Historicizing affordance theory: A rendezvous between ecological psychology and cultural-historical activity theory
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Historicizing affordance theory : A rendezvous between ecological psychology and cultural-historical activity theory. / Pedersen, Sofie; Bang, Jytte Susanne.
In: Theory & Psychology, Vol. 26, No. 6, 2016, p. 731–750.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Historicizing affordance theory
T2 - A rendezvous between ecological psychology and cultural-historical activity theory
AU - Pedersen, Sofie
AU - Bang, Jytte Susanne
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - The aim of this article is to discuss how mutually enriching points from both affordance theory and cultural-historical activity theory can promote theoretical ideas which may prove useful as analytical tools for the study of human life and human development. There are two issues that need to be overcome in order to explore the potentials of James Gibson’s affordance theory: it does not sufficiently theorize (a) development and (b) society. We claim that Gibson’s affordance theory still needs to be brought beyond “the axiom of immediacy.” Ambivalences in Gibson’s affordance theory will be discussed, and we will argue for certain revisions. The strong ideas of direct perceiving and of perception–action mutuality remain intact while synthesized with ideas of societal human life. We propose the concept of the affording of societal standards to be a meaningful term in order to grasp the specific societal character of affordance theory.
AB - The aim of this article is to discuss how mutually enriching points from both affordance theory and cultural-historical activity theory can promote theoretical ideas which may prove useful as analytical tools for the study of human life and human development. There are two issues that need to be overcome in order to explore the potentials of James Gibson’s affordance theory: it does not sufficiently theorize (a) development and (b) society. We claim that Gibson’s affordance theory still needs to be brought beyond “the axiom of immediacy.” Ambivalences in Gibson’s affordance theory will be discussed, and we will argue for certain revisions. The strong ideas of direct perceiving and of perception–action mutuality remain intact while synthesized with ideas of societal human life. We propose the concept of the affording of societal standards to be a meaningful term in order to grasp the specific societal character of affordance theory.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - activity theory
KW - affordance
KW - ecological psychology
KW - James J. Gibson
KW - standards
U2 - 10.1177/0959354316669021
DO - 10.1177/0959354316669021
M3 - Journal article
VL - 26
SP - 731
EP - 750
JO - Theory & Psychology
JF - Theory & Psychology
SN - 0959-3543
IS - 6
ER -
ID: 168852002