422
Kierkegaard S (1844/1957) The concept of dread. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Kierkegaard S (1846/1944) Concluding unscientific postscript to the philosophical fragments (trans: Swenson DF). Princeton University Press, Princeton
Lakoff G (2002) Moral politics: how liberals and conservatives think. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Levinson SC, Kita S, Haun D, Rasch BH (2002) Returning the tables: language affects spatial reasoning. Cognition 84:155–188
Lyotard JF (1984) The postmodern condition: a report on knowledge. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Mar RA, Oatley K (2008) The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience. Perspect Psychol Sci 3:173–192
McCullough ME, Emmons RA, Kilpatrick SD, Mooney CN (2003) Narcissists as “victims”: the role of narcissism in the perception of transgressions. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 29:885–893
McGregor I, Little BR (1998) Personal projects, happiness, and meaning: on doing well and being yourself. J Pers Soc Psychol 74:494–512
Miller EK (2000) The prefrontal cortex and cognitive control. Nat Rev Neurosci 1:59–65
Nietzsche FW (1887/1967) On the genealogy of morals (trans: Kaufmann WA). Vintage, New York
Noy C (2004) This trip really changed me: Backpackers’ narratives of self-change. Ann Tour Res 31:78–102
Öhman A, Mineka S (2003) The malicious serpent: snakes as a prototypical stimulus for an evolved module of fear. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 12:5–9
Panksepp J (1998) Affective neuroscience: the foundations of human and animal emotions. Oxford University Press, New York
Peterson JB (1999) Maps of meaning: the architecture of belief. Routledge, New York
Roberts BW, Robins RW (2000) Broad dispositions, broad aspirations: the intersection of personality traits and major life goals. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 26:1284–1296
Rogers T, McClelland J (2004) Semantic cognition: a parallel distributed processing approach. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Rozin P, Fallon AE (1987) A perspective on disgust. Psychol Rev 94:23–41
Sartre JP (1946/2007) Existentialism is a humanism (trans: Mairet P). Yale University Press, New Haven
Schleiermacher F (1838/1998) Hermeneutics and criticism and other writings (trans: Bowie A). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Swanson LW (2003) Brain architecture: understanding the basic plan. Oxford University Press, New York
Von Neumann J (1935/1996) Mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics (trans: Beyer RT). Princeton University Press, Princeton
Wittgenstein L (1953/2001) Philosophical investigations (trans: Anscombe GEM). Blackwell, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hirsh, J.B. (2013). Meaning and the Horizon of Interpretation: How Goals Structure Our Experience of the World. In: Hicks, J., Routledge, C. (eds) The Experience of Meaning in Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6527-6_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6527-6_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6526-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6527-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)