Affordance: Gibson’s word and Norman’s borrowing
PAPER X — DESIGN · QUESTION 11 OF 40
In plain terms: The free founding chapter — what the word meant before design borrowed it, in the ecologist’s own terms.
The question as set
What is an affordance? Give Gibson’s definition and Norman’s, say where they part, and explain why Norman later ruled that a second term — the signifier — was needed.
The question in Paper X · Its section on the reference page
The question in context
This is question 11 of the 40 set in Paper X — Design of The Truly Hardest Exam in the World, the examination of The College of All Minds. In the College’s subject index it is filed under Affordance and interface and Vision and perception. Like every question of the College, it carries three references of record, verified live at publication and described twice — technically, and in plain terms — so the ground can be judged before it is walked. The response required is an argument, not a survey, of at most three thousand words, as technical as the question demands and no more.
The references of record
The original definition: affordances as animal-relative action possibilities of the environment, perceived directly.
In plain terms: The free founding chapter — what the word meant before design borrowed it, in the ecologist’s own terms.
The parting stated by the borrower: perceived versus real affordances, and the misuse the borrowing produced.
In plain terms: The free essay in which Norman corrects the field’s use of his own borrowed word — the two definitions side by side.
Affordances (encyclopaedia chapter)
The settlement surveyed: Gibson, Norman, signifiers, and the successor notions, with the disputes mapped.
In plain terms: The free scholarly chapter that lays out the whole quarrel — and why Norman ruled a second term was needed.
Background: Affordance