Editing Expert (section)

{{short description|Person with broad and profound competence in a particular field}}
{{Other uses}}
{{more footnotes|date=March 2017}}
[[File:Becker von, Adolf - The Art Expert - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[Adolf von Becker]]: ''The Art Expert'']]

An '''expert''' is somebody who has a broad and deep [[understanding]] and [[Competence (human resources)|competence]] in terms of [[knowledge]], [[skill]] and [[experience]] through [[Practice (learning method)|practice]] and [[education]] in a particular field or area of study. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a [[reliabilism|reliable]] source of [[wikt:technique|technique]] or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by [[Peer group|peer]]s or the [[General public|public]] in a specific well-distinguished domain. An expert, more generally, is a person with extensive knowledge or [[Aptitude|ability]] based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study. Experts are called in for advice on their respective subject, but they do not always agree on the particulars of a field of study. An expert can be believed, by virtue of [[credential]]s, [[training]], [[education]], [[profession]], [[publication]] or experience, to have special knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may [[official]]ly (and [[expert witness|legally]]) rely upon the individual's [[opinion]] on that topic. Historically, an expert was referred to as a [[Sage (philosophy)|sage]]. The individual was usually a profound [[Intellectual|thinker]] distinguished for [[wisdom]] and sound [[judgment]].

In specific fields, the definition of expert is well established by consensus and therefore it is not always necessary for individuals to have a professional or academic [[wikt:qualification|qualification]] for them to be accepted as an expert. In this respect, a shepherd with fifty years of experience tending flocks would be widely recognized as having complete expertise in the use and training of sheep dogs and the care of sheep.

Research in this area attempts to understand the relation between expert knowledge, skills and personal characteristics and exceptional performance. Some researchers have investigated the cognitive structures and processes of experts. The fundamental aim of this research is to describe what it is that experts know and how they use their knowledge to achieve performance that most people assume requires extreme or extraordinary ability. Studies have investigated the factors that enable experts to be fast and accurate.{{sfn|Ericsson|Stasewski|1989}}