Adaptivity and Anticipation in Expert-Laypeople Communication
Rainer Bromme · 2000
Communication between experts and laypeople has become an almost ubiquitous phenomenon. However, this dimension has been neglected in psychological research on expertise where the expert usually is modeled as an isolated problem solver. The present paper argues that in particular the ex-pertÕs specialized knowledge often proves to be an obstacle to effective interpersonal communication with laypersons. The theoretical discussion of the notion of community membership (Clark and Marshall 1992) shows that it is a necessary but complex demand for experts to take a layper-sonÔs perspective in order to establish common ground. In an empirical study with two types of computer experts it was investigated in how far experts are able to anticipate what laypersons know about their domain. A second study analyzed how different aspects of knowledge are differently considered by expert architects when adapting to a lay audi-ence. There are numerous situations in everyday life in which one must rely on specialized knowledge provided by ex-perts. Hence, expert-layperson communication has become an almost ubiquitous phenomenon. However, sometimes specialized knowledge becomes an obstacle to effective communication with laypeople. It is more than just a clich to say that there is a certain type of Ôblind expertÕ. Despite his or her skilled professional performance this type of expert strikingly fails as soon as he/she is asked to explain how he/she managed to solve oneÕs problem. Traditional research on expertise has yielded important insights into the cognitive basis of expert performance in complex do-