Toward a General Theory of Expertise

Duringthelasttwentyyearsourunderstandingofexpertisehasdramaticallyincreased.Laboratoryanalysisofchessmasters,expertsinphysicsandmedicine,musicians,athletics,writers,andperformanceartistshaveincludedcarefulexaminationofthecognitiveprocessesmediatingoutstandingperformanceinverydiverseareasofexpertise.Theseanalyseshaveshownthatexpertperformanceisprimarilyareflectionofacquiredskillresultingfromtheaccumulationofdomain-specificknowledgeandmethodsduringmanyyearsoftrainingpractice.Theimportanceofdomain-specificknowledgehasledresearchersonexpertisetofocusoncharacteristicsofexpertiseinspecificdomains.InTowardaGeneralTheoryofExpertisemanyoftheworld'sforemostscientistsreviewthestate-of-the-artknowledgeaboutexpertiseindifferentdomains,withthegoalofidentifyingcharacteristicsofexpertperformancethataregeneralizableacrossmanydifferentareasofexpertise.Theseessaysprovideacomprehensivesummaryofgeneralmethodsforstudyingexpertiseandofcurrentknowledgeaboutexpertiseinchess,physics,medicine,sportsandperformancearts,music,writing,anddecisionmaking.Mostimportant,theessaysrevealtheexistenceofmanygeneralcharacteristicsofexpertise.