The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology)

"The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers "whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming" are nearly always made, not born. And yes, practice does make perfect."
--Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner, The New York Times Magazine and authors of Freakonomics


"This handbook was very much needed in a time when new environments and new roles emerge continually - when new experts must be trained or novel expertise programmed on short notice. Moreover, its organization, depth, and effectiveness of communication make it the ideal source for psychological researchers, trainers and instructional designers, and expert system builders who focus their work on the development of new expertise."
--Alan Lesgold, University of Pittsburgh


"The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance brings together reviews by distinguished psychologists and computer scientists of the methods and results of studies of expertise. Besides a guide to the literature, the Handbook provides focused essays on experimental, observational, and analytical techniques for the study of expertise in a variety of domains. Policy makers and researchers alike will find this volume useful for years to come."
--Clark Glymour, Carnegie Mellon University


"This book is a comprehensive and thought-provoking presentation of research and theory of expert performance that brings the field up to date since the seminal publications in the early 1980s. There has been much work on expertise, and this handbook is a significant collection edited by eminent people in the field. Readers will be informed about approaches to the study and analysis of expertise. Various fields are considered, including mathematics, history, memory, and chess. A range of mechanisms and issues influencing development are considered, including intelligence, tacit knowledge, deliberate practice, and self-regulation. Case studies are presented of expertise in creative thinking. This book is recommended to researchers and students working in this major field of cognition in highly competent performance."
--Robert Glaser, University of Pittsburgh


"This field of research on expertise has blossomed over the last 30 years. This book has brought together a who's who of research on expertise. Many of these chapters will be my standard references for years to come."
--John R. Anderson, Carnegie Mellon University


"Rarely have I found a handbook so uniformly valuable. That is, The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance deserves to be read, cover to cover, by all practicing cognitive psychologists, expert system builders who focus their work on the development of new expertise, national policy makers and psychological researchers, and graduate students working in the field of cognitive science. No one will turn its final page without having gained precious information and wisdom that will directly and noticeably improve their practice of expertise and expert performance."
--Clifford Morris


"Many of the chapters of this excellent handbook advocate the idea of becoming an expert is a learning process for which one has to engage in years of deliberate practice. ...This book is suited to academics, parents, educators, trainers, coaches and politicians, or any who foster the development of individuals."
--Remco Polman, The Psychologist


"An excellent review of the role of traits as predictors of expertise is provided, along with an illustration of the role of trait complexes. ....The handbook not only reveals the extensive literature that has been developed over the past few decades but also reveals some of the gaps in our understanding. .... Each of the chapters, in their own way, illustrates a number of worthwhile research topics. .... The editors have truly provided an outstanding volume that has something for students, educators, practitioners, and researchers."
--David J. Schroeder, PsycCritique


"The Handbook is a great reference for anyone interested in personal improvement, including sharpening your financial panache. Reading these research papers will give you a greater understanding and appreciation of what it takes to truly excel at investing or any other human endeavor."
--Anders Bylund

This handbook provides comprehensive information about expert performance. It describes the processes, knowledge, and methods by which people climb to the highest possible levels of human performance. It highlights the research techniques and approaches that investigators use to gain insights about such extraordinary performance.

K. Anders Ericsson is Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. In 1976 he received his PhD in Psychology from University of Stockholm, Sweden, followed by post-doctoral fellowship at Carnegie-Mellon University. His current research concerns the structure and acquisition of expert performance and in particular how expert performers acquire and maintain their superior performance by extended deliberate practice. He has published many books including Toward a General Theory of Expertise: Prospects and Limits and The Road to Excellence: The Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports, and Games.

Neil Charness is Professor of Psychology at Florida State University and Research Associate at the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy. He is also the Director of the Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences area in the department of Psychology at FSU. He has written many articles and chapters on the topics of age, human factors, and expert performance. He is on the editorial board of Gerontechnology, Psychology and Aging and the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.

Robert R. Hoffman, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist at the State of Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, which is located in Pensacola. He is also an Adjunct Instructor at the Department of Psychology of the University of West Florida in Pensacola. His research has garnered him a designation as one of the pioneers of Expertise Studies. Hoffman has been recognized on an international level in at least five disciplines - remote sensing, meteorology, experimental psychology, human factors, and artificial intelligence. Within psycholinguistics, he has made pioneering contributions, having founded the journal Metaphor and Symbol, and having written extensively on the theory of analogy. He is co-editor of the Regular Department Human Centered Computing in the journal IEEE: Intelligent Systems.

Paul J. Feltovich is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, University of West Florida, Pensacola. He has conducted research and published on topics such as expert-novice differences in complex cognitive skills; conceptual understanding and misunderstanding for complex knowledge; and novel means of instruction in complex and ill-structured knowledge domains. Since joining IHMC, he has been investigating coordination, regulation, and teamwork in mixed groups of humans and intelligent software agents. He has authored nearly one hundred professional articles and two books.