H. ESHACH
and therefore are not always aware of their own as well as of
other psychiatrists’ criteria. These primary criteria have an
impact on decision-making processes, which in most cases are
based on similarity decisions. In addition, CBR might lead to
faulty decisions. For instance, one might be tempted to use an
old case blindly, relying on previous experience without vali-
dating it in the new situation (Kolodner, 1993). One strategy to
minimize such a cognitive bias is to call these processes to the
attention of the physician and medical educator, in the hope that
when people are aware of these tendencies, they will take steps
to overcome them. Therefore, educators should take such proc-
esses into account when they design learning environments.
The present study provides many examples of criteria used in
the comparison process and thus might be useful as a teaching
aid. The results of this research may assist psychiatrists to be
aware of their own and others’ idiosyncratic c r iteria. Thi s might
also decrease the gap between book knowledge and the per-
sonal/practical experience of physicians, a concern that was
expressed by Schon (1987). In other words, researchers should
make efforts to make the implicit personal/practical experience
of physicians more explicit. Educators, on their turn, should
“use” explicit teaching—which refers to teaching that focuses
on explicit awareness (mediated by verbal interactions) of types
of cognitive procedures (i.e. strategies) being used in specific
instances (Zohar & Peled, 2007; Zohar & Ben David, 2008)—
to teach those, yet, tacit personal cognitive procedures. This
research could be expanded into other domains that rely on
similarity diagnosis.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the psychiatrists who partici-
pated in the study and Miss Ruth Singer for editing the manu-
script.
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