Affordance Discussion Questions

The given definition of an affordance describes a kind of physical object in the environment that has use value to a thinking thing through motor skills. This action occurs regardless of what the thinking thing's internal thoughts. It's a sort of law of nature. The problematic areas of this definition come up in terms of what we define as an individual as well as the environment. What if the environment we are describing is occurring within the individual's body? What kinds of affordances may occur in that space? Or what if the environment was metaphysical?

A connection may exist between affordance in evolution in that either an individual may not possess the skills necessary to use the available affordances and thus evolves to be a more dominant being in the world, or the types of affordances in an environment may not support specific life forms and thus they cease to exist while the world evolves.

A niche is more of a micro scale while an environment is more macro. The environment is the overall space where an individual lives. Its niche is the kind of occupation or role it plays within that environment. Thus a bee may thrive in the environment of a field but its niche is part of the pollination process. Our niche within the environment of the school is that of the student, to learn.

Three aspects of the classroom:
Chair
Table
Door Handle


The chair implies an area lifted off of the ground in which to sit within. It affords sitting by way of its shape with a swooped back and base similar in size to a human. It allows texture to be felt on the skin as well as pressure points on various parts of the body. The Table affords an area to work on top of off of the ground with a smooth surface--It allows sensory input through touch. A door handle affords use of the door itself and allows sensory input again through touch. It is rounded and also the same width as the hand and allows itself to be grasped.

With respect to affordances, the difference between usefulness and utility might be something that affords a physical action but does not actually benefit the user. For example, both a stick and a pen afford being picked up but the pen is useful because it allows the user to write. The stick may have other uses, but in the sense of writing, a pen is more useful.

An example of a false affordance could be a high heel shoe with extreme height. It affords the wearer to walk without exposing their feet to the ground but depending on the height of the shoe the wearer may not actually be able to walk, or their walking might be hindered. Another similar example might be walking on stilts.

We're not necessarily aware of all affordances. If we were these popular Internet "life hacks" would not exist, where people are constantly finding new ways to use something that improves usefulness of utility. Affordances are probably not cultural, but the affordances we make use of may be. Affordances themselves are not different for people with disabilities as far as what various objects afford, but the user may make use of different affordances in different ways.