Gary Klein is a research psychologist famous for pioneering in the field of naturalistic decision making

Naturalistic decision making

The naturalistic decision making framework emerged as a means of studying how people actually make decisions and perform cognitively complex functions in demanding situations...

. By studying experts such as firefighters in their natural environment, he discovered that laboratory models of decision making

Decision making

Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...

 could not describe it under uncertainty. His recognition primed decision

Recognition primed decision

Recognition-primed decision is a model of how people make quick, effective decisions when faced with complex situations. In this model, the decision maker is assumed to generate a possible course of action, compare it to the constraints imposed by the situation, and select the first course of...

 (RPD) model has influenced changes in the ways the Marines and Army train their officers to make decisions. His company has developed their own variant of cognitive task analysis

Task analysis

Task analysis is the analysis of how a task is accomplished, including a detailed description of both manual and mental activities, task and element durations, task frequency, task allocation, task complexity, environmental conditions, necessary clothing and equipment, and any other unique factors...

 to gather data in complex domains.

Klein received his B.A. in Psychology from City College of New York

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

 (1964) and his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh (1969). Klein spent several years as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Oakland University

Oakland University

Oakland University is a public university co-founded by Matilda Dodge Wilson and John A. Hannah whose campus is located in central Oakland County, Michigan, United States in the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills. It is the only major research university in Oakland County, from which OU...

, Rochester, Michigan

Rochester, Michigan

Rochester is an affluent city in north Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan on the northern outskirts of metro Detroit. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 census...

, and worked as a Research Psychologist for the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Greene and Montgomery counties in the state of Ohio. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is located approximately...

 from 1974–1978. He spent a few years as Assistant Professor of Psychology at Wilberforce University

Wilberforce University

Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans...

 in Ohio. He founded Klein Associates

Klein Associates

Klein Associates Inc. is the company founded by Dr. Gary A. Klein to apply his research on decision-making in naturalistic settings. On September 2, 2005, Klein Associates was acquired by Applied Research Associates, a New Mexico based firm that develops engineering solutions for private and public...

in 1978 to study a range of topics that are now described as the Naturalistic Decision Making framework. Klein eventually left Wilberforce to focus on his company and its research. Klein sold his company in 2005 to Applied Research Associates but remains Chief Scientist there.

Publications

• Books
  • Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 1999 ISBN 0262611465
  • The Power of Intuition: How to Use Your Gut Feelings to Make Better Decisions at Work Currency, 2004 ISBN 0385502893
  • Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2009 ISBN 0262013398
  • (with Judith Orasanu, and Roberta Calderwood) Decision Making in Action: Models and Methods Ablex, 1993 ISBN 0893919438
  • ed. (with Eduardo Salas) Linking Expertise and Naturalistic Decision Making Erlbaum, 2001 ISBN 0805835385
  • ed. (with Caroline Zsambok) Naturalistic Decision Making Erlbaum, 1996 ISBN 080581874X

• Selected articles in refereed journals
  • with Roberta Calderwood and Beth W. Crandall Time Pressure, Skill, and Move Quality in Chess The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 101, No. 4 (Winter, 1988), 481-493
  • with Calderwood, R. and MacGregor, D. Critical decision method for eliciting knowledge Systems, Man and Cybernetics, IEEE Transactions on May/Jun 1989 Vol. 19, 3, 462-472
  • with Karen J. Peio Use of a Prediction Paradigm to Evaluate Proficient Decision Making The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 102, No. 3 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 321–331
  • Finding and using technology-specific expertise The Journal of Technology Transfer Vol. 16, No. 1 / March, 1991
  • with Calderwood, R. Decision models: some lessons from the field Systems, Man and Cybernetics, IEEE Transactions on Sep/Oct 1991 Vol. 21, 5, 1018–1026