What is the meaning of the word context?

Question

Psychology

Answer 1

Hello,

Context is the part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning, also it is the circumstances in which an event occurs; a setting.

Answer 2

That all depends upon the context of how you're using the word.
From Wikipedia:

The context of an event, word, paradigm, change or other reality includes the circumstances and conditions which surround it; context in language use has two meanings: (a) the surrounding text or talk of a word, sentence or turn — also called 'co-text', and (b) the dimensions of the communicative situation that are relevant for the production or comprehension of discourse.

Within specific academic disciplines, it has the following meanings:

In archaeology, the context (physical location) of a discovery can be of major significance. See stratification. More precisely, an archaeological context is an event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material filling it will be another. Multiple fills, seen as layers in archaeological section would mean multiple contexts. Structural features, natural deposits and inhumations are also contexts. By separating a site into these basic, discrete units, archaeologists are able to create a chronology for activity on a site and describe and interpret it.
In mycology, the context, also called flesh, is the mass of non-hymenial tissues that composes the mass of a fungal fruiting body. When viewed microscopically, it is referred to as the trama.
In communications, linguistics and discourse analysis context is the way participants define the relevant dimensions of the communicative situation of a text, conversation or message, such as the Setting (Time, Place), the ongoing Activity (e.g., a family dinner, a lecture, a parliamentary debate, etc.), Participants and their roles (e.g., speaker, friend, journalist, etc.), and the Goals, Plans/Intentions and Knowledge of the Participants. Speaker/Writer contexts typically control how discourse is adapted to the social situation, for instance by varying its style: 'how' things are said. Recipient contexts control how participants understand discourse, for instance as a function of their roles, goals, knowledge or interests.
In computer science, context is the circumstances under which a device is being used, e.g. the current occupation of the user. (see also context awareness, context switch). In information systems, context information is metadata stored in the system about items (e.g. resources, events, etc) that is related to, but not intrinsically about that item. The line between ordinary metadata and contextual metadata is a blurred one, and often depends on individual perspectives about what counts as intrinsic information. A common deliminator is whether the information originated internally (such as a timestamp generated by the system clock) or externally via some form of sensor (such as the weather at that time).
In Artificial Intelligence, context is very much related to its properties in communications, linguistics and philosophy. Research is being performed about how these aspects can be modelled in computer systems (e.g. logic-based) for use in automated reasoning.
In Biblical Studies, context indicates the harmonious relationship of the scripture verse(s) or portion of text under study following after the rule of the “text within the context”. It should abide by a scriptural sense of bearing a close relationship with the immediate passage when trying to determine the meaning of the scriptures. The context of scriptures also should follows the aim and purpose as observed by the original writer with a view toward imparting scriptural truth to the actual audience. See Grammatical-Historical hermeneutics.
In Contemporary art, context is often used to describe everything other than the content of the piece of work. For example the way in which a painting is hung within a gallery, the political situation at the time of viewing, the amount of wine consumed at the private view.
In Sitcoms, the context is the issues and trends that surround the time that the show is set in, e.g the sitcom "I Love Lucy" reflects many issues and trends from its context of the 1950's.
In Contextual advertising, context decides what ads to serve on a particular page based on the content of that page.
In case studies, the context of a case is the history and geography that do not form part of the case proper but the understanding of which is nevertheless necessary in order to understand the case.

However, since this is the Psychology category, I'm thinking you're referring to this:

In Psychology, context refers to the background stimuli that accompany some kind of foreground event. For example, if a rat is foraging and is frightened by a cat, the place (and possibly time) of foraging is the context and the cat is the foreground event. There seems to be a specialized neural structure, the hippocampus, for the processing of some kinds of context.

Answer 3

The type of context means the situation your talking about. For example:

Tom copies a dvd from his mate, but the police catch him distributing the goods. In the context of this question what is he stealing and who is losing out?

Answer 4

It depends on how you use a word. There are some words that are spelt the same or similar that can be used in different situations or context as you would say

Answer 5

'the circumstances of a setting or event'

Answer 6

way, sort, thought ?? all or any of these....