Joe enters a room, sees a novel object, and promptly walks over and sits on it. The object was about the size of a small table and had a flat, smooth surface at approximately knee height. If asked to explain Joe's behavior, Gibson would likely say that Joe _____.
A) was acting based on affordances
B) had sustained damage to his hippocampus
C) had learned the function of the object from optic flow
D) was suffering from optic ataxia

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Gibson's theory of perception emphasizes the role of affordances, which refer to the potential actions that an object or environment affords an individual. In this scenario, Joe likely perceived the object as something he could sit on based on its size and flat surface, which afforded that particular action.

Joe Enters a Room, Sees a Novel Object, and Promptly