1. AN INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
The University of Southern Mississippi 2009 Southeastern Psychological Association Convention
Symposium presentation by:
Kanwarjit Arora, Sara Montague & Emily Bullock

2. What is Vocational Psychology?
“…scientific enterprise that conducts research to advance knowledge about vocational behavior, improve career interventions, and inform social policy about work issues” (Savickas, 2001)
Most important contributions:
Psychology of vocational interests
Psychology of career development

3. History Industrial Revolution Machines require specialists
Model of circumscribed tasks
Work --> jobs
Freedom to find jobs, change occupations

4. History (continued) YMCA 1844, London
Improve spiritual and mental health of trade workers
Employment bureaus
Classes on vocational improvement
Douglas Tryer, Vocational Self-Guidance

5. History (continued) Professional Vocational Guidance
1908: Frank Parsons founds Vocational Bureau at the Civic Service House
Craft unions, professional organizations
1911: College courses in vocational guidance
1913: National Vocational Guidance Association

6. History (continued) World War I
Placement versus diagnosis (Scott vs. Yerkes)
Army Alpha and Army Beta
Testing movement stimulated by rehabilitation of disabled soldiers
1921: Psychological Corporation founded

7. History (continued) 1927: Strong’s Vocational Interest Blank
1927: Hawthorne studies begin
1933: United States Employment Service

8. Theoretical Foundation
Frank Parsons
Conceptual model: adjustment is a function of fit between capacities/characteristics and requirements/routines of occupation
3 step model:
Increase self-knowledge
Provide occupational information
Match self to job using reasoning

9. The Cognitive Information Processing Approach
Executive Processing Domain
Meta-cognitions
Decision-Making Skills Domain
CASVE Cycle
Self Knowledge
Options Knowledge
Knowledge Domains

10. Super’s Stages of Career Development
Growth (4-14)
Exploratory (14-24)
Establishment (24-44)
Maintenance (45-65)
Disengagement (over 65)

11. THE CAREER RAINBOW

12. John Holland’s RAISEC Theory Of Career Choices
Developed in 1950’s
Fit b/w Personality & Environment type
Activities
Interests
Competencies
Values

13. 4 Basic Assumptions: 6 types of personalities 6 kinds of environments
People search for environment suitable to their skills, abilities, attitudes and values
Behavior is determined by interaction between personality and environment

14. Welcome to the Holland Party Game

15. Holland’s Hexagon

16. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)
Developed by Brown, Lent & Hackett in 1990’s
Cognitive factors as mediators
Career development and career decision making

17. Bidirectional Relation among:

18. Multiculturalism:
Holland’s Theory Across Cultures (Bullock et.al., 2007)
Cross Culture Differences- Cooperation and Competition (Bowman, 1992; Leong, 1992 )
Values and Role Importance (Lokan & Esdaile, 1994 ; Leong, 1992 )

19. Gender Role and Career:
Career & Personal Identity
Male/Female (Munson, 1992; Eschbach, 1991; Pope, 1989)
GLBT/Minority sexual orientation

20. Mental Health and Career:
Career and personal issues are inseparable
Commonalities in career and personal counseling process
Prolonged Unemployment and Ripple Effects (Herr, 1989)
Zeteophobia – Fear of Searching out (Krumboltz, 1993)

21. Current Research in Vocational Psychology
Career Counseling and Students (Fabio & Bernaud, 2008)
RAISEC and U.S. population (Reardon et.al., 2007)
Self Efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1982, 1993, 1997; Betz 1992)
Decision Making (Harren, 1979; Blustein et.al, 1989; Brisbin & Savickas, 1994; Super, 1955; Gushue et.al., 2006)

22. Career Assessment Tools:
Self-Directed Search (SDS)
Strong Interest Inventory (SIT)
Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)

23. Career Assessment Tools:
Career Decision-Making Tool (CDMT)
Career Decision Self Efficacy Scale (CDSES)
Career Decision Difficulties Scale

24. Career Assessment Tools:
Thinking Styles Inventory (TSI)
Career Thought Inventory (CTI)

26. REFERENCES: Bandura, A. (1977)
REFERENCES: Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37, Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28, Bandura A. (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman. Bedi,R.P.(2004). The therapeutic alliance and the interface of career counseling and personal counseling. Journal of Employment Counseling, 41, Betz,N.E., & Corning,A.F.(1993). The inseparability of “career” and “personal” counseling. The Career Development Quarterly, 42, Betz, N. E. (1992). Counseling uses of career self-efficacy theory. Career Development Quarterly, 41, Blustein, D. L., Ellis, M. V., & Devenis, L. E. (1989). The development and validation of a two-dimensional model of the commitment to career choices process. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 35, Bowman, S. (1992,August). Career intervention strategies for ethnic minorities. Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

27. REFERENCES: Brisbin, L. A. , & Savickas, M. L. (1994)
REFERENCES: Brisbin, L. A., & Savickas, M. L. (1994). Career indecision scales do not measure foreclosure. Journal of Career Assessment, 2, Bullock, E. E., Andrews, L. Braud, J., & Reardon, R. C. (in progress). Holland 's theory in a post-modern world: RIASEC structure and assessments in an international context. International Journal of Educational and Vocational Guidance. "CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORIES." INDEX Proiect OSP-ZD. 6 Feb < Chung, Y. B. (2003). Career counseling with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons: the next decade. The Career Development Quarterly, 52, Croteau,J.M., & Thiel,M.J. (1993). Integrating sexual orientation in career counseling: Acting to end a form of personal-career dichotomy. The Career Development Quarterly, 42, Davidson,S.L., & Gilbert,L.A. (1993). Career counseling is a personal matter. The Career Development Quarterly, 42, Eschbach,L.M. (1991). A study of selected psychological variables as casual factors of the imposter phenomenon among undergraduate college women. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Washington State University, Pullman.

28. REFERENCES: Fabio,A. D. & Bernaud,J. (2008)
REFERENCES: Fabio,A.D. & Bernaud,J. (2008). The help-seeking in career counseling. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72, Gedro,J. (2009). LGBT career development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 11, Gushue, G.V., Scanlan, K.R.L., Pantzer, K.M. & Clarke C.P. (2006) The relationship of Career Decision-Making Self Efficacy, Vocational Identity, and Career Exploration behavior in African American high school students. Journal of Career Development, 33, Harren, V. A. (1979). A model of career decision-making for college students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14, Herr,E.L., (1989). Career development and mental health. Journal of Career Development, 16, Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. Krumboltz,J.D. (1993). Integrating career and personal counseling. The Career Development Quarterly, 42, Lent, R. W. (2005). A social cognitive view of career development and counseling. In S. Brown & R W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp ).

29. REFERENCES: Leong, F. (1992,August)
REFERENCES: Leong, F. (1992,August). The career counseling process with racial /ethnic minorities: Similarities and differences as illustrated by the case of Asian Americans. Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. Lewis,J. (2001). Career and personal counseling: comparing process and outcome. Journal of Employment Counseling, 38, Lokan,J.J., & Esdaile,S. (1994, August). Values, commitments and preferences of senior occupational therapy students: A study involving uses of the Work Importance Study instruments in Australia. Paper presented at the international Association of Applied Psychology Conference, Madrid, Spain. Munson,W.M. (1992). Self-esteem, vocational identity, and career salience in high school students. The Career Development Quarterly, 40, Pope,J. (1989). Voluntary career change among executive women in mid-life. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. Reardon,R.C., Bullock,E.E. & Meyer,K.E. (2007). A Holland perspective on the U.S. workforce from 1960 to The Career Development Quarterly, 55, Sampson, J.P., Jr., Reardon, R.C., Peterson, G.W., & Lenz, J.G. (2004). Career counseling & services: A cognitive information processing approach. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

30. REFERENCES: Savickas, M. L. Vocational psychology. In C
REFERENCES: Savickas, M. L. Vocational psychology. In C. Spielburger (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology. Savickas, M. L. & Baker, D. B. (2005). The history of vocational psychology: Antecedents, origin, and early development. In W. B. Walsh & M. L. Savickas (Eds.) Handbook of vocational psychology (3rd ed.) Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Super, D. E. (1955). Dimensions and measurement of vocational maturity. Teachers College Record, 57, Super, D. E., Savickas, M. L., & Super, C. M. (1996). The life-span, life-space approach to careers. In D. Brown & L. Brooks Career choice and development, 3rd ed. (pp ). San Francisco, CA.: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

31. Further Information Available at:
Presentation PowerPoint slides and reference list can be found at the above website
Contact information:
Kanwarjit Arora:
Sara Montague:
Emily Bullock, Ph.D.: