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Expertise and creativity

Expertise and creativity. What makes experts different than novices? Usually, we talk about mental tasks (e.g., playing chess, being an accountant) Possible factors: Learned skills, practice, memory, talent (innate), IQ “Domain” = area of expertise.

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Expertise and creativity

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  1. Expertise and creativity • What makes experts different than novices? • Usually, we talk about mental tasks (e.g., playing chess, being an accountant) • Possible factors: • Learned skills, practice, memory, talent (innate), IQ • “Domain” = area of expertise

  2. Practice, background knowledge (knowledge that can be applied to a problem)  very important in expertise • Abilities (talent), IQ  less important in expertise • Ceci & Liker (1991): compared experts in betting on horses to novices • IQ not a difference between groups

  3. Expert vs. novice chess players (de Groot, 1950s) • Hypothesized that experts had better memories • Tested players’ memories for where the chess pieces were on the board during a typical game  experts had better memory • Plus, tested memories for randomly scrambled piece locations  experts = novices

  4. Conclusion: experts remember information from their domain well • Called DOMAIN-SPECIFIC MEMORY • Wagner & colleagues (1991): • Compared expert comparison shoppers to novices • Are experts naturally good at math? • Compared experts to novices on standard math test  experts no better than novices

  5. Your expertise in a domain is specific to that domain • Domain-specific expertise • Theory of deliberate practice (Ericsson) • Intends to explain expertise at highest levels of a domain

  6. Deliberate practice • Innate interest in the field • Main factor is practice  need a minimum number of hours to become one of the best in your domain • Number of hours is so high, that you have to start as a child (i.e., 3 – 5 years old) • Coach • Best are 24 hours, live-in coaches (e.g., mother, father, older brother, older sister)

  7. “deliberate” practice • Highly effective • Self-monitoring: actively working on eliminating weaknesses • Feedback: someone telling you whether you’re doing the right thing (e.g., coach)

  8. Natural physical characteristics • Not as important, because you’re body can accommodate the skills required for the domain • But physiological characteristics can change with practice (e.g., cardiovascular capacity increases as you become a better runner)

  9. creativity • Def. of creativity • Develop a solution that is both novel AND useful • Meant to apply to any domain

  10. Synectics (Gordon, 1961) • Using analogies to solve problems • Personal analogy: place yourself directly in the situation • E.g., imagine that you are the new product your company is trying to make • Direct analogy: find another similar problem that was solved; borrow the solution • E.g., create a flying machine, look at birds first

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