COMPETENCE IN EXPERTS - THE ROLE OF TASK CHARACTERISTICS

The previous literature on experts presents two contrasting views. Judgment and decision research has shown that experts make flawed decisions due, in part, to the biasing effects of judgmental heuristics. Cognitive science research, in contrast, views experts as competent and different from novices in nearly every aspect of cognitive functioning. An alternative view developed here, the Theory of Expert Competence, suggests that both analyses are correct, but incomplete. In particular, the theory assumes competence depends on five components: (1) a sufficient knowledge of the domain, (2) the psychological traits associated with experts, (3) the cognitive skills necessary to make tough decisions, (4) the ability to use appropriate decision strategies, and (5) a task with suitable characteristics. The latter is the focus of this paper. Insufficient attention has been paid to task and domain characteristics in prior research. Decision researchers have looked primarily at experts in behavioral domains (e.g., clinical psychology), whereas cognitive investigators have concentrated on experts in static domains (e.g., physics). Thus, the discrepancy in the conclusions drawn from the two literatures appears to be a function of the different domains studied. Although similar to approaches such as Cognitive Continuum Theory, the proposed theory contains several new components. In addition, the theory has implications both for the analysis of experts and for the design and use of expert systems. © 1992.