In 1980 Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, published an eighteen-page report for the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research. In the report the Dreyfus brothers proposed a model for expert development and performance, including stages for skill acquisition and an observation model for said development. They also pointed out the similarities between developing expert performance in chess, learning a foreign language, and flying an aircraft.
In the decades since its publication, the Dreyfus and Dreyfus model has been expanded and revised and received both praise and criticism. The model is not perfect, but it introduces concepts that all experts should consider.
The Dreyfus and Dreyfus model postulates that becoming an expert is more than just gaining knowledge or learning a skill. The model states that there are five fundamental characteristics of expertise and expert performance common to all disciplines and industries. According to the Dreyfus brothers, experts show how they are exceptional in five separate measurable ways:
In the following chapters, we’ll discuss each of these traits and outline why each is important.
