J. J. Gibson

James Jerome Gibson (January 27 1904–December 11 1979), was an American psychologist, considered one of the most important twentieth century psychologists in the field of visual perception. In his classic work The Perception of the Visual World (1950) he rejected the fashionable behaviorism for a view based on his own experimental work, which pioneered the idea that animals 'sampled' information from the 'ambient' outside world. He also coined the term 'affordance', meaning the interactive possibilities of a particular object or environment. This concept has been extremely influential in the field of design and ergonomics: see for example the work of Donald Norman who worked with Gibson, and has adapted many of his ideas for his own theories. ^{[citation needed]}

Life

Gibson was married to fellow psychologist Eleanor J. Gibson.

Work

In his later work (such as, for example, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1979)), Gibson became more philosophical and criticized cognitivism in the same way he had attacked behaviorism before. Gibson argued strongly in favour of 'direct perception', or 'direct realism' (as pioneered by the Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid), as opposed to cognitivist 'indirect realism'. He termed his new approach ecological psychology. He also rejected the information processing view of cognition. Gibson is increasingly influential on many contemporary movements in psychology, particularly those considered to be post-cognitivist.^{[citation needed]}

Affordances

An affordance is a quality of an object, or an environment, that allows an individual to perform an action.

Gibson originally introduced the term in his 1977 article The Theory of Affordances, and explored it more fully in his book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception in 1979. He defined affordances as all "action possibilities" latent in the environment, objectively measurable and independent of the individual's ability to recognize them, but always in relation to the actor and therefore dependent on their capabilities. For instance, a set of steps which rises four feet high does not afford the act of climbing if the actor is a crawling infant. Gibson's is the prevalent definition in cognitive psychology.

In 1988, Donald Norman appropriated the term affordances in the context of human–machine interaction to refer to just those action possibilities which are readily perceivable by an actor. Through his book The Design of Everyday Things (Norman 1988), this interpretation was popularized within the fields of HCI and interaction design. It makes the concept dependent not only on the physical capabilities of the actor, but also their goals, plans, values, beliefs and past experience. If an actor steps into a room with an armchair and a softball, Gibson's original definition of affordances allows that the actor may throw the recliner and sit on the softball, because that is objectively possible. Norman's definition of (perceived) affordances captures the likelihood that the actor will sit on the recliner and throw the softball. Effectively, Norman's affordances "suggest" how an object may be interacted with. For example, the size and shape of a softball obviously fits nicely in the average human hand, and its density and texture make it perfect for throwing. The user may also bring past experience with similar objects (baseballs, perhaps) to bear when evaluating a new affordance.

Norman's 1988 definition makes the concept of affordance relational, rather than subjective or intrinsic. This he deemed an "ecological approach," which is related to systems-theoretic approaches in the natural and social sciences. The focus on perceived affordances is much more pertinent to practical design problems from a human-factors approach, which may explain its widespread adoption.

Norman later explained that this adaptation of the term had been unintended (Norman 1999). However, the definition from his book has become established enough in HCI that both uses have to be accepted as convention in this field.

Legacy

Major works

Gibson, J. J. 1928. The reproduction of visually perceived forms. Journal of Experimental Psychology 12: 1-39.
Gibson, J. J., and Eleanor J. Gibson. 1955. Perceptual learning: differentiation or enrichment? Psychological Review 62, 32-41.
Gibson, J. J. 1950. The Perception of the Visual World. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Gibson, J. J. 1966. The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0313239614
Gibson, J. J. 1972. A theory of Direct Visual Perception. In J. Royce, W. Rozenboom (eds.). The Psychology of Knowing. New York, NY: Gordon & Breach.
Gibson, J. J. 1977. The theory of affordances. In R. Shaw & J. Bransford (Eds.). Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing: Toward an Ecological Psychology, 67-82. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gibson, J. J. [1979] 1986. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0898599598
Gibson, J. J. 1982. Reasons for Realism: Selected Essays of James J. Gibson, E. Reed & R. Jones (eds.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Greeno, James G. 1994. Gibson's Affordances Psychological Review 101(2): 336-342. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
Hochberg, Julian. 1994. James Jerome Gibson, 1904-1979: Biographical Memoirs. Vol. 63. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
MacLeod, Robert Brodie and Herbert L Pick. 1974. Perception: Essays in Honor of James J. Gibson. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801408359
Norman, Donald A. 1999. Affordance, Conventions and Design Interactions (May 1999): 38-43. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
Norman, Donald A. [1988] 2002. The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books. ISBN 0465067107
Reed, Edward S. 1989. James J. Gibson and the Psychology of Perception. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300042894

External links

The Gombrich/Gibson Dispute
The purple Perils of J. J. Gibson
Bibliography of James Jerome (J. J.) Gibson
XIII/The Theory of Information Pickup Gibson, J. J. (1966). "Chapter XIII: The Theory of Information Pickup" (pp. 266-286). In The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

J._J._Gibson ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "J. J. Gibson"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.