Expert

Lore & Background

Historically, an expert was referred to as a sage. The individual was usually a profound thinker distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment. In specific fields, the definition of expert is well established by consensus and therefore it is not always necessary for individuals to have a professional or academic qualification for them to be accepted as an expert. In this respect, a shepherd with fifty years of experience tending flocks would be widely recognized as having complete expertise in the use and training of sheep dogs and the care of sheep.

Reader's Guide

Expertise characteristics, skills and knowledge of a person (that is, expert) or of a system, which distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people. In many domains there are objective measures of performance capable of distinguishing experts from novices: expert chess players will almost always win games against recreational chess players; expert medical specialists are more likely to diagnose a disease correctly; etc. The word expertise is used to refer also to expert determination, where an expert is invited to decide a disputed issue. The decision may be binding or advisory, according to the agreement between the parties in dispute.

Did You Know?

• Research in this area attempts to understand the relation between expert knowledge, skills and personal characteristics and exceptional performance.
• Some researchers have investigated the cognitive structures and processes of experts.
• The fundamental aim of this research is to describe what it is that experts know and how they use their knowledge to achieve performance that most people assume requires extreme or extraordinary ability.
• Studies have investigated the factors that enable experts to be fast and accurate.