Definition
- 1.
(n.) An affordance is an action possibility formed by the relationship between an agent and its environment (Gibson 1977, 1979). For any combination of agent or environment, any given affordance either exists or does not exist. There is no middle ground. The most inclusive definition of affordances considers only the physical possibility of an action occurring. An agent does not need to be aware of the afforded action, such as the affordance of opening a secret door. This definition is rooted in perceptual psychology and its primary source is The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception by Gibson (1979).
- 2.
(n.) An affordance may refer to a perceived affordance. Perceived affordances are a subset of affordances. A perceived affordanceuses a more restrictive definition that requires an agent to be aware of the affordance, either through direct perception or experience. A...
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Nye, B.D., Silverman, B.G. (2012). Affordance. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_369
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