Inflexibility of experts—Reality or myth?

[watertank]

How does the knowledge of experts affect their behaviour in situations that require unusual methods of dealing? One possibility, loosely originating in research on creativity and skill acquisition, is that an increase in expertise can lead to inflexibility of thought due to automation of procedures. Yet another possibility, based on expertise research, is that experts’ knowledge leads to flexibility of thought.
[the authors} tested these two possibilities in a series of experiments using the Einstellung (set) effect paradigm. Chess players tried to solve problems that had both a familiar but non-optimal solution and a better but less familiar one. The more familiar solution induced the Einstellung (set) effect even in experts, preventing them from finding the optimal solution. The presence of the non-optimal solution reduced experts’ problem solving ability was reduced to about that of players three standard deviations lower in skill level by the presence of the non-optimal solution. Inflexibility of thought induced by prior knowledge (i.e., the blocking effect of the familiar solution) was shown by experts but the more expert they were, the less prone they were to the effect. Inflexibility of experts is both reality and myth. But the greater the level of expertise, the more of a myth it becomes.

Merim Bilalić,Peter McLeoda and Fernand Gobet. 2007.

Comments

[watertank.livejournal.com]

We showed that ordinary experts can be inflexible, that is unable to resist the temptation of choosing a well-known solution, and that for them ‘inflexibility of experts’ is reality. However, we also showed that super experts maintain control over their performance, noticing and taking into account even the smallest, and, on first sight, maybe irrelevant, details. Inflexibility of experts is both myth and reality. But the greater the degree of expertise, the more of a myth it becomes.