This was a well known phenomenon for Knowledge Engineers (when expert
systems were more visible in the mid '80s). There were several
anecdotes: one was about the best performing pilots that went to Top Gun
school and losing their edge because they had to repeatedly verbalize
their knowledge to students. The best performance came from 'compiled
knowledge' which is intrinsically inexpressible.
It's nice to see some research put flesh on anecdotal bones.
Thanks
Robert C
On 10/12/10 1:56 PM, Victoria Hughes wrote:
Ran across an interesting article just now on this. Please note I am
just adding this to the discussion, /not/ using it as justification
one way or the other. I do not have a PhD, have often toyed with
getting one (in organizational psych) and have opinions on both sides
of the issue. Real-world fact though is that PhDs give credibility and
accreditation to outside observers, whatever we may think from closer in.
Here-
You Know More Than You Know | Wired Science | Wired.com
<http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/you-know-more-than-you-know/>
FIrst paragraph:
" There’s a fascinating new paper
<http://pss.sagepub.com/content/20/11/1381> in /Psychological
Science/ by the Dutch psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis
<http://dijksterhuis.socialpsychology.org/> on the virtues of
unconscious thought when it comes to predicting the outcome of soccer
matches. It turns out that the conscious brain – that rational voice
in your head deliberating over the alternatives – gets in the way of
expertise. Although we tend to think of experts as being weighted down
by information, their intelligence dependent on a vast set of explicit
knowledge, this experiment suggests that successful experts don’t
consciously access these facts. When they evaluate a situation, they
don’t systematically compare all the available soccer teams or analyze
the relevant players. They don’t rely on elaborate spreadsheets or
athletic statistics or long lists of pros and cons. Instead,
Dijksterhuis’ study suggests that the best experts naturally depend on
their unconscious mind, on that subterranean warehouse of feelings,
hunches and instincts...."
....
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
