1. 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

2. Trait and Factor (Frank Parsons)
“Matching men to jobs
Identify individual’s traits
Know workplace factors
Match individual to the ONE right job

3. 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

4. Person-Environment Matching (John Holland)
Realistic
Conventional
Investigative
Enterprising
Social
Artistic

5. Life Span / Life Space (Donald E. Super)
Life Span – Developmental
5 Stages
Growth
Exploration
Establishment
Maintenance
Disengagement

6. 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”

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-Creation (Linda Gottfredson)
High
Psychiatrist
Surgeon
Federal Judge
Tolerable-Effort Boundary
High School Teacher
Elementary Teacher
Prestige
Zone of Acceptable Alternatives
Real Estate Agent
Nurse
Tolerable-Sextype Boundary
Receptionist
Tolerable-Level Boundary
Construction Worker
Low
Masculine
Feminine
Sextype Rating

14. Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-Creation (Linda Gottfredson)
Self-Creation – Included in circumscription process; altering self-concept in light of developmental or environmental factors

15. Career Theory - What’s New
Lent, Brown, & Hackett
Peterson, Sampson, Reardon, & Lenz
Hansen
– Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)
– Cognitive Information Processing (CIP)
– Integrative Life Planning (ILP)

16. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)
Developers
Robert Lent, Steven Brown, Gail Hackett
Robert W. Lent
Steven D. Brown
Gail Hackett

17. SCCT - Influences Cognitive variables and processes Personal agency
Shift in field of psychology away from behaviors towards study of cognitive variables and processes
Trend toward viewing people as active agents in their career development (personal agency)
People are not “victims” of social and environmental forces
Constructivist
Cognitive variables and processes
Personal agency
Constructivism

18. 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 Krumboltz’s theory
What factors affect differential role salience in Super’s theory
How people acquire abilities in Dawis’ and Loftquist’s Theory of Work Adjustment
Goals
To trace connections between persons and their career-related contexts
Individuals view of themselves as workers or future workers.
What is the total environment in which individuals make career-related choices
To trace connections between cognitive and interpersonal factors
How are individuals processing the self-information they get from others?
To trace connections between self-directed and externally imposed influences
What limitations do individuals place upon themselves because of perceived external 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 Krumboltz’s theory
What factors affect differential role salience in Super’s theory
How people acquire abilities in Dawis’ and Loftquist’s Theory of Work Adjustment

19. SCCT – Central concepts and assumptions
Instead of being trait-oriented or typologically related, person-environment interaction is dynamic and situation specific
Personal attributes, environmental factors, and overt behavior interlock and affect one another bidirectionally. In essence, people are products AND producers of their environments
Key Theoretical Constructs
Self-efficacy, not a fixed trait, but a dynamic set of self-beliefs, specific to particular performance domains
Acquired through:
1) Personal attainments *MOST INFLUENTIAL*
2) Vicarious learning
3) Social persuasion
4) Physiological states and reactions
Outcomes expectations, imagined consequences of engaging in particular behaviors – Beliefs
About extrinsic reinforcement (tangible rewards)
About intrinsic reinforcement (pride in achievement)
About outcomes derived from task process (absorption)
Goals, determination to engage in particular activity or to effect a particular future outcome
Person-environment interaction is dynamic and situation specific
People are products AND producers of their environments
Key Theoretical Constructs
Self-efficacy
Outcomes expectations
Goals

20. Development of Basic Career Interests over Time
(Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994)
Perceived Abilities
SCCT – Segmented Models
SCCT conceptualizes interests, choice, and performance within three overlapping models
Interest Development Model
Vocational and academic interests are standard fixtures in career psychology
SCCT model focuses on experiential and cognitive factors that influence interests and the role interests play in choice and skill acquisition
Underlying premise – We will be interested in doing something that we perceive we’re good at doing, AND we’re more likely to practice and become good at something we’re interested in.
Thus, self-efficacy and outcome expectations highly influence interest
As people begin to like an activity that they believe they are good at and expect positive outcomes, they set goals for continuing to participate in that activity at the same or a higher level.
These goals increase the likelihood for actual increased participation in that activity.
As people participate more, their performance increases and they are rewarded, either intrinsically (enjoying improvement, skill development, etc.) or extrinsically (good grades, trophies, accolades, etc.)
Ultimately these attainments become influencers of self-efficacy and outcome expectations.
SCCT emphasizes that this is a dynamic process.
Note that perceived abilities and values are important parts of process that shapes interests.
Perceived abilities primarily affect self-efficacy, in turn, influencing interests
Values, defined as preferences for particular reinforcers or work conditions (money, status, autonomy, etc.) are incorporated into outcome expectations. That is, we expect to receive these things when we engage in certain activities
Self-Efficacy
Sources of Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations
Intentions/ Goals for Activity Involvement
Activity Selection and Practice
Performance Attainments (e.g., goal fulfillment, skill development
Interest
Outcome Expectations
Values

21. Person, Contextual, and Experiential Factors Affecting Career-Related Choice Behavior
(Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1993)
Person Inputs
-Predispositions
-Gender
-Ethnicity
-Disability/Health
Status
Contextual Influences
Proximal to Choice Behavior
This model offers a couple of perspectives on how career choices are made and what influences these choices
First, we have the basic interest development model, with slightly different labels
Basic interests influenced by self-efficacy and outcome expectations which, in turn, affect our goals in terms of choices, leading to specific actions with their respective reinforcers, and, ultimately, feedback in the form of learning experiences
However, Lent, Brown, and Hackett now are attempting to demonstrate how other personal and contextual influences come into play.
First, let’s consider personal inputs such as gender and ethnicity. Lent, Brown, and Hackett purposefully elected to use these terms as opposed to sex and race. Gender and ethnicity connote that they are socially constructed characteristics. That is, they are the result not only of biological and genetic factors, but are the result of the experiences an individual has because of being a member of a particular race or either male or female. It includes opportunities afforded or denied because of these biological factors as well as the interpersonal experiences (support, indifference, hostility, suspicion, etc.) individuals are exposed to. For example, regardless of intentions, teachers and parents tend to treat boys and girls differently in terms of performance expectations, participation expectations, and the social reactions they are afforded.
This model also incorporates the diverse person, contextual, and learning influences on choice behavior.
Following the numbered paths, we see:
1-2 That self-efficacy and outcome expectations together promote particular interests;
3 That interests serve to influence goals;
4 That goals stimulate actions designed to implement an individual’s goals;
5 That goal-related actions lead to particular performance experiences;
6 That the outcomes from these performance experiences, in turn, revise or strengthen self-efficacy and outcome expectations
Additionally:
7 Shows the influential relationship between self-efficacy and outcome expectations;
8-11 Show that self-efficacy and outcome expectations may influence goals and actions directly, explaining why many individuals, in real world instances, compromise their interests in selecting vocational paths. These influences may include job availability operating in concert with beliefs about whether one can perform the required tasks and whether the incentives (rewards) are sufficient.
Lastly, background contextual affordances are those resources an individual perceives as being provided by the environment. For example, a scholarship to a particular college to study a particular subject or that a new company is moving into an area and is providing training for those wishing to be employed there.
Other influences are more “proximal,” such as emotional and/or financial support from family for particular education or training, job availability in a preferred field. Also included in this group are employment practices such as discrimination, glass ceilings, and cultural influences (e.g., parents choosing a child’s occupation or college) 12
Self-Efficacy
moderate 11
moderate 1 10 7
Learning Experiences
Performance Domains and Attainments
Choice Goals
Choice Actions
Interest 3 4 5 8 9 2
Outcome Expectations
Background Contextual Affordances 6

22. SCCT – Intervention Implications
Expanding interests and facilitating choice
Targets students
Tendency to prematurely foreclose on potentially rewarding occupations
Restricted range of efficacy building experiences
Inaccurate self-efficacy beliefs
Inaccurate outcome expectations
Strategies
Use of assessment tools to assess interests, values, and aptitudes
Target later discussions on those occupations suggested on the basis of aptitudes and values information but not generated by interest data
Modified card sort
Initial sort into 3 stacks
Might choose
In question
Would not choose
Second sort – sort “in question” and “would not choose” stacks
Might choose if I thought I had the skills (Self-efficacy)
Might choose if I thought they would offer me what I value (Outcome expectations)
Wouldn’t choose under any circumstances (Interests)
Other
Overcoming barriers to choice and success
Use Janis & Mann’s decisional balance sheet
Identify perceived potential barriers to career pursuits
Analyze likelihood of encountering barriers
Prepare strategies to manage potential barriers
Developing and modifying self-efficacy perceptions
Note that clients entering counseling with weak efficacy beliefs AND deficient skills are unlikely to benefit from attempts to raise self-efficacy. Recommended that these clients engage in extensive basic skill building activities or helped to consider alternative vocational or academic pursuits.
Self-efficacy enhancement strategies
Foster personal mastery experiences in areas where clients severely underestimate abilities
Augment with verbal support, modeling, anxiety reduction
Promote reconsideration of past performance experiences
Encourage clients to interpret past and present successes in manner that enhances perceived competence
REBT strategies for disputation of irrational beliefs, applied to career beliefs (Referred to self-efficacy manipulation by Krumboltz)
Expanding interests and facilitating choice
Overcoming barriers to choice and success
Developing and modifying self-efficacy perceptions

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

24. Cognitive Information Processing – CIP
Overarching goal
Help people acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to make appropriate career-related choices for a lifetime.
As a generic information processing model, it will translate well to making other life-decisions.
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

25. Theoretically integrative
CIP in context
Model allows for integration of other theories
Trait & Factor – Based on self-knowledge, occupational knowledge, and connections between both
Person-Environment Matching – Individuals’ vocational interests predict work environments in which they will be most successful
Decision theories – Can be subsumed under a 5-step sequence (Presented in a moment)
SLTCDM – Altering self-observations and task approach skills
Theoretically integrative
Trait & Factor (Parsons)
P/E Matching (Holland)
Earlier decision theories (Janis & Mann; Katz; Gelatt, Tiedeman)
SLTCDM (Krumboltz)

26. Career problem solving Career decision making Career development
CIP definitions
Definitions
Career problem – Gap between existing state of indecision or undecidedness and a more desired state of decidedness
Career problem solving – Complex set of thought processes involving the acknowledgement of being indecisive or undecided, an analysis of the causes, formulation and clarification of alternatives, and the selection of an alternative to achieve a state of decidedness
Career decision making – Involves not only the choice through career problem solving, but includes making a commitment and executing the necessary actions to implement the choice.
Career development – Implementation of an integrated series of career decisions over the life span.
Lifestyle – Integration of decisions in the areas of career, personal, and family relationships, spirituality, and leisure that result in a guiding purpose, meaning, and direction in life
Career problem
Career problem solving
Career decision making
Career development
Lifestyle

27. CIP – 4 Assumptions
4 Assumptions
Career decision making involves interaction between cognitive and affective processes
Decisions are not purely logical and/or rational
Decisions involve emotions
Anticipated excitement
Fear of unknown
Anxiety
Confusion
Depression
Ambivalence (when options are generated)
Relief
Anticipation
Decision making capacity depends upon availability of cognitive operations and knowledge
Compare to computer
Data is self and occupational knowledge stored in long term memory
Programs are the skills available to transform data into useful and meaningful information
Operation sequencing is being able to process information to yield desired outcomes
Career development is ongoing and cognitive structures continually evolve
Think “Piaget” and assimilation and accommodation
Assimilation is the acquisition of new knowledge
Self
Occupational
Decision making skills
Accommodation is the reordering of existing knowledge in light of the new knowledge
Examples
Values may change with marriage and/or children
Self-efficacy may change based upon successes and/or failures
Technological developments may alter nature of occupations
Enhancing information processing skills is the goal of career counseling
Career counseling involves providing the conditions of learning that enhance
the acquisition of self- and occupational knowledge
the development of career problem-solving skills that transform information into action
the evolution of higher-order executive control processes
Career decision making involves interaction between cognitive and affective processes
Decision making capacity depends upon availability of cognitive operations and knowledge
Career development is ongoing and cognitive structures continually evolve
Enhancing information processing skills is the goal of career counseling

28. CIP – 3 Dimensions Pyramid of information processing
3 dimensions of the Career Information Processing model
Pyramid of information processing
Describes important domains of cognition involved in a career choice
CASVE cycle of decision making skills
Generic model of information processing related to solving career problems and making career decisions
Executive processing domain
Initiates, coordinates, and monitors the storage and retrieval of information
Pyramid of information processing
CASVE cycle of decision making skills
Executive processing domain

29. CIP – Pyramid of Information Processing
Executive Processing Domain
Meta-
cognitions
Generic
Information-Processing
Skills (CASVE)
Decision Making Skills Domain
Knowledge
Domains
Occupational
Knowledge
Self-Knowledge

30. CIP – CASVE Cycle of Decision Making Skills
External or Internal
Problem Signals
External or Internal
Problem Signals
CASVE cycle
Initially some stimulus helps us realize that a career problem exists
Communication
Identifying a “gap” between an existing state and a desired state then specifying that gap through introspection
“What do I hope to attain as a result of career counseling?”
Analysis
Identify causes of problem
Time of reflection
Identify dimensions of the problem
Intervening or contributing issues are identified
“What are the reasons for the gap between my present state of indecision or undecidedness and a more desired state of decidedness?”
Synthesis
Formulate possible courses of action
Elaboration – similar to brainstorming; generating broad set of alternatives
Crystallization – Distilling alternative set to a manageable set of viable alternatives
Valuing
Each viable course of action is evaluated and prioritized in light of your personal values
Estimate likelihood of removing gap, probable costs and benefits for self, significant others, and society
“Which alternative is the best course of action for me, my significant others, and society?”
Execution
Formulate plan or strategy for implementing this first choice based upon results of valuing
May include intermediate steps, milestones, subgoals, etc.
“How can I transform my first choice into an action plan?”
Concludes with return to Communication phase
Was gap removed successfully?
Yes – Move on to successive problems
No – Recycle with new information about problem, self, and options using information gained through first cycle
Communication
(Identifying a gap)
Execution
(Forming
means-ends
strategies
Analysis
(Interrelating
problem components)
Valuing
(Prioritizing
Alternatives)
Synthesis
(Creating likely
Alternatives)

31. CIP – Executive Processing Domain
Metacognitive skills
Self-talk
Self-awareness
Monitoring and control
Metacognitive skills
Self-talk
Alters self-observation generalizations and task approach skills (Krumboltz)
Positive required for effective problem solving
Negative leads to career indecisiveness
Self-awareness
Monitoring and controlling internal and external influences
Awareness of values, beliefs, biases, feelings
Use awareness in generating and selecting problem solutions
Awareness of need for information
Monitoring and control
Decipher information needed to resolve problem
Knowing when to move to next phase in CASVE cycle
Ensures optimal balance between impulsivity and compulsivity

32. 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

33. Integrative Life Planning – ILP (L. Sunny Hansen)
Integrative Life Planning (ILP) – Sunny Hansen
Focuses on adult career development
Described by Hansen as “new worldview for addressing career development”
Addresses diversity issues
Ethnicity
Race
Gender
Socioeconomic status
Spirituality
Emphasis on integrating mind, body, spirit
Planning connotes a sense of personal agency
Holistic approach by encouraging people to connect various life aspects
Focuses on adult career development
“New worldview”
Addresses diversity issues
Holistic integration
Personal agency
Connections

34. ILP – 4 Assumptions
ILP – 4 Assumptions
1. Changes in the nature of knowledge support the addition of new ways of knowing to career development theory, research, and practice.
Career professionals need to help students, clients, and employees develop skills of integrative thinking – seeing connections in their lives and in their local and global communities.
Broader kinds of self-knowledge (beyond interests, abilities, and values) and societal knowledge (beyond occupational and educational information) are critical to an expanded view of career, including multiple roles, identities, and critical life tasks in diverse cultures.
Career counseling needs to focus on career professionals as change agents, helping clients to achieve more holistic lives and become advocates and agents for positive societal change through the choices and decisions they make.
Emphasis on social justice, social change, connectedness, diversity, and spirituality
Nature of knowledge changing demanding new ways of knowing
Connections in life are important
Broader kinds of self-knowledge and societal knowledge are critical
Career counseling needs to focus on career professionals as change agents

35. ILP – 6 Career Development Tasks
Finding work that needs doing in changing global contexts
Adults consider focusing on work that will result ina more socially just world
Environmental preservation
Understanding and celebrating diversity
Advocating for human rights
Exploring spirituality
What can you do to contribute to positive change for social and environmental justice?
Weaving our lives into a meaningful whole
Few things more personal than career choice
Occupational choices are intertwined with other life-role choices
Must be considered within this life-role context
Connecting family and work
Extension of second
Emphasizes life-role integration
Emphasizes importance of negotiating roles and relationships
Highlights need to examine gender role expectations and stereotypes
Life partners are partners in home and workplace
Valuing self-sufficiency and connectedness in both men and women
Valuing pluralism and diversity
Multicultural competencies critical for work and nonwork activities
Recognizes the importance of difference
Managing personal transitions and organizational change
Developing skills to cope effectively with transition
Suggests that transition counseling may be one of most important skills in career counseling
Important basic skills
Tolerating ambituity
Developing personal flexibility
Being able to draw upon reservoir of self-awareness and social support
Incorporate logical and rational decision making skills with intuitive orientations that typically value positive uncertainty and planned happenstance will help these types to be better prepared
Exploring spirituality and life purpose
Spirituality embraces purpose, meaning, connectedness, and sense of community.
Spirituality may or may not include religion
Career choices are spiritual in that they are expressions of one’s gifts and talents
Spiritual questions
What does work mean in my life?
What do I want to mean to others through my work?
Outcomes
Career intertwines with human development
Individuals embrace and celebrate life journeys, regardless of the path followed or led down
Attitudes of flexibility and openness foster development and give way to opportunities for learning and growth
Celebrate and embrace change
Career development interventions become more subjective and incorporate intuition as well as reason
Finding work that needs doing in changing global contexts
Weaving our lives into a meaningful whole
Connecting family and work
Valuing pluralism and diversity
Managing personal transitions and organizational change
Exploring spirituality and life purpose

36. 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