Lecture 8 Flashcards
What is an expert? What is the difference between an episomological and performative expert?
An expert is a person with a high level of knowledge or skill relating to a particular subject or activity. Knowledge is a “true justified belief”.
Epistemic expertise: experts those whose expertise is a function of what they know. “S is an expert in or about domain D”.
* Is the capacity to provide strong justification for a range of propositions in a domain.
* KNOWING THAT
Performative expertise: experts are those whose expertise is a function of what they do. “S in an expert at skill Q”.
* Is the capacity to perform a skill well according to the rules and virtues of a practice.
* KNOWING HOW.
How can we identify experts?
Suggested approaches for finding the expert:
○ Let journalists and media identify the experts
○ The person with the most experience is the expert
○ Let the experts identify themselves
○ Look for a certain psychological profile
Can we really trust experts?
Better to ask: How good are experts at forecasting?
* Since cost estimation is about coming up with our best guesses in regards to what the future cost of a project will be, we can equate it to forecasting.
* Challenging to determine whether experts are any good at forecasting.
Not the best answer
How can we become experts?
Doing a lot of deliberate practice over a long period of time leads to becoming an expert. To be able to do a lot of deliberate practice over a long period of time requires grit. Having a growth mindset, interest and purpose is associated with having grit.
-> To deliberate practice for ten thousand hours, you need motivation. Motivation is hard to maintain, and rather maintaining motivation for practicing, an alternative is to make practice into a habit. I.e. personal development.
Explain the Dunning-Kruger effect. Why is it a bad strategy to ask people to self-assess their competence?
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a psychological phenomenon where people who have limited knowledge or skills in a particular area tend to overestimate their abilities. In simpler terms, it’s when someone thinks they’re really good at something, even though they’re not.
Now, why is asking people to self-assess their competence not the best idea? Well, imagine you’re trying to figure out how good you are at cooking. If you’re not very skilled, you might not realize it because you lack the knowledge to accurately judge your abilities. So, you might think you’re a fantastic chef when in reality, your cooking skills are just average or even below average.
This is why relying solely on self-assessment can be tricky. People might not have enough insight or awareness to accurately judge their own competence. It’s like asking a beginner painter to rate their masterpiece – they might give it a perfect score, but others might see it differently. So, it’s important to gather feedback from others or use objective measures whenever possible to get a clearer picture of someone’s skills or knowledge.
(Answer from Chat)
