Affordance Psychology and the Evolution of Playground Technology

• In Event: Playtime Politics: The Rapidly Growing Mismatch Between Biology and Culture

Abstract

In the realm of perceptual psychology there is a wide body of research that investigates how the environment determines which actions are possible. Originally coined by perceptual psychologist J.J Gibson (1979), the concept of affordances describes how properties of the animal in relation to properties of the environment can inform or specify what actions are possible. Childhood playgrounds, in all times and all places, reflect a predisposition to engage in specific bodily motions such as: up and down, back and forth, and around and around. This presentation will explain why playground technologies tend to replicate these patterns, especially: monkey bars, swings, see-saws, and merry-go-rounds; and, how and why adults seek to politically regulate these technologies.

Author

• Eliah James White, Northern Kentucky University