| Description |
Affordances are possibilities for action that can be perceived for oneself as well as other individuals. In this study, an observer's ability to perceive affordances for others was examined. I tested how the movement patterns of an actor (the person who the observer is attempting to perceive affordances for) as well as the observer's own action capabilities influence the perception of affordances for others. Participants in the study estimates a single actor's ability to reach-with-jump (RWJ) and long jump (LJ) in a pretest and posttest. Half of the participants saw the actor do squats during the break in between the pre- and posttest, whereas the other half of the participants watched the actor perform calf raises. I found that observers were generally accurate at perceiving a RWJ affordance for another person but that they were less accurate at perceiving a LJ affordance for another person. Furthermore, my results did not suggest any influence of an actor's movement patterns, but there was evidence to suggest that an observer's own action capabilities influenced their ability to perceive affordances for the actor. Specifically, participants' own RWJ capabilities but not their LJ capabilities predicted their RWJ estimates for the actor. Participants' LJ estimates were significantly influenced by their LJ capabilities but not their RWJ capabilities. The results of this study suggest a potentially more embodied account of affordance perception for others rather than an ecological account. |
