John Iduh Blog

 We live in a world filled with objects, many natural, the rest artificial. Every day we encounter thousands of objects, many of them new to us. Many of the new objects are similar to ones we already know, but many are unique, yet we manage quite well.  Learn more at the Ransford Global Insitute  How do we do this? Why is it that when we encounter many unusual natural objects, we know how to interact with them? Why is this true with many of the artificial, human-made objects we encounter? The answer lies with a few basic principles. Some of the most important of these principles come from a consideration of affordances.  The term affordance refers to the relationship between a physical object and a person (or for that matter, any interacting agent, whether animal or human, or even machines and robots). An affordance is a relationship between the properties of an object and the capabilities of the agent that determine just how the object could possibly be used. ...

The concept of "affordance" plays a crucial role in understanding how humans interact with their environment. Originating from psychology and later adopted in design and human-computer interaction, affordances refer to the potential actions that an environment or object enables for an individual. Understanding affordances helps us appreciate how people perceive and use the world around them, shaping their experiences and behaviors. Defining Affordance An affordance is essentially what an environment or object offers or allows an individual to do. The term was first introduced by psychologist James J. Gibson in the late 1970s, who defined affordances as all "action possibilities" latent in the environment, objectively measurable and independent of an individual's ability to recognize them. However, affordances are often discussed in terms of how they are perceived, as the usability and function of objects depend on whether people can recognize and act upon these ...