TY - JOUR
T1 - Expertise-related differences in conceptual and ontological knowledge in the legal domain.
AU - Nievelstein, Fleurie
AU - Van Gog, Tamara
AU - Boshuizen, Els
AU - Prins, Frans
N1 - DS_Description: Nievelstein, F., Van Gog, T., Boshuizen, H. P. A., & Prins, F. J. (2008).
Expertise-related differences in conceptual and ontological knowledge in the legal domain.
European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 20, 1043–1064.
PY - 2008/10/17
Y1 - 2008/10/17
N2 - Little research has been conducted on expertise-related differences in conceptual and ontological
knowledge in law, even though this type of knowledge is prerequisite for correctly interpreting
and reasoning about legal cases, and differences in conceptual and ontological knowledge
structures between students and between students and teachers, might lead to miscommunication.
This study investigated the extent and organization of conceptual and ontological knowledge of
novices, advanced students, and experts in law, using a card-sorting task and a conceptelaboration
task. The results showed that novices used more everyday examples and were less
accurate in their elaborations of concepts than advanced students and experts, on top of that, the
organization of their knowledge did not overlap within their group (i.e., no “shared” ontology).
Experts gave more judicial examples based on the lawbook and were more accurate in their
elaborations than advanced students, and their knowledge was strongly overlapping within their
group (i.e., strong ontology). Incorrect conceptual knowledge seems to impede the correct
understanding of cases and the correct application of precise and formal rules in law.
AB - Little research has been conducted on expertise-related differences in conceptual and ontological
knowledge in law, even though this type of knowledge is prerequisite for correctly interpreting
and reasoning about legal cases, and differences in conceptual and ontological knowledge
structures between students and between students and teachers, might lead to miscommunication.
This study investigated the extent and organization of conceptual and ontological knowledge of
novices, advanced students, and experts in law, using a card-sorting task and a conceptelaboration
task. The results showed that novices used more everyday examples and were less
accurate in their elaborations of concepts than advanced students and experts, on top of that, the
organization of their knowledge did not overlap within their group (i.e., no “shared” ontology).
Experts gave more judicial examples based on the lawbook and were more accurate in their
elaborations than advanced students, and their knowledge was strongly overlapping within their
group (i.e., strong ontology). Incorrect conceptual knowledge seems to impede the correct
understanding of cases and the correct application of precise and formal rules in law.
KW - Expertise
KW - ontological knowledge
KW - Legal domain
U2 - 10.1080/09541440701674777
DO - 10.1080/09541440701674777
M3 - Article
VL - 20
SP - 1043
EP - 1064
JO - European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
JF - European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
SN - 0954-1446
IS - 6
ER -