Reconsidering the Trade-off Between Expertise and Flexibility: a Cognitive Entrenchment Perspective

Abstract

Research suggests that as one acquires domain expertise, one loses flexibility with regard to problem solving, adaptation, and creative idea generation. Here, I reconsider this trade-off between expertise and flexibility by examining the concept of cognitive entrenchment—a high level of stability in one's domain schemas. Proposing that cognitive entrenchment varies not only with expertise but also with one's task environment and attentional focus, I contend that the inflexibility-related limitations of expertise can be circumvented.