Reconsidering the trade-off between expertise and flexibility: A cognitive entrenchment perspective

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-α 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.