The studies held within the O.K. Tikhomirov’s school in psychology of thinking pro vide an approach toward solving the following problem: what are the actual positions and the roles the emotions play in human thinking processes, and in general — in the systemic interactions between human beings and the universe. The paper says that human emotions reflect, or provide dynamic models of such properties of the elements of the external world, which represent neither specific subjects nor objects, but instead belong to the psychological system «active human being in the universe». The correspondence between a human being and the universe is reflected in emotions and in systemic psychological properties, such as meanings, senses, and values. The paper discusses psychological mechanisms of emotional reflection of these properties.