Accelerating expertise in professional decision making: The effects of a simple rules training

Traditional approaches to professional decision making hold analytical expertise as superior to qualitative judgment. However, this view is increasingly challenged by work on heuristics as effective decision strategies under conditions of uncertainty. Building on this insight, we developed a script-based simple rules training program in the context of insurance underwriting. We then conducted a quasi-experimental intervention study with 220 participants of varying levels of experience. The study compared performance in the training condition with that in an active control condition on a work sample test given before and after the intervention. The results show that training in simple rules could improve decision quality in terms of both decision accuracy and consistency. Moreover, experience moderated this effect, such that the training was particularly beneficial for less experienced participants. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings for professional and underwriting expertise, the study of heuristics, and decision-making training.