Abstract
The Skilled Intentionality Framework (SIF) is a philosophical approach that combines insights from both ecological psychology and enaction to understand the embodied and situated mind. By construing affordances as relations between the sociomaterial environment and abilities available in an ecological niche, SIF radically extends the scope of affordance theory. We propose that it is possible to understand all skillful action in terms of engagement with affordances. Moreover, conceiving of affordances in this way allows for an analysis of affordances on multiple scales (e.g., their invitational character for a particular individual as well as the affordances available in a given sociocultural practice) while simultaneously bridging these levels with the SIF to provide an integrated account of the embodied and situated human mind. Our aim in this essay is to showcase these strengths of SIF. In particular, we will discuss the landscape of affordances as our ecological niche, the experience of an individual in a niche structured by affordances, and the interrelation of the individual and niche in terms of engagement with affordances, and, lastly, we look at the dynamics within an individual.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bruineberg, J., & Rietveld, E. (2014). Self-organization, free energy minimization, and optimal grip on a field of affordances. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 1–14.
Bruineberg, J., & Rietveld, E. (2019). What’s inside your head once you’ve figured out what your head’s inside of. Ecological Psychology, 31(3), 198–217.
Bruineberg, J., Kiverstein, J., & Rietveld, E. (2018). The anticipating brain is not a scientist: The free-energy principle from an ecological-enactive perspective. Synthese, 195(6), 2417–2444.
Bruineberg, J., Seifert, L., Rietveld, E., & Kiverstein, J. (2021). Metastable attunement and real-life skilled behavior. Synthese, 199, 12819–12842.
Chemero, A. (2009). Radical embodied cognitive science. MIT Press.
De Haan, S., Rietveld, E., Stokhof, M., & Denys, D. (2013). The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: An enactive affordance-based model. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 653.
Frijda, N. H. (2007). The laws of emotion. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc..
Friston, K. (2010). The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127–138.
Gibson, J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Lifflin.
Heft, H. (2001). Ecological psychology in context. In J. Gibson & R. Barker (Eds.), The legacy of William James’s radical empiricism.
Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: Essays on livelihood, dwelling and skill. Routledge.
Kiverstein, J., & Rietveld, E. (2018). Reconceiving representation-hungry cognition: An ecological-enactive proposal. Article Adaptive Behavior, 26(4), 147–163.
Kiverstein, J., van Dijk, L., & Rietveld, E. (2019). The field and landscape of affordances: Koffka’s two environments revisited. Synthese, 198, 2279–2296.
Kolvoort, I. R., Schulz, K., & Rietveld, E. (2021). The causal mind: An ecological-enactive account of actual causation. Manuscript in Preparation.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2003). Nature: Course notes from the college de France. Northwestern University Press.
Rietveld, E. (2008). Situated normativity: The normative aspect of embodied cognition in unreflective action. Mind, 117(468), 973–997.
Rietveld, E., & Brouwers, A. A. (2017). Optimal grip on affordances in architectural design practices: An ethnography. Phenom Cogn Sci, 16, 545–564.
Rietveld, E., & Kiverstein, J. (2014). A rich landscape of affordances. Ecological Psychology, 26(4), 325–352.
Rietveld, E., Denys, D., & Van Westen, M. (2018). Ecological-enactive cognition as engaging with a field of relevant affordances: The skilled intentionality framework (SIF). In The Oxford handbook of 4E cognition (pp. 41–70).
Stoffregen, T. A. (2003). Affordances as properties of the animal-environment system. Ecological Psychology, 15(2), 115–134.
Van Den Herik, J. C., & Rietveld, E. (2021). Reflective situated normativity. Philosophical Studies, 178(10), 3371–3389.
van Dijk, L., & Rietveld, E. (2017). Foregrounding sociomaterial practice in our understanding of affordances: The skilled intentionality framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 7.
van Dijk, L., & Rietveld, E. (2021a). Situated anticipation. Synthese, 198, 349–371.
van Dijk, L., & Rietveld, E. (2021b). Situated talking. Language Sciences, 87, 101389.
van Westen, M., Rietveld, E., & Denys, D. (2019). Effective deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder requires clinical expertise. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(OCT), 2294.
van Westen, M., Rietveld, E., van Hout, A., Denys, D., & van Westen Mvanwesten, M. (2021). “Deep brain stimulation is no ON/OFF-switch”: An ethnography of clinical expertise in psychiatric practice. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences.
Withagen, R., de Poel, H. J., Araújo, D., & Pepping, G. J. (2012). Affordances can invite behavior: Reconsidering the relationship between affordances and agency. New Ideas in Psychology, 30(2), 250–258.
Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical investigations (G.E.M. Ans). Blackwell Publishing Ltd..
Acknowledgments
We are grateful for the support for this research in the form of an ERC Starting Grant for the project AFFORDS-HIGHER (679190) and an NWO VICI grant awarded to Erik Rietveld.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kolvoort, I.R., Rietveld, E. (2022). Affordances for Situating the Embodied Mind in Sociocultural Practice. In: Djebbara, Z. (eds) Affordances in Everyday Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08629-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08629-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-08583-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-08629-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)