James J. Gibson

Gibson, 1972. Source.
Born	January 27, 1904(1904-01-27) McConnelsville, Ohio, United States
Died	December 11, 1979(1979-12-11) (aged 75) Ithaca, New York, United States
Web	Wikipedia, Academia.edu, Aaaaarg, Open Library

James Jerome 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.

Works

The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, 1979, Log.

Dissertation

• A Study of the Reproduction of Visually Perceived Forms, Princeton University, 1928.

Books

• The Perception of the Visual World, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950.
  • Die Wahrnehmung der visuellen Welt, trans. Vera Schumann, Weinheim and Basel: Beltz, 1973, 356 pp. (German)
  • La percepción del mundo visual, trans. Enrique L. Revol, Buenos Aires: Infinito, 1974, 319 pp. Excerpt. (Spanish)
  • Shikaku wārudo no chikaku [視覚ワールドの知覚], trans. Tomomi Takezawa, Takashi Murakami and Atsuki Higashiyama, Tokyo: Shin'yōsha, 2011, 299 pp. (Japanese)

• The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966, 335 pp. [1] [2]
  • Våra sinnen som perceptuella system, trans. Lisen Eriksson, Stockholm: Beckman, 1969, 295 pp. (Swedish)
  • Die Sinne und der Prozess der Wahrnehmung, trans. Ivo Kohler, Bern: Hans Huber, 1973. (German)
  • Seitaigakuteki chikaku shisutemu: kansei o toraenaosu [ギブソン生態学的知覚システム: 感性をとらえなおす], Tokyo: Tōkyōdaigakushuppankai, 2011, 391 pp. (Japanese)

• The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979; Psychology Press, 1986; 2015, 315 pp.
  • Wahrnehmung und Umwelt: der ökologische Ansatz in der visuellen Wahrnehmung, trans. Gerhard Lücke, Munich: Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1982, 356 pp. (German)
  • Seitaigakuteki shikakuron [生態学的視覚論: ヒトの知覚世界を探る], trans. Takashi Kozaki, 1986, 360 pp. (Japanese)
  • Ekologicheskiy podchod k zritelnomu vospriyatiyu [Экологический подход к зрительному восприятию], trans. T.M. Sokolskoy, Moscow: Progress, 1988. (Russian)
  • Un approccio ecologico alla percezione visiva, trans. Riccardo Luccio, intro. Riccardo Luccio & P. Bozzi, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1999. (Italian)
  • Approche écologique de la perception visuelle, trans. & intro. Olivier Putois, afterw. Claude Romano, Bellevaux: Dehors, 2014, 519 pp. Afterword. (French)

• Reasons for Realism: Selected Essays, eds. E. Reed and R. Jones, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1982.
  • Chokusetsu chikaku ron no konkyo: Gibuson shinrigaku ronshū [直接知覚論の根拠 : ギブソン心理学論集], trans. Atsushi Sakai, Tokyo: Keisō Shobō, 2004, 418 pp. (Japanese)

Articles

• "The Visual Perception of Objective Motion and Subjective Movement", Psychological Review 61:5 (1954), pp 304-314; repr. Psychological Review 101:2 (1994), pp 318-323.
• with Eleanor J. Gibson, "Perceptual Learning: Differentiation or Enrichment?", Psychological Review 62:1 (1955), pp 32-41. [3]
• "The Concept of the Stimulus in Psychology", The American Psychologist 15 (1960), pp 694-703. [4]
• "A Theory of Direct Visual Perception", in The Psychology of Knowing, eds. J. Royce and W. Rozenboom, New York: Gordon & Breach, 1972; repr. in Vision and Mind: Selected Readings in the Philosophy of Perception, eds. A. Noe & E. Thompson, MIT Press, 2002, pp 77-89.
• "The Theory of Affordances", in Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing: Toward an Ecological Psychology, eds. Robert Shaw and John Bransford, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1977, pp 67-82; repr. as ch. 8 in Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, 1979, pp 127-137.

Literature

• Robert B. MacLeod, Herbert L. Pick Jr. (eds.), Perception: Essays in Honor of James J. Gibson, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974, 317 pp.
• William M. Mace, John B. Pittenger, "Directly Perceiving Gibson: A Further Reply to Gyr", Psychological Review 82:1 (1975), pp 137-139.
• J.A. Fodor, Z.W. Pylyshyn, "How Direct is Visual Perception? Some Reflections on Gibson's Ecological Approach", Cognition 9 (1981), pp 139-196.
• Mark H. Bickhard, D. Michael Richie, On the Nature of Representation: A Case Study of James Gibson's Theory of Perception, Praeger, 1983.
• Edward Reed, James J. Gibson and the Psychology of Perception, Yale University Press, 1988, IA.
• Julian Hochberg, James Jerome Gibson, 1904-1979. A Biographical Memoir, National Academy of Sciences, 1994, 171 pp.
• Randolph Blake, "Gibson's Inspired but Latent Prelude to Visual Motion Perception", Psychological Review 101:2 (1994), pp 324-328
• Ken Nakayama, "James J. Gibson - An Appreciation", Psychological Review 101:2 (1994), pp 329-335.
• James G. Greeno, "Gibson's Affordances", Psychological Review 101:2 (1994), pp 336-342.
• Frederick A. Jules, A Comparison of the Application to Architecture of the Ecological and Gestalt Approaches to Visual Perception, Center for Architecture and Urban Planning Research Books, 1984. "A comparison of two psychological theories of visual perception, Gestalt Theory and an Ecological Theory developed by J. J. Gibson, with two theories of architectural composition, theories developed by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and theories of the Modern Movement in architecture."
• Harry Heft, Ecological Psychology in Context: James Gibson, Roger Barker, and the Legacy of William James's Radical Empiricism, London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Review: McGann.
• Tamara Leonova, "L'approche écologique de la cognition sociale et son impact sur la conception des traits de personnalité", L'année psychologique 104:2 (2004), pp 249-294. (French)
• Jonathan Tudge, Jacquelyn T. Gray, Diane M. Hogan, "Ecological Perspectives in Human Development: A Comparison of Gibson and Bronfenbrenner", in Comparisons in Human Development: Understanding Time and Context, ed. Tudge, et al., Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp 72-105.