Andy’s Quick Hits (255): Experts Don’t Give the Best Advice — Just More of It

Ok, that is a massive generalisation, and the research didn’t actually look at experts in the sense that we understand it. It is nevertheless insightful and does indeed match some of my personal observations in many fields — from sports to business (I am an expert in a few areas). It also matches other research into the area of how experts are often not as expert as they think themselves.

So, what did these researchers do — and find?

First off, Levari et al. conducted a study with 1’100 participants playing a game called Word Scramble. In this participants are given a board of letters and have 60 seconds to form as many words as possible. Participants played three rounds with different boards. They then asked the participants who they would like to get advice from to learn how to perform better.

Unsurprisingly most participants responded that they would like to get advice from the top performers.

That is a logical and natural instinct. If you want to perform better, ask those that are better. But then it gets really interesting.

The researchers then asked 100 of the participants to play a further 6 rounds, then write advice for future players, and rate the quality of their advice. Unsurprisingly the best…