Gary Klein

In Range, psychologist Gary Klein is presented as a pioneer of the “naturalistic decision making” (NDM) model of expertise — an approach in which researchers observe expert performers in their natural working environment to learn how they make high-stakes decisions under time pressure. Klein showed that experts across many fields resemble chess masters in that they instinctively recognize familiar patterns. David Epstein uses Klein as the explicit counterpoint to Daniel Kahneman, whose “heuristics and biases” model found that experience often bred confidence without skill. The two psychologists, who were colleagues, co-authored a 2009 paper laying out their views and seeking common ground; they agreed that whether experience leads to expertise depends entirely on the domain — narrow, repetitive experience makes for better firefighters, chess, and poker players, but not better predictors of financial or political trends. This domain-dependence (kind vs. wicked learning environments) is central to the book’s argument.

Context: Gary Klein is an American research psychologist known for developing the recognition-primed decision (RPD) model and for his foundational work in naturalistic decision making, drawn largely from studying firefighters, military commanders, and other professionals deciding under pressure.

Where this appears

• Range — Klein’s NDM model of expert pattern recognition, set against Kahneman’s heuristics-and-biases view, frames the book’s thesis on when experience does and doesn’t build skill.