Seeing What Others Don't

Personal Perspectives

Conversations With Kahneman

Gary Klein Ph.D. on April 18, 2024

A Personal Perspective: Danny Kahneman, cofounder of the heuristics and biases school, and I engaged in an adversarial collaboration. We found ways to develop intuitive expertise.

A Personal Perspective: Danny Kahneman, cofounder of the heuristics and biases school, and I engaged in an adversarial collaboration. We found ways to develop intuitive expertise.

Resilience

Making the Most of a Failure

Gary Klein Ph.D. on March 13, 2024

A Personal Perspective: If we think about our failures, we can diagnose what went wrong, and strengthen our mental models.

A Personal Perspective: If we think about our failures, we can diagnose what went wrong, and strengthen our mental models.

Artificial Intelligence

Spotting Exaggerated Claims for AI Superiority Over Experts

Gary Klein Ph.D. on February 13, 2024

Developers of AI systems often exaggerate their superiority to people. Watch out for learning confounds, accusations of biases, smuggled expertise, and analytical gimmickry.

Developers of AI systems often exaggerate their superiority to people. Watch out for learning confounds, accusations of biases, smuggled expertise, and analytical gimmickry.

Teamwork

Should We Cancel Socrates?

Gary Klein Ph.D. on November 30, 2023

Socrates was an intellectual bully who humiliated those he debated, an approach that persists today. Perhaps we should shift to adversarial collaboration.

Socrates was an intellectual bully who humiliated those he debated, an approach that persists today. Perhaps we should shift to adversarial collaboration.

Leadership

6 Questions To Size Up Your Team’s Dynamics

Gary Klein Ph.D. on September 15, 2023

Cognitive diversity can help or hinder a team's performance. This essay presents a six-question self-test for teams to use in assessment.

Cognitive diversity can help or hinder a team's performance. This essay presents a six-question self-test for teams to use in assessment.

Cognition

Cognitive Diversity: What It Is and Why It Matters

Gary Klein Ph.D. on August 16, 2023

Cognitive diversity (CD) refers to differences in the way team members think. We identified five primary dimensions of CD and described the tasks that CD supports.

Cognitive diversity (CD) refers to differences in the way team members think. We identified five primary dimensions of CD and described the tasks that CD supports.

Cognition

Unpacking Tacit Knowledge

Gary Klein Ph.D. on July 19, 2023

Tacit knowledge is usually defined negatively, as knowledge we cannot articulate. We can do better.

Tacit knowledge is usually defined negatively, as knowledge we cannot articulate. We can do better.

Cognition

Don't Be Fooled by Flimsy Findings

Gary Klein Ph.D. on June 15, 2023

Many research reports create a misleading impression that their findings are solid. We offer a simple, intuitive method for assessing the findings: the peelback method.

Many research reports create a misleading impression that their findings are solid. We offer a simple, intuitive method for assessing the findings: the peelback method.

Coaching

Gunfire at Sea: The Challenge of Using Positive Deviants

Gary Klein Ph.D. on May 16, 2023

Positive deviants are people who use an unusual tactic to achieve success when everyone else is struggling. But it takes expertise to spot them and diagnose their secrets.

Positive deviants are people who use an unusual tactic to achieve success when everyone else is struggling. But it takes expertise to spot them and diagnose their secrets.

Humor

The Comedy Mindset

Gary Klein Ph.D. on April 16, 2023

Humor is a way to enjoy situations that might otherwise make us angry and frustrated. Like any mindset, the comedy mindset takes practice.

Humor is a way to enjoy situations that might otherwise make us angry and frustrated. Like any mindset, the comedy mindset takes practice.

Career

Shifting Mindsets: What Does It Take?

Gary Klein Ph.D. on March 20, 2023

Mindset shifts can have a great impact, but we shouldn’t think they can be achieved without effort. This post describes four ideas for making mindset shifts that stick.

Mindset shifts can have a great impact, but we shouldn’t think they can be achieved without effort. This post describes four ideas for making mindset shifts that stick.

Intelligence

How Decision-Makers Can Handle Uncertainty

Gary Klein Ph.D. on September 7, 2022

Decision-makers treat uncertainty as an annoyance, disrupting carefully calculated plans. But we can accept uncertainty as inevitable and relish the challenge of managing it.

Decision-makers treat uncertainty as an annoyance, disrupting carefully calculated plans. But we can accept uncertainty as inevitable and relish the challenge of managing it.

Intelligence

How to Achieve Minimum Necessary Rigor

Gary Klein Ph.D. on July 25, 2022

Researchers evaluating systems and programs are often tempted to use the standards and methods they learned in conducting academic research. This mistake leads to rigor mortis. Here's what to do instead.

Researchers evaluating systems and programs are often tempted to use the standards and methods they learned in conducting academic research. This mistake leads to rigor mortis. Here's what to do instead.

Play

What We Can Learn About Expertise From a Poker Journey

Gary Klein Ph.D. on June 20, 2022

A woman gives herself one year to qualify for the main event of the World Series of Poker—even though she's never played poker before. What can we learn about expertise from her?

A woman gives herself one year to qualify for the main event of the World Series of Poker—even though she's never played poker before. What can we learn about expertise from her?

Bias

Mis-Diagnosing the Causes of Diagnostic Errors in Healthcare

Gary Klein Ph.D. on May 3, 2022

Standard psychological accounts of diagnostic errors in hospitals aren't useful—they are only clear with hindsight. We suggest that fixation errors are a more useful explanation.

Standard psychological accounts of diagnostic errors in hospitals aren't useful—they are only clear with hindsight. We suggest that fixation errors are a more useful explanation.

Many people hold a unitary concept of experts, perhaps a continuum of expertise. That concept may be too limited. We might instead think of experts as having a portfolio of skills.

Resilience

How Not to Put on an International Meeting

Gary Klein Ph.D. on August 3, 2021

What started out as a straightforward conference turned into a real challenge when COVID hit. Rather than backing away, we decided to use the pandemic to show our resilience.

What started out as a straightforward conference turned into a real challenge when COVID hit. Rather than backing away, we decided to use the pandemic to show our resilience.

Decision-Making

ShadowBox Training for Making Better Decisions

Gary Klein Ph.D. on May 28, 2021

We had discovered how people actually made decisions but couldn't figure out a way to turn that finding into a training program—until we stumbled on the ShadowBox concept.

We had discovered how people actually made decisions but couldn't figure out a way to turn that finding into a training program—until we stumbled on the ShadowBox concept.

Artificial Intelligence

The Discovery Platform

Gary Klein Ph.D. on April 27, 2021

Discoveries are very difficult to plan for, but a software Discovery Platform uses general principles to increase the chances of success.

Discoveries are very difficult to plan for, but a software Discovery Platform uses general principles to increase the chances of success.

Decision-Making

Naturalistic Decision Making Tools

Gary Klein Ph.D. on April 5, 2021

The Naturalistic Decision Making community developed a wide array of tools covering knowledge elicitation, training, design, evaluation, teamwork, risk assessment, and measurement.

The Naturalistic Decision Making community developed a wide array of tools covering knowledge elicitation, training, design, evaluation, teamwork, risk assessment, and measurement.