5 Lawrence rboin Asoc I ees see. Ne eo nook ny eee ‘ form, retrieval system, or any other sore Ren pir wien permion fe pbs, Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, Inc, Publishers Originally published in 1979 ISBN 0-99859-958- ISBN 0.99059.959.8 LC card Number 7849585 ___ EIGHT THE THEORY OF AFFORDANCES have described the nt as the surfaces that separate substances from medium in which the ive. But I have also described what the environ affords animals, ment ie terrain, shel snimals, and human displays. How do we go fo 5 information in light for the perception of surfaces, Perception of what they afford? Perhaps the comp what they afford. (0 perceive what they afford, ies that the “values” and “mean support. It is surface of support, and we ct stand-on-able, permitting an upright posture for quadrupeds and bipeds, It is theveh walkonable and run-overable. It is not sink-into-able like a surface of water o not for heavy terrestrial animals. Support for water bugs is differe: he four properties listed—horizontal, ft, extended, and rigid—wot pertes ofa surfice if they were measured with the scales and standa tunis used in physics. AS en affordance of support for a species of animal, howeve they have to be measured relative tothe animal. They are unique for that animal. Th te not just abstract physical properties. They have unity relative to the posture a‘measure in physics. juts aford different may have various shapes, as long as its functional layout is that of a seat, The color and tenture of the surface are irrelevant. Knee-high for a child is not the same clative to the size of the i it does, the affordance is perceived to the body surfaces, the self, ‘There could be 1d have meaning, tances ofthe environment have teractions, sexual, predatory, nurturing, fighting, id communicating. What other persons allord, comprises the ignficance for human beings. We pay the closes mn that specifies what the other person is threatens, and does. THE NICHES OF THE ENVIRONMENT have the concept of aniche. A species of ani 4 certain niche in the environment, ‘offers many ways of life, and different a akind of animal, and the ‘THE INFORMATION FOR VISUAL PERCEPTION 135 ® I sorts of ways of getting food; ‘eaves; all sorts of niches not yet occupied. niche is a place that is th if you like. An affordance tomy of subjective-ohjective and helps us to understand its inad- Ilya fact ofthe environment and a fet of| both physical yet neither. An affordance points both ways, to the environment and to ‘The niche for a certain species should not be confused with what some animal psychologists have called the phenomenal encironment ofthe species. This ean be taken erroneously to be the “private work posed to live, the “subjective wor on their perception of the em depend on the organism for its existence. MAN'S ALTERATION OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT In the last few thousand years, as everybody now realizes, the very fice of the earth has been modified by man. The layout of surfices has been changed, by cutting, clearing, leveling, paving, and building. Natural deserts and mountains, swamps and rivers, forests and plains stil exist, but they are being encroached upon and reshaped by man-made layouts. Moreover, the substances of the environment have been partly converted from the natural materials of the earth such as bronze,t air for us and the water for fsh—is becoming cycles that yielded a steady ‘Why has man changed er to get about, and easier to not anew environment—an artificial environment distinct from the natural cenvironment—but the same old environment modified by man. It is a mistake to from the natural environment, as if there were a world of mental prod ct from the world of material products. There is only one wor depend. We cannot thange it. , for we were , in fact, formed by them. We were ereated by the SOME AFFORDANCES OF THE TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT Let us consider the affordances of the medium, of substance layout, of objects, of ecological of went (Chapter 5). ‘THE MEDIUM, Air affords breathing, more exactly, respiration. It also affords unimpeded locomotion relative he ground, which affords support. When illuminated and fogsfree, it affords ‘THE INFORMATION FOR VIS 1 PERCEPTION visual percept fields and the perce c perception of vibratory events by means of sound THE SUBSTANCES ind always has a surface with air. It does not afford alfrds drinking. Being fluid, it afords pouring from a container, affords washing and bathing. Its surface does not aford support for information for water is well specified b ‘unique fluctuations caused by rippling 2}, Depending on the animal species, some afford toxic. Fruits and berries, for example, have more food value when they are ripe, and ied by the color ofthe surface. But the food values of substances are often misperceived. Iso afford various kinds of manufacture, depending on the kind of are prerequisite to other behaviors, such as mn. There will be more about the perception ofthe groun the basis of the b