This book was the first handbook where the world's foremost 'experts on expertise' reviewed our scientific knowledge on expertise and expert performance and how experts may differ from non-experts in terms of their development, training, reasoning, knowledge, social support, and innate talent. Methods are described for the study of experts' knowledge and their performance of representative tasks from their domain of expertise. The development of expertise is also studied by retrospective interviews and the daily lives of experts are studied with diaries. In 15 major domains of expertise, the leading researchers summarize our knowledge on the structure and acquisition of expert skill and knowledge and discuss future prospects. General issues that cut across most domains are reviewed in chapters on various aspects of expertise such as general and practical intelligence, differences in brain activity, self-regulated learning, deliberate practice, aging, knowledge management, and creativity.
Contents
Part I. Introduction and Perspective: 1. An introduction to Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance: its development, organization, and content; 2. Two approaches to the study of experts' characteristics; 3. Expertise, talent, and social encouragement; Part II. Overview of Approaches to the Study of Expertise - Brief Historical Accounts of Theories and Methods: 4. Studies of expertise from psychological perspectives; 5. Overview of approaches to the study of expertise: brief historical accounts of theories and methods; 6. Expert systems: a perspective from computer science; 7. Professionalization, scientific expertise, and elitism - a sociological perspective; Part III. Methods for Studying the Structure of Expertise: 8. Observation of work practices in natural settings; 9. Methods for studying the structure of expertise: psychometric approaches; 10. Methods to assess the representations of experts' and novices' knowledge; 11. Task analysis; 12. Eliciting and representing the knowledge of experts; 13. Protocol analysis and expert thought: concurrent verbalizations of thinking during experts' performance on representative tasks; 14. Simulation for performance and training; Part IV. Methods for Studying the Acquisition and Maintenance of Expertise: 15. Laboratory studies of training, skill acquisition, and retention of performance; 16. Retrospective interviews in the study of expertise and expert performance; 17. Time budgets, diaries and analyses of concurrent practice activities; 18. Historiometric methods; Part V. Domains of Expertise: A. Professional Domains: 19. Expertise in medicine and surgery; 20. Expertise and transportation; 21. Expertise in software design; 22. Professional writing expertise; 23. Professional judgments and 'naturalistic decision making'; 24. Decision making expertise; 25. The making of a dream team: when expert teams do best; B. Arts, Sports and Motor Skills: 26. Music; 27. Expert performance in sport: a cognitive perspective; 28. Artistic performance: acting, ballet, and contemporary dance; 29. Perceptual-motor expertise; C. Games and Other Types of Expertise: 30. Expertise in chess; 31. Exceptional memory; 32. Mathematical expertise; 33. Expertise in history; Part VI. Generalizable Mechanisms Mediating Expertise and General Issues: 34. A merging theory of expertise and intelligence; 35. Tacit knowledge, practical intelligence and expertise; 36. Situational awareness; 37. Brain changes in the development of expertise: neuroanatomical and neurophysiological evidence about skill-based adaptations; 38. The influence of experience and deliberate practice on the development of superior expert performance; 39. Development and Adaptation of expertise: the role of self-regulatory processes and beliefs; 40. Aging and expertise; 41. Social and sociological factors in the development of expertise; 42. Expertise and creativity.
Reviews
"The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers "whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming" are nearly always made, not born. And yes, practice does make perfect."
--Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner, The New York Times Magazine and authors of Freakonomics
"This handbook was very much needed in a time when new environments and new roles emerge continually - when new experts must be trained or novel expertise programmed on short notice. Moreover, its organization, depth, and effectiveness of communication make it the ideal source for psychological researchers, trainers and instructional designers, and expert system builders who focus their work on the development of new expertise."
--Alan Lesgold, University of Pittsburgh
"The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance brings together reviews by distinguished psychologists and computer scientists of the methods and results of studies of expertise. Besides a guide to the literature, the Handbook provides focused essays on experimental, observational, and analytical techniques for the study of expertise in a variety of domains. Policy makers and researchers alike will find this volume useful for years to come."
--Clark Glymour, Carnegie Mellon University
"This book is a comprehensive and thought-provoking presentation of research and theory of expert performance that brings the field up to date since the seminal publications in the early 1980s. There has been much work on expertise, and this handbook is a significant collection edited by eminent people in the field. Readers will be informed about approaches to the study and analysis of expertise. Various fields are considered, including mathematics, history, memory, and chess. A range of mechanisms and issues influencing development are considered, including intelligence, tacit knowledge, deliberate practice, and self-regulation. Case studies are presented of expertise in creative thinking. This book is recommended to researchers and students working in this major field of cognition in highly competent performance."
--Robert Glaser, University of Pittsburgh
"This field of research on expertise has blossomed over the last 30 years. This book has brought together a who's who of research on expertise. Many of these chapters will be my standard references for years to come."
--John R. Anderson, Carnegie Mellon University
"Rarely have I found a handbook so uniformly valuable. That is, The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance deserves to be read, cover to cover, by all practicing cognitive psychologists, expert system builders who focus their work on the development of new expertise, national policy makers and psychological researchers, and graduate students working in the field of cognitive science. No one will turn its final page without having gained precious information and wisdom that will directly and noticeably improve their practice of expertise and expert performance."
--Clifford Morris
"Many of the chapters of this excellent handbook advocate the idea of becoming an
expert is a learning process for which one has to engage in years of deliberate
practice. ...This book is suited to academics, parents, educators, trainers, coaches and politicians, or any who foster the development of individuals."
--Remco Polman, The Psychologist
"An excellent review of the role of traits as predictors of expertise is provided, along with an illustration of the role of trait complexes. ....The handbook not only reveals the extensive literature that has been developed over the past few decades but also reveals some of the gaps in our understanding. .... Each of the chapters, in their own way, illustrates a number of worthwhile research topics. .... The editors have truly provided an outstanding volume that has something for students, educators, practitioners, and researchers."
--David J. Schroeder, PsycCritique
"The Handbook is a great reference for anyone interested in personal improvement, including sharpening your financial panache. Reading these research papers will give you a greater understanding and appreciation of what it takes to truly excel at investing or any other human endeavor."
--Anders Bylund
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