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James Jerome Gibson
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The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (Psychology Press & Routledge Classic Editions) 1st Edition

by James J. Gibson (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 57 ratings
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This book, first published in 1979, is about how we see: the environment around us (its surfaces, their layout, and their colors and textures); where we are in the environment; whether or not we are moving and, if we are, where we are going; what things are good for; how to do things (to thread a needle or drive an automobile); or why things look as they do.

The basic assumption is that vision depends on the eye which is connected to the brain. The author suggests that natural vision depends on the eyes in the head on a body supported by the ground, the brain being only the central organ of a complete visual system. When no constraints are put on the visual system, people look around, walk up to something interesting and move around it so as to see it from all sides, and go from one vista to another. That is natural vision -- and what this book is about.

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  1. ISBN-10
    1848725787
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1848725782
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publication date
    November 27, 2014
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.78 x 9 inches
  7. Print length
    346 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James J. Gibson (1904–1979) is one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, best known for his work on visual perception. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and his first major work was The Perception of the Visual World (1950) in which he rejected behaviorism for a view based on his own experimental work.

In his later works, including The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1979), Gibson became more philosophical and criticized cognitivism in the same way he had attacked behaviorism before, arguing strongly in favor of direct perception and direct realism, as opposed to cognitivist indirect realism. He termed his new approach "ecological psychology".

Gibson’s legacy is increasingly influential on many contemporary movements in psychology, particularly those considered to be post-cognitivist.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (November 27, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 346 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1848725787
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1848725782
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1200L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 16 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.78 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 57 ratings

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James Jerome Gibson

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
57 global ratings
Excellent content, but the pages are falling out
1 Star
Excellent content, but the pages are falling out
I'm a graduate student in vision science and find the content of this book very interesting. My complaint is with the actual, physical book - the pages are barely bound and many are falling out as I read it. I've read parts 1 and 2 of the book and of the 69 pages (138/2) in these sections, 15 have become unbound. The book arrived less than 2 weeks ago, so this is not a wear and tear issue (see photo)
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Top reviews from the United States

Wangdo Kim
5.0 out of 5 stars Providing a framework to help researchers think about perception: "The more it changes, the more it is the same thing."
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
We cannot change it. Why has man changed the shapes and substances of his environment? To change what it affords him. He has made more available what benefits him and less pressing what injures him. In making life easier for himself, of course, he has made life harder for most of the other animals. We all fit into the substructures of the environment in our various ways, for we were all, in fact, formed by them. We were created by the world we live in.

Gibson said that if what we perceived were the entities of physics and mathematics, meaning would have to be imposed on them. But if what we perceived are the entities of environment science, their meaning can be discovered. He has conceived "the theory of affordances". He has described the environment as the surfaces that separate substances from the medium in which the animals live. But he has also described what the environment affords animals, mentioning the terrain, shelters, water, fire, objects, tool, other animals, and human displays. The import question is how do we go from surfaces to affordance? A radical hypothesis implies that the values and meanings of things in the environment can be directly perceived, moreover, it would explain the sense in which values and meaning are external to the perceiver.

The advantage to the theory of perception to be derived from a study of this affordance is apparent at every step. We may in our perception-action coupling space conceive quadratic forms like those of the conics, follow Joachimsthal's equation, in connection with maximization and minimization problem in motor control, and observed that if we adopt the fertile method of investigation introduced by Joachimsthal, an equilibrium equation of locomotion and manipulation arose in connection with the determination of existence of quadratic function.
16 people found this helpful
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Benjamin J Lynn
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic visual perception reading.
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2019
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Gibson. Vision. Perception. Need I say more?

If you're considering this book then you already know this is classic visual perception literature. Not only will it inform you, it will put you to sleep at night when nothing else will.
10 people found this helpful
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Yi Zhang
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2019
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good
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2017
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Nice book
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Andrew Biemiller
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2014
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I already reviewed this--very favorably.
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s.t.
5.0 out of 5 stars An Eye-Opener...Get it?
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2010
This is one of the great works in the fields of visual perception and cognitive psychology. J.J. Gibson was originally an important contributor to the cognitive revolution, which famously attacked Behaviorists for ignoring the reality of internal mental processes. He focused on how animal sensory systems compute information from their environments in meaningful ways, such as a use of "optic flow" patterns of motion to track their heading as they move through their terrain, and a perception of objects dependent upon their possible uses ("affordances").

Later in life, however, Gibson grew frustrated with the standard reductionist approach to visual perception. He felt that certain fundamental aspects of animal perception were being overlooked, and that "retina-centered" models of vision would never address them. Inspired by the German Gestalt psychologists, Gibson began to promote a theory of visual processing that stressed what he felt was essential to perception, leaving the details about physiology by the wayside. He framed visual perception, along with all other sensory modalities, as important only to allow animals to act upon and interact with their surroundings. Perception as information for action, rather than as a passive documentation of external events.

For the uninitiated, some of the ideas in this book are way outside of conventional conceptualizations of the world. Let him expound upon his ideas, however, and you'll soon be thinking about your own everyday phenomenological experiences from a fresh and exciting perspective. His writing style is careful and thorough, to the point of sometimes being redundant, but he is nonetheless lucid, accessible, and quite entertaining to read.

Another reviewer described this as being a work of Objectivism. Perhaps that argument could be made, but I don't think Gibson himself would care for such talk. This work is all about ecological validity, and "pure" objective truth has little value in the life of most animals (and only a handful of humans at that). Affordances are in the eye of the beholder, and so an "objective" pencil might be perceived as a writing tool for one animal, nest-making material for another, a stabbing weapon for another, and something for a fourth animal to ignore. But I digress...

If you are interested at all in the philosophy of agency, visual perception, cognitive psychology, ecological or comparative cognitive studies, definitely try this book. If you like it, and you have questions as to how ecologically tuned perception develops (a topic that this book does not cover), I also recommend his wife Eleanor Gibson's book, "An Ecological Approach to Perceptual Learning and Development." Also accessible, and yet incredibly insightful.
68 people found this helpful
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Robert
5.0 out of 5 stars REALY A MUST-HEVE ITEM FOR VISUAL PROFESSIONALS
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2007
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World is not like some think it is..
4 people found this helpful
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TKJ
5.0 out of 5 stars as expected
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2021
Received in a timely fashion, Book was as expected. Thanks
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Top reviews from other countries

Anonymous
3.0 out of 5 stars Poor paper quality
Reviewed in Germany on December 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
This review is about the book itself. Not the content of the book, which I hold in high regard. With that being said, the inexcusable fact is that the paper quality is abysmally low at such an outrageous price (70+ EUR). It tears easily and feels like a cheap paper from the local university library printer. Truly, predatory capitalism at it's finest.
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Henrique Lopes
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic work everyone must read at least one time.
Reviewed in Spain on December 9, 2021
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You may think is getting a bit boring for the first or second chapters but they're necessary to understand the following concepts and ideas Gibson presents. As you keep reading the book, the pieces start to fill together and you start to feel enlightened about so many aspects you never thought of. A classic work everyone must read at least one time! This work is the foundation for so many approaches across various scientific dimensions. Suits everyone.
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