Gibson began her career at Smith College as an instructor in 1932, publishing her first works on research conducted as an undergraduate student.
Gibson was able to circumvent the many obstacles she faced due to the Great Depression and gender discrimination, by finding research opportunities that she could meld with her own interests.
Perhaps her most well-known contribution to psychology was the "visual cliff," which studied depth perception in both human and animal species, leading to a new understanding of perceptual development in infants.
After a year at Yale, Gibson passed the required exams and moved back to Northampton, Massachusetts, where she continued to teach at Smith.
[1] In 1941, James Gibson was requested to conduct perception research in the Flying Training Command of the United States Air Force at which point the family moved to Fort Worth, Texas.
Gibson was unable to obtain a job at Cornell due to anti-nepotism policies prohibiting her from working in the same department as her husband.
In order to further explore this topic, Gibson and her husband, James, co-authored a study on the perception of nonsense scribbles, eventually leading to the differentiation theory.
After her academic partnership with Walk ended, Gibson was asked to join an interdisciplinary project with the goal of achieving a better understanding of the reading processes.
Smith College, at the time, provided Gibson the opportunity to be in an atmosphere that challenged and encouraged women to be scholars and scientists.
[2] She accompanied her husband, James Gibson, to Texas and later California as he conducted research in the Flying Training Command of the Army Air Force.
[5] Cornell also had an anti-nepotism rule that did not allow her to work as a faculty member because her husband, James Gibson, had already been hired into their Psychology department.
Her final book was initially written as a personal family history but later evolved into a story about the lives of two psychologists.
[8] Gibson worked with her husband James on a joint study to explore the perception of nonsense scribbles to clarify this concept of perceptual learning.
This resulted in perceptual learning as being redefined as a change in what was perceived by an observer became more sensitive to the different aspects of a stimulus.
Learning to read is a crucial aspect in child development and is complicated as words can have different meanings when perceived by the reader.
[10] The differentiation theory states that in the information received from sensory stimulation, individuals discriminate objects in the environment and experiences by identifying unique characteristics about them, termed distinctive features.
Eleanor had been studying the development and process of imprinting in goats when the inspiration for the visual cliff was spontaneously discovered.
[12]At the time the visual cliff study had initially been designed, Gibson had been researching with a professor at Cornell, Richard Walk.
[12] Walk & Gibson studied visual depth perception in rats, chickens, turtles, lambs, baby goats, pigs, dogs, cats, and monkeys.
[14] In the original study with rats, the apparatus was made of two sheets of glass standing "parallel to the floor and 53 inches above it" with a thin board along the middle.
[14] Gibson then used a larger apparatus to test chickens, turtles, lambs, kids (baby goats), pigs, dogs, cats, and monkeys; all showing similar results.
[14] Walk & Gibson further experimented with dark-reared vs. light-reared rats to determine whether the depth perception found previously was innate.
[14] Finally, Walk & Gibson examined visual depth perception in human infants with a larger apparatus.
Along with James Birren and Muzafer Sherif, they were each presented with a writing of their contributions to the field of scientific psychology, as well as a cheque for one thousand dollars.
[2] During the annual meeting of the APA in Washington, D.C., it was announced that Eleanor Gibson was the recipient of the Psychological Science Gold Medal Award.
[3] Gibson was recognized for her distinguished and lifelong record of accomplishments in the areas of professional, scientific, and public interest, which ultimately landed her a golden medallion and a cheque for two thousand dollars.
She was an experimental psychologist who significantly contributed to the many fields of psychology including perception, infant development, and reading.
Arlene Walker-Andrews, an associate provost and emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Montana, was one of Gibson's students at Cornell.
Arlene was part of a team of graduate researchers, whom were all brand new students but Jackie never failed to give them full credit.
In appreciation of Gibson, Arlene noted that she was an outstanding model with her work ethic, determination, raw intellect, and dedication to the growth and development of students.