Career Theory - Review

Parsons
Holland
Super
Krumboltz


Gottfredson
Trait and Factor
Person-Environment Matching
Life Span/Life Space
Social Learning Theory of Career
Decision Making / Learning
Theory of Career Counseling
Circumscription, Compromise,
and Self-Creation
Trait and Factor
(Frank Parsons)
Matching men to jobs
Identify individuals traits
Know workplace factors
Match individual to the ONE right job
Person-Environment Matching
(John Holland)
Individuals express their personalities through
their vocational interests
Individuals seek out work environments in
which they can fully utilize their skills and
abilities and express their attitudes and values
Individuals and work environments can be
classified respectively by their personalities and
personality requirements into 1 or some
combination of 6 categories

Person-Environment Matching
(John Holland)
Investigative
Realistic
Artistic Social
Enterprising
Conventional
Life Span / Life Space
(Donald E. Super)
Life Span Developmental
5 Stages
Growth
Exploration
Establishment
Maintenance
Disengagement
Life Span / Life Space
(Donald E. Super)
Life Space Theatres
Child
Student
Leisurite
Citizen
Worker
Homemaker
Spouse
Parent
Pensioner
Qualities of roles
Bandwith
Salience
Intensity
Problem
Role Spillover
Social Learning Theory of Career
Decision Making SLTCDM
(John Krumboltz)
4 factors influence
career decision
making
Genetic endowments
and special abilities
Environmental
events and
conditions
Instrumental and
associative learning
experiences
Task approach skills
4 primary ways
factors influence
career decisions
Self-observation
generalizations
Worldview
generalizations
Task approach skills
Actions
Learning Theory of Career
Counseling LTCC
(John Krumboltz)
Typical career concerns
Indecision (goal absence;
incapable of deciding)
Undecided (lack of
information)
Unrealism (high
aspirations)
Multipotentiality (equal
alternative conflict)
Typical LTCC interventions
Help clients acquire more
accurate self-observation
generalizations
Help clients acquire more
accurate worldview
generalizations
Learn new task approach
skills
Take appropriate career-
related actions
Circumscription, Compromise, and
Self-Creation
(Linda Gottfredson)
Circumscription Process of eliminating
unacceptable occupational alternatives based
primarily upon gender and prestige
Guided by 5 principles
Children capable of understanding and organizing
complex information
Occupational preferences reflect attempts to
implement and enhance self-concept
Children integrate complex distinctions among
people (prestige) while integrating the more
concrete phenomena (sex roles)
Children progressively eliminate occupational
options as self-concept complexity and clarity
increases
Process is gradual and not readily obvious
Circumscription, Compromise, and
Self-Creation
(Linda Gottfredson)
Principles operate throughout 4 cognitive
stages which describe process
Orientation to size and power
Orientation to sex roles
Orientation to social valuation
Orientation to internal, unique self
Circumscription, Compromise, and
Self-Creation
(Linda Gottfredson)
Compromise Modifying occupational
choices in light of limiting factors,
whether internally or externally imposed
Tolerable-effort boundary
Tolerable-level boundary
Tolerable-sextype boundary
Zone of acceptable alternatives
Self-Creation Included in
circumscription process; altering self-
concept in light of developmental or
environmental factors
Circumscription, Compromise, and
Self-Creation
(Linda Gottfredson)
Compromise Modifying occupational
choices in light of limiting factors,
whether internally or externally imposed
Tolerable-effort boundary
Tolerable-level boundary
Tolerable-sextype boundary
Zone of acceptable alternatives
Circumscription, Compromise, and
Self-Creation
(Linda Gottfredson)
Sextype Rating
Feminine
H
i
g
h

L
o
w

Masculine
P
r
e
s
t
i
g
e

Construction Worker
Psychiatrist
Receptionist
Nurse
Real Estate Agent
Surgeon
Elementary Teacher
Federal Judge
High School Teacher
Tolerable-Level Boundary
Tolerable-Effort Boundary
T
o
l
e
r
a
b
l
e
-
S
e
x
t
y
p
e

B
o
u
n
d
a
r
y

Zone of Acceptable
Alternatives
Circumscription, Compromise, and
Self-Creation
(Linda Gottfredson)
Self-Creation Included in
circumscription process; altering self-
concept in light of developmental or
environmental factors
Career Theory - Whats New
Lent, Brown, & Hackett

Peterson, Sampson,
Reardon, & Lenz
Hansen
Social Cognitive Career Theory
(SCCT)
Cognitive Information
Processing (CIP)
Integrative Life Planning (ILP)
Social Cognitive Career
Theory
(SCCT)
Robert W. Lent
Steven D. Brown
Gail Hackett
SCCT - Influences
Cognitive variables and processes
Personal agency
Constructivism

SCCT - Goals
To trace connections between persons and their career-
related contexts
To trace connections between cognitive and interpersonal
factors
To trace connections between self-directed and externally
imposed influences
Intended to build conceptual linkages with other theories of
career development
Offer a potentially unifying framework
How Holland types develop
How learning experiences influence interests in Krumboltzs
theory
What factors affect differential role salience in Supers theory
How people acquire abilities in Dawis and Loftquists Theory
of Work Adjustment
SCCT Central concepts and
assumptions
Person-environment interaction is
dynamic and situation specific
People are products AND producers of
their environments
Key Theoretical Constructs
Self-efficacy
Outcomes expectations
Goals
Sources of
Self-Efficacy
and Outcome
Expectations
Self-Efficacy
Interest
Intentions/
Goals for
Activity
Involvement
Activity
Selection
and
Practice
Performance
Attainments (e.g.,
goal fulfillment,
skill development
Development of Basic Career Interests over Time
(Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994)
Perceived
Abilities
Values
Outcome
Expectations
Learning
Experiences
Self-Efficacy
Interest
Choice
Goals
Choice
Actions
Performance
Domains and
Attainments
Person, Contextual, and Experiential Factors Affecting Career-Related Choice Behavior
(Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1993)
Outcome
Expectations
Person Inputs
-Predispositions
-Gender
-Ethnicity
-Disability/Health
Status
Background
Contextual
Affordances
Contextual Influences
Proximal to Choice Behavior
12
1
2
3 4 5
6
7
8
9
10
11
m
o
d
e
r
a
t
e

m
o
d
e
r
a
t
e

SCCT Intervention Implications
Expanding interests and facilitating
choice
Overcoming barriers to choice and
success
Developing and modifying self-efficacy
perceptions
Cognitive Information Processing CIP

Developers
Gary W. Peterson
James P. Sampson
Robert C. Reardon
Janet G. Lenz
Cognitive Information Processing CIP

Give a man a fish and he will
eat for a day. Teach a man to
fish and he will eat for a
lifetime.
CIP in context
Theoretically integrative
Trait & Factor (Parsons)
P/E Matching (Holland)
Earlier decision theories (Janis
& Mann; Katz; Gelatt,
Tiedeman)
SLTCDM (Krumboltz)
CIP definitions
Career problem
Career problem solving
Career decision making
Career development
Lifestyle
CIP 4 Assumptions
1. Career decision making involves
interaction between cognitive and
affective processes
2. Decision making capacity depends
upon availability of cognitive operations
and knowledge
3. Career development is ongoing and
cognitive structures continually evolve
4. Enhancing information processing skills
is the goal of career counseling
CIP 3 Dimensions
Pyramid of information processing
CASVE cycle of decision making skills
Executive processing domain
CIP Pyramid of Information Processing
Generic
Information-Processing
Skills (CASVE)
Meta-
cognitions
Self-Knowledge
Occupational
Knowledge
Executive Processing
Domain
Decision Making
Skills Domain
Knowledge
Domains
CIP CASVE Cycle of Decision Making Skills
External or Internal
Problem Signals
Communication
(Identifying a gap)
Analysis
(Interrelating
problem components)
Synthesis
(Creating likely
Alternatives)
Valuing
(Prioritizing
Alternatives)
Execution
(Forming
means-ends
strategies
External or Internal
Problem Signals
CIP Executive Processing Domain
Metacognitive skills
Self-talk
Self-awareness
Monitoring and control
CIP Intervention Implications
Foci are the three domains
Acquisition of knowledge
Acquisition of decision-making skills
Development of executive processing domain
Specifics
Teaching decision making skills before problems
become apparent
Helping students identify and utilize information sources
Assessment for self-knowledge
Applying CASVE to help clients solve specific problems
Disputing irrational beliefs (developing positive self-talk)
Help clients develop internal locus of control
Help clients understand what success looks like
Integrative Life Planning ILP
(L. Sunny Hansen)
Focuses on adult career development
New worldview
Addresses diversity issues
Holistic integration
Personal agency
Connections

ILP 4 Assumptions
1. Nature of knowledge changing
demanding new ways of knowing
2. Connections in life are important
3. Broader kinds of self-knowledge and
societal knowledge are critical
4. Career counseling needs to focus on
career professionals as change agents
ILP 6 Career Development Tasks
1. Finding work that needs doing in
changing global contexts
2. Weaving our lives into a meaningful
whole
3. Connecting family and work
4. Valuing pluralism and diversity
5. Managing personal transitions and
organizational change
6. Exploring spirituality and life purpose
ILP Intervention Implications
Focus on developmental tasks
Understand them
See interrelatedness
Prioritize tasks according to personal
needs
Teach approach to life planning
Connectedness
Wholeness
Community