Toward a General Theory of Expertise: Prospects and Limits [Paperback]

K. Anders Ericsson (Editor), Jacqui Smith (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521406129 | ISBN-13: 978-0521406123 | Publication Date: August 30, 1991 | Edition: 1

During the past twenty years, our knowledge about expertise has dramatically increased. Laboratory analyses of chessmasters, experts in physics, medicine, international-level musicians, athletes, writers, and performance artists have allowed us to carefully examine the cognitive processes mediating outstanding performance in very diverse areas of expertise. These analyses have shown that expert performance is primarily a reflection of acquired skill resulting from the accumulation of domain-specific knowledge and methods during many years of training and practice rather than special innate talent. Confronted with universal limits of human information processing concerning memory capacity and speed of processing, expert performers are found to be able to acquire similar types of skills to circumvent these limits. General findings on expertise are systematized to lay the foundation of a general theory of expertise. In this book, many of the world's foremost scientists studying expert performance in specific domains of expertise review the state-of-the-art knowledge about expertise in these domains with the goal of identifying characteristics of expert performance that can be generalized across many different areas of expertise. These papers provide a comprehensive summary of general methods to study expertise and the current knowledge about expertise in chess, physics, medicine, sports, performing arts, music, writing, and decision-making. Most importantly, they reveal the existence of many general characteristics of expertise.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The organization of the book, its consistency with respect to the underlying theme, and the quality of the individual chapters make this a valualbe contribution to the literature on expert performance. This volume should be considered essential for students of cognitive science and expert performance. It will also be a useful resource for anyone who is faced with the challenge of identifying and testing experts in previously uninvestigated domains." Janice M. Deakin, Contemporary Psychology

Book Description

A review of state-of-the-art knowledge in interdisciplinary fields attempts to identify characteristics of expert performance that can be generalized across many different areas of expertise.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (August 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521406129
• ISBN-13: 978-0521406123
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #775,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some of the most interesting work in psychology, October 9, 2006

By 

Aaron Swartz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toward a General Theory of Expertise: Prospects and Limits (Hardcover)

Unfortunately for us, most work in psychology is either silly or uninteresting. Nobody cares much about the details of reaction times or about baseless speculation about underlying personality types. But Ericsson and his colleagues have set themselves a far more interesting problem: how do people are really good at something (experts) do it? Even better, they've made an impressive amount of progress.

The book surveys impressive studies in fields like chess, physics, medicine, sports, music, reading, writing, managing, etc., each one using interesting tricks and techniques to try to get at what makes experts tick. This book dates from the very beginning of the project, but the promise of the early results is evident and the cast of mind impressive.