Customer Reviews

Perceiving the Affordances: A Portrait of Two Psychologists

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eleanor Gibson's little book gives a personal account of her life with her husband, James, as the two of them fashioned careers in perceptual research. The background information on their personal lives is interesting as context for the scientific work they crafted during the 1930's through the 1970's. Eleanor Gibson's own work continued on to this latest book, completed when she was already 90. One hesitates to say it will be her last!

Some few details are perhaps in error; possibly some individuals are juxtaposed more closely than they should be. There may be a bit of disjointedness in some tiny places. One might have hoped for a bit more information than we get about her views on the Gibsons' impact, most particularly through their students across the years.

But the book, on the whole, gives a charming -- and in some ways inspirational -- insight into the life and times of two of our most distinguished contributors to modern thinking in perception. Eleanor Gibson's comments about her struggles to make a career for herself in a climate that was decidedly biased against the success of women is an eye-opener. Her ability to juggle a research career and a successful family life is also worth noting.

One might wish, nevertheless, for a paperback version of this little book. Forty bucks for little more than an evening's reading seems a pretty stiff tariff.

What stands as Eleanor Gibson's concluding remarks on her life as a psychologist is, in fact, an illuminating testament to hard work and patience. Coming 35 years after her husband's lone autobiographical statement and nearly 25 years after his death, Eleanor Gibson's book stands as an accompaniment to his statement and an illumination of the life the two led as the essential founders of Ecological Psychology. She presents the twists and turns her professional career took and the work required as a female psychologist in the middle of the 20th Century to establish herself in her field (and in her case, she actually created the field!). Her success in that establishment, for the purpose here, goes without saying. Her work in Human Development will not be superseded within the foreseeable future. More to the point, since her book is an autobiography, is the personal snapshot into her life this book gives us. For example, we see a photo from her wedding, a picture of her with her young children, as well as one at home with her husband. Her book gives us a greater understanding of her relationship with her husband than did his autobiographical book chapter in 1967, and for that, one is grateful. And while this book is meant as personal statement about Gibson's life and marriage to James Gibson, it's also a tool. It's clear that Gibson wanted this book to be useful to other women pursuing both a professional life in psychology and a personal life as wife and mother, and for those reasons I have heartily recommended it to my female students wanting both a career and children. My only criticisms are that I wish this book were longer and perhaps at times, a bit more in-depth. Furthermore, Gibson does paint an overly romanticized picture of her life. And certainly this volume, brief as it is, comes with a price tag that seems out of step with its size.