Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T23:48:06.266Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

35 - Tacit Knowledge, Practical Intelligence, and Expertise

from PART VI - GENERALIZABLE MECHANISMS MEDIATING EXPERTISE AND GENERAL ISSUES

By
Anna T. Cianciolo ,
Cynthia Matthew ,
Robert J. Sternberg  and
Richard K. Wagner
Edited by
K. Anders Ericsson ,
Neil Charness ,
Paul J. Feltovich  and
Robert R. Hoffman
Anna T. Cianciolo
Affiliation:
Command Performance Research, Inc.
Cynthia Matthew
Affiliation:
PACE Center, Yale University
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University
Richard K. Wagner
Affiliation:
Florida Center for Reading Research, Department of Psychology, Florida State University
K. Anders Ericsson
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Neil Charness
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Paul J. Feltovich
Affiliation:
University of West Florida
Robert R. Hoffman
Affiliation:
University of West Florida
Get access

Summary

The drive to excel has long challenged humans to push their bodies, minds, and technologies in the determined pursuit of success. People have demonstrated their devotion to excellence through the years of effort and practice they have been willing to invest in accomplishing their goals (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993). For example, Simon and Chase (1973) observed that no one had ever attained the rank of Grandmaster in chess without at least a decade of intense preparation. This observation has since been extended to many domains, including music, sports, and academia (Bloom, 1985; Ericsson et al., 1993; Ericsson, Chapter 38). Despite folk tales about extraordinary performances by very young individuals, it is clear that the most eminent individuals in any field do not exhibit expert levels of performance prior to an extended period of preparation.

Exploration of the nature of expertise and how it develops has interested scholars, professionals, and laypeople alike, and has involved a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches. One of the enduring debates over many years of study is whether the development of expertise is largely attributable to unusual characteristics of individuals, often thought of in terms of largely inherited talents, or of their learning histories (see Horn & Masunaga, Chapter 34).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance , pp. 613 - 632
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerman, P. L. (1988). Determinants of individual differences during skill acquisition: Cognitive abilities and information processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 117, 288–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, E. C., & Freeman, C. (2000). Communities of practice: Bridging technology and knowledge assessment. Journal of Knowledge Management, 4, 38–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, J. R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological Review, 89, 369–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrade, H. G., & Perkins, D. N. (1998). Learnable intelligence and intelligent learning. In Sternberg, R. J. & Williams, W. M. (Eds.), Intelligence, instruction, and assessment. (pp. 67–94). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Argyris, C. (1993). Knowledge for action. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Bloom, B. S. (Ed.) (1985). Developing talent in young people. New York: Ballentine Books.Google Scholar
Bransford, J., Sherwood, R., Vye, N., & Rieser, J. (1986). Teaching thinking and problem solving: Research foundations. American Psychologist, 41, 1078–1089.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brehmer, B., & Joyce, C. R. B. (1988). Human judgment: The SJT view. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1991). Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organization Science, 2, 40–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). Perception in chess. Cognitive Psychology, 4, 55–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cianciolo, A. T., Antonakis, J., & Sternberg, R. J. (2004). Practical intelligence and leadership: Using experience as a “mentor.” In Day, D. V., Zaccaro, S., & Halpin, S. (Eds.), Leader development for transforming organizations – Growing leaders for tomorrow (pp. 211–236). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cianciolo, A. T., & Grigorenko, E. L., Jarvin, L., Gil, G., Drebot, M., & Sternberg, R. J. (in press). Tacit knowledge and practical intelligence: Advancements in measurement and construct validity. Learning & Individual Differences.Google Scholar
Cianciolo, A. T., Heiden, C., Prevou, M. I., & Psotka, J. (2005). Evaluating Army structured professional forums: Innovations in understanding and assessing effectiveness. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). Arlington, VA: National Defense Industrial Association.Google Scholar
Colonia-Willner, R. (1998). Practical intelligence at work: Relationship between aging and cognitive efficiency among managers in a bank environment. Psychology & Aging, 13, 45–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crager, J., & Lemons, D. (2003). Consortium Learning Forum best-practice report: Measuring the impact of knowledge management. Houston, TX: American Productivity & Quality Center.Google Scholar
Dahl, T. (2000). Text summarisation: From human activity to computer program. The problem of tacit knowledge. Journal of Linguistics, 25, 113–131.Google Scholar
Davidson, J. E., & Sternberg, R. J. (1984). The role of insight in intellectual giftedness. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28, 58–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Day, D. V. (2000). Leadership development: A review in context. Leadership Quarterly, 11, 581–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Day, D. V., & Lance, C. E. (2004). Understanding the development of leadership complexity through latent growth modeling. In Day, D. V., Zaccaro, S., & Halpin, S. (Eds.), Leader development for transforming organizations – Growing leaders for tomorrow (pp. 41–69). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Boston, MA: Heath.Google Scholar
Dixon, N. M., Allen, N., Burgess, T., Kilner, P., & Schweitzer, S. (2005). CompanyCommand: Unleashing the power of the Army profession. West Point, NY: Center for the Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning.Google Scholar
DuBois, D., & Shalin, V. L. (1995). Adapting cognitive methods to real-world objectives: An application to job knowledge testing. In Nichols, P. D., Chipman, S. F., & Brennan, R. L. (Eds.), Cognitively diagnostic assessment. (pp. 189–220). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Duncan, J., Seitz, R. J., Kolodny, J., Bor, D., Herzog, H., Ahmed, A., Newell, F. N., & Emslie, H. (2000). A neural basis for general intelligence. Science, 289, 457–460.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ennis, R. H. (1987). A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In Baron, J. B. & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice (pp. 9–26). New York: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1991). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Smith, J. (Eds.) (1993). Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fitts, P., & Posner, M. I. (1967). Human performance. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Garner, W. R., Hake, H. W., & Eriksen, C. W. (1956). Operationism and the concept of perception. Psychological Review, 63, 149–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gherardi, S., Nicolini, D., & Odella, F. (1998). Toward a social understanding of how people learn in organizations. Management Learning, 29, 273–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottfredson, L. S. (2003). Dissecting practical intelligence theory: Its claims and evidence. Intelligence, 31, 343–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grotzer, T. A., & Perkins, D. N. (2000). Teaching intelligence. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), Handbook of intelligence (pp. 492–515). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedlund, J., Forsythe, G. B., Horvath, J. A., Williams, W. M., Snook, S., & Sternberg, R. J. (2003). “Identifying and assessing tacit knowledge: Understanding the practical intelligence of military leaders. Leadership Quarterly. 14, 117–140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedlund, J., Horvath, J. A., Forsythe, G. B., Snook, S., Williams, W. M., Bullis, R. C., Dennis, M., & Sternberg, R. J. (1998). “Tacit knowledge in military leadership: Evidence of construct validity,” Technical Report 1080, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral & Social Sciences, Alexandria, VA.
Horn, J. L., & Cattell, R. B. (1966). Refinement and test of the theory of fluid and crystallized general intelligences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 57, 253–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunter, J. E. (1983). A causal analysis of cognitive ability, job knowledge, job performance, and supervisor ratings. In Landy, F. J., Zedeck, S., & Cleveland, J. (Eds.), Performance measurement and theory (pp. 257–275). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1993). Test validity: g versus “tacit knowledge.” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 9–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilner, P. (2002). Transforming army learning through communities of practice. Military Review, May–June, 21–27.Google Scholar
Larkin, J. H., McDermott, J., Simon, D. P., & Simon, H. A. (1980). Expert and novice performance in solving physics problems. Science, 208, 1335–1342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Legree, P. J. (1995). Evidence for an oblique social intelligence factor established with a Likert-based testing procedure. Intelligence, 21, 247–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Legree, P. J., Heffner, T. S., Psotka, J., Martin, D. E., & Medsker, G. J. (2003). Traffic crash involvement: Experiential driving knowledge and stressful contextual antecedents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 15–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lesser, E. L., & Storck, J. (2001). Communities of practice and organizational performance. IBM Systems Journal, 40, 831–841.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipman, M. (1993). Promoting better classroom thinking. Educational Psychology, 13, 291–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDaniel, M. A., & Nguyen, N. T. (2001). Situational judgment tests: A review of practice and constructs assessed. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, 103–113.Google Scholar
Neisser, U. (1976). General, academic, and artificial intelligence. In Resnick, L. B. (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp. 135–144). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nickerson, R. S. (1989). On improving thinking through instruction. Review of Research in Education, 15, 3–57.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E., & Bellows, N. (1977). Verbal reports about causal influences on social judgments: Private access versus public theories. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 35, 613–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge-creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Oxford American Dictionary. (2001). New York: Oxford University Press.
Paul, R. W. (1987). Dialogical thinking: Critical thought essential to the acquisition of rational knowledge and passions. In Baron, J. B. & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and Practice (pp. 127–148). New York: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Polanyi, M. (1958). Personal knowledge: Towards a post-critical philosophy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Polanyi, M. (1966). The tacit dimension. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Reber, A. S. (1989). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 118, 219–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reber, A. S., & Lewis, S. (1977). Implicit learning: An analysis of the form and structure of a body of tacit knowledge. Cognition, 5, 333–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ree, M. J., Caretta, T. R., & Teachout, M. S. (1995). Role of ability and prior job knowledge in complex training performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 721–730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothrock, L., & Kirlik, A. (2003). Inferring rule-based strategies in dynamic judgment tasks: Toward a noncompensatory formulation of the lens model. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics – Part A: Systems and Humans, 33, 58–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1993). Tacit knowledge, practical intelligence, general mental ability, and job knowledge. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 8–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Somech, A., & Bogler, R. (1999). Tacit knowledge in academia: Its effects on student learning and achievement. The Journal of Psychology, 133, 605–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stadler, M. A., & Roediger, H. L. (1998). The question of awareness in research on implicit learning. In Stadler, M. A. & Frensch, P. A. (Eds.), Handbook of implicit learning (pp. 105–132). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1987). Most vocabulary is learned from context. In McKeown, M. G. & Curtis, M. E. (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition (pp. 89–105). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1988). Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1991). Theory-based testing of intellectual abilities: Rationale for the Triarchic Abilities Test. In Rowe, H. A. (Ed.), Intelligence: Reconceptualization and measurement (pp. 183–202). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1994). Cognitive conceptions of expertise. International Journal of Expert Systems, 7, 1–12.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Successful intelligence. New York: Plume Books.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1998). Abilities are forms of developing expertise. Educational Researcher, 27, 11–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., Castejon, J. L., Prieto, M. D., Hautamaki, J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2001). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test in three international samples. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 17, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., Forsythe, G. B., Hedlund, J., Horvath, J. A., Wagner, R. K., Williams, W. M., Snook, S. A., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2000). Practical intelligence in everyday life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., & Horvath, J. A. (Eds.) (1999). Tacit knowledge in professional practice: Researcher and practitioner perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., Nokes, K., Geissler, P. W., Prince, R., Okatcha, F., Bundy, D. A., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2001). The relationship between academic and practical intelligence: A case study in Kenya. Intelligence, 29, 401–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., & Rainbow Project Collaborators. (2005). Augmenting the SAT through assessments of analytical, practical, and creative skills. In Camara, W. J. & Kimmel, E. W. (Eds.), Choosing students: higher education tools for the 21st century (pp. 159–176). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., Wagner, R. K., & Okagaki, L. (1993). Practical intelligence: The nature and role of tacit knowledge in work and at school. In Puckett, J. M., & Reese, H. W., (Eds.), Mechanisms of everyday cognition (pp. 205–223). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Tan, H., & Libby, R. (1997). Tacit managerial versus technical knowledge as determinants of audit expertise in the field. Journal of Accounting Research, 35, 97–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, R. K. (1987). Tacit knowledge in everyday intelligent behavior. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 52 (6), 1236–1247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, R. K., & Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Practical intelligence in real-world pursuits: The role of tacit knowledge. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 49, 436–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, R. K., & Sternberg, R. J. (1989). Tacit Knowledge Inventory for sales: Written. Unpublished test.Google Scholar
Wagner, R. K, & Sternberg, R. J. (1990). Street smarts. In Clark, K. E. & Clark, M. B. (Eds.), Measures of leadership (pp. 493–504). West Orange, NJ: Leadership Library of America.Google Scholar
Wagner, R. K., & Sternberg, R. J. (1991). Tacit Knowledge Inventory for managers. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Wenger, E. C. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, & identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenger, E. C. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems . Organization, 7, 225–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenger, E. C., & Snyder, W. M. (2000). Communities of practice: The organizational frontier. Harvard Business Review, January–February, 139–145.Google Scholar
Williams, W., Blythe, T., White, N., Li, J., Gardner, H., & Sternberg, R. J. (2002). Practical intelligence for school: Developing metacognitive sources of achievement in adolescence. Developmental Review, 22, 162–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, W., Blythe, T., White, N., Li, J., Sternberg, R. J., & Gardner, H. (1996). Practical intelligence for school handbook. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×