Definition of affordance
plural affordances
psychology
: the qualities or properties of an object that define its possible uses or make clear how it can or should be used
- We sit or stand on a chair because those affordances are fairly obvious.
- —Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 1993
- An affordance is a resource or support that the environment offers an animal; the animal in turn must possess the capabilities to perceive it and to use it.
- —Eleanor J. Gibson et al., in The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences, 1999
