Выражение встречается в следующем контексте:Смыслообразующие мотивы в структуре всякой человеческой деятельности занимают ведущее положение, поскольку они инициируют поведение (действия, деятельность), наделенное личностным смыслом для индивида.

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According to A.N. Leontiev, this formation is due to two circumstances. First, in one's activity one is involved in complex social relations--with objective reality, other people with whom one works, one's social group and society itself; thus an activity may have several motivations. Second, these motives have unequal functional weight within the framework of a concrete activity so that one motive may be meaning-forming while another may be an incentive only in a given activity. The hierarchical structure of motives is formed not according to the scale of their proximity to biological needs, but according to their functional significance in a particular activity. In hierarchical relations the meaning-forming motive has higher status than does the incentive power.

Inclusion of personal moral motives in the motivational hierarchy introduces an entirely new meaning. When the moral motive takes a leading place in the activity, it becomes the bearer, not only of an incentive, but also of a meaning-forming function. This has the highest status with respect to other motives, for the aspiration to the good, to moral perfection, justice, etc., gives meaning to activity and lends it moral value.

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