Slidable, climbable, hidable : exploring the theory of affordances for understanding person-environment transaction

Morgenthaler, Thomas; Schulze, Christina; Jackson, Jeanne; Kantartzis, Sarah; Lynch, Helen

doi:10.5281/zenodo.7081405

Publication type:	Conference other
Type of review:	Peer review (abstract)
Title:	Slidable, climbable, hidable : exploring the theory of affordances for understanding person-environment transaction
Authors:	Morgenthaler, Thomas Schulze, Christina Jackson, Jeanne Kantartzis, Sarah Lynch, Helen
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.5281/zenodo.7081405
Conference details:	Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference (WOSC), Vancouver, Canada, 18-20 August 2022
Issue Date:	2022
Language:	English
Subjects:	Outdoor play; Affordance theory; Occupational science
Subject (DDC):	306.48: Free time and tourism 615.8515: Occupational therapy
Abstract:	The concept of affordances originates from ecological psychology, and concerns “possibilities for actions” as perceived by individuals acting in the environment (Gibson, 1979). An affordance approach recognises the agency of the physical environment from a transactional perspective wherein the person and environment co-constitute each another (Clark & Uzzell, 2002). Although ‘affordances’ as an idea has been adopted by occupational scientists, the associated theoretical origins are less well explored in occupational science literature. Therefore, this theoretical paper aims to analyse the concept of affordances and its use in researching occupation. The concept of affordances will be explored through a literature review of outdoor play research across disciplines. Playgrounds are environments for communities allowing the collective occupation of outdoor play among children and families. Disciplines such as ecological and social psychology, landscape architecture, geography and education have successfully applied affordance theory in environmental research, and there is much to learn from their insights. Affordance theory has evolved from an individual understanding of direct perceived action to a more context-based perspective of potential affordances shared by groups and communities in their environments. An affordances perspective allows a functional meaning-making in the analysis of the person-environment transactions. The concept of affordances recognises agency of the physical environment and equalizes the person-environment relationship. An affordance theory perspective offers us the potential to broaden the understanding of occupation by providing a means to express functional meanings co-constituted between the environment and the person.
Further description:	References Clark, C., & Uzzell, D. L. (2002). The affordances of the home, neighbourhood, school and town centre for adolescents. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 22(1–2), 95–108. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.2001.0242 Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
URI:	https://med-fom-wosc.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2022/08/WOSC-2022_Conference_Abstracts.pdf https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/25689
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	CC BY 4.0: Attribution 4.0 International
Departement:	School of Health Sciences
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Occupational Therapy (IER)
Published as part of the ZHAW project:	P4Play – europäisches Doktoratsprogramm zur Förderung des kindlichen Spiels
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Gesundheit

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Morgenthaler, T., Schulze, C., Jackson, J., Kantartzis, S., & Lynch, H. (2022). Slidable, climbable, hidable : exploring the theory of affordances for understanding person-environment transaction. Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference (WOSC), Vancouver, Canada, 18-20 August 2022. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7081405

Morgenthaler, T. et al. (2022) ‘Slidable, climbable, hidable : exploring the theory of affordances for understanding person-environment transaction’, in Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference (WOSC), Vancouver, Canada, 18-20 August 2022. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7081405.

T. Morgenthaler, C. Schulze, J. Jackson, S. Kantartzis, and H. Lynch, “Slidable, climbable, hidable : exploring the theory of affordances for understanding person-environment transaction,” in Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference (WOSC), Vancouver, Canada, 18-20 August 2022, 2022. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7081405.

MORGENTHALER, Thomas, Christina SCHULZE, Jeanne JACKSON, Sarah KANTARTZIS und Helen LYNCH, 2022. Slidable, climbable, hidable : exploring the theory of affordances for understanding person-environment transaction. In: Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference (WOSC), Vancouver, Canada, 18-20 August 2022 [online]. Conference presentation. 2022. Verfügbar unter: https://med-fom-wosc.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2022/08/WOSC-2022_Conference_Abstracts.pdf

Morgenthaler, Thomas, Christina Schulze, Jeanne Jackson, Sarah Kantartzis, and Helen Lynch. 2022. “Slidable, Climbable, Hidable : Exploring the Theory of Affordances for Understanding Person-Environment Transaction.” Conference presentation. In Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference (WOSC), Vancouver, Canada, 18-20 August 2022. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7081405.

Morgenthaler, Thomas, et al. “Slidable, Climbable, Hidable : Exploring the Theory of Affordances for Understanding Person-Environment Transaction.” Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference (WOSC), Vancouver, Canada, 18-20 August 2022, 2022, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7081405.