Mariners and Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition

Maritime Topics Maritime Training & Licensing
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This is relevant to training mariners. I have in mind of course avoiding the children of the magenta line trap where bridge watch officer reach the expert level with the instruments but get trapped in the novice and Advanced Beginner levels in the ability to process visual information.

Stage What Happens
1. Novice Follows context-free rules; no experience of the whole situation
2. Advanced Beginner Begins recognizing situational patterns; still depends on rules
3. Competent Can plan and make decisions; begins managing complexity
4. Proficient Perceives situations holistically; intuition begins to guide action
5. Expert Performs fluidly and intuitively; no need for explicit rules

I found it in “Mind over Machine” by Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus but it’s from 1985 and much of computer/AI content is outdated.

Here’s an updated paper by the author: The Five-Stage Model of Adult Skill Acquisition

Dreyfus model of skill acquisition - Wikipedia

Here’s an example the model being used wrt pilot skills:

A Comparison of Marine Pilots’ Planning and Manoeuvring Skills: Uncovering Mental Models to Assess Shiphandling and Explore Expertise

Ship manoeuvring requires an understanding and manipulation of complex interactions of masses and forces. It is rare that the effects of these interactions observe linear laws. This makes their appreciation and prediction a considerable task,

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When I started attending navigation school during the late 70s, a good chunk of time was spent teaching us the importance of recognizing a ships aspect at night by her lights.
Edit: this included calculating the range of degrees in which her bow or stern might lay

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In the five stages the levels change depending upon context. For example Dreyfus claims most people cannot become expert chess players but most do become expert drivers. But the levels uses examples of skills that most driver have.

For automobile drivers:

Stage 1 Novice:
The student automobile driver learns to recognize such domain-independent features as speed (indicated by the speedometer) and is given rules such as shift to 2nd gear when the speedometer needle points to 10.

Stage 2: Advanced Beginner
The advanced beginner driver uses (situational) engine sounds as well as (nonsituational) speed in deciding when to shift. He or she learns the following maxim: Shift up when the motor sounds like it is racing and down when it sounds like it is straining.

Stage 3: Competence
A competent driver, leaving the freeway on an offramp curve, learns to pay attention to the speed of the car not to whether to shift gears. After taking into account speed, surface condition, criticality of time, and so forth, the competent driver may decide he or she is going too fast. The driver then has to decide whether to let up on the accelerator, remove his or her foot altogether, or step on the brake, and precisely when to perform any of these actions. The driver is relieved if he or she gets through the curve without mishap and is shaken if he or she begins to go into a skid.

Stage 4: Proficiency
The proficient driver, approaching a curve on a rainy day, may feel in the seat of one’s pants that he or she is going dangerously fast. He or she must then decide whether to apply the brakes or merely to reduce pressure by some specific amount on the accelerator. Valuable time may be lost while making a decision, but the proficient driver is certainly more likely to negotiate the curve safely than the competent driver who spends additional time considering the speed, angle of bank, and felt gravitational forces to decide whether the car’s speed is excessive.

Stage 5: Expertise
The expert driver not only feels in the seat of his or her pants when speed is the issue but also knows how to perform the appropriate action without calculating and comparing alternatives. On the off-ramp, his or her foot simply lifts off the accelerator and applies the appropriate pressure to the brake. What must be done, simply is done.

I made of list of skills a junior officer at expert level would have here: What navigation and ship handling skills (without instruments) should junior officer have?

Of course skills using tools like ARPA and ECDIS are also required but that’s widely recognized throughout the industry (classes, certificates etc.)

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In “Mind over Machine” Dreyfus uses a lot of words to explain what Kahneman later summarized in Thinking Fast and Slow (2011).

Here’s an updated paper (2014) by Dreyfus that uses Kahneman’s work

System 0: the overlooked explanation of expert intuition

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