WED 466 unit 4

1. WED 466: Unit 4
Psychological Foundations
of Workforce Education
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 1

2. General Objective
 Understands the psychological
foundations of workforce education.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 2

3. Career Development
“… is a lifelong process involving
psychological, sociological, economic, and
cultural factors that influence individuals’
selection of, adjustment to, and
advancement in the occupations that
collectively make up their careers.”
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 3

4. Good vs. Bad Theories
• Good theories have well-defined terms
and easily interpreted constructs.
• Good theories explain the career
development process for all groups.
• Good theories explain why people choose
careers and become dissatisfied with
them.
• Good theories are parsimonious.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 4

5. Early Theories
• Have limited applicability to special groups
– women, European men and women.
• Are culturally oppressive because they are
rooted in Eurocentric beliefs
• Reflect independent, not dependent
career decision making.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 5

6. Theories with Major Impact on
Research and Practice
• Holland (1997)
• Super (1990)
• Lofquist & Dawis (1996, 1991)
• Lent, Brown, & Hackett (1995, 1996,
2002)
• Gottfredson (1981, 1996)
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 6

7. “The Western European worldview is that
people should act independently when
they make career decisions… Many
Native Americans, Asian Americans, and
Hispanics believe that the welfare of the
group should be placed ahead of the
concerns of individuals.”
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8. Career Choice and
Development Categories
• Trait and Factor Theories
• Developmental Theories
• Theories Based in Learning Theory
• Socioeconomic Theories
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9. Philosophical Assumptions
• Positivist (modernist)
– Trait-and-factor theories
– Developmental theories
– Theories rooted in learning theory
• Post Modern (phenomenological/ constructivist)
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 9

10. Trait-and-Factor Theories
• Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice
• Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA)
• Brown’s Value-Based Theory
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 10

11. Holland’s Theory of
Vocational Choice
• Individual personality is the primary factor in
vocational choice.
• Interest inventories are personality inventories.
• Daydreams about occupations are precursors to
occupational choice.
• Identify is related to a small number of focused
vocational goals.
• Career success and satisfaction is related to
choosing an occupation that is congruent with
one’s personality.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 11

12. Holland’s Six Personality Types
• Realistic
• Investigative
• Artistic
• Social
• Enterprising
• Conventional
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 12

13. Holland’s Six Work Environments
• Realistic Environment
• Investigative Environment
• Artistic Environment
• Social Environment
• Enterprising Environment
• Conventional Environment
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 13

14. Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA)
• People have two types of needs.
– Biological (survival)
– Psychological (social acceptance)
• These needs give rise to drive states.
• Work environments have requirements
that are analogous to individual needs.
• Workers select jobs because of the
perception that the job will satisfy their
needs.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 14

15. Predicting Worker Success
(i.e., worker adjustment)
• Skills
– Job-related skills
• Aptitudes
– Potential to develop job-related skills
• Personality
– Combination of skills and aptitudes
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 15

16. Values-Based Theory of
Occupational Choice
• Values
– Human nature
– Person-nature relationship
– Time orientation
– Activity
– Self-control
– Social relationships
– Collateral
– allocentrism
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 16

17. How Values Develop
– Enculturation is the process by which
individuals incorporate the beliefs and values
of their cultural group and form a values
system
– Most individuals are monocultural
– Acculturation involves the enculturation of
beliefs from a culture different from one’s
own.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 17

18. Propositions of Brown’s Values-
Based Theory
1. Highly prioritized work values are the
most important determinant of career
choice from people who value
individualism.
2. Individuals who hold collective social
values and come from families who hold
the same values defer to the wishes of
the family in occupational decision-
making.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 18

19. Propositions of Brown’s Values-
Based Theory (continued)
3. When taken individually, cultural values
regarding activity do not constrain the
occupational decision-making process.
4. Males, females, and people from
differing cultural groups enter
occupations at varying rates.
5. The process of choosing an occupation
value involves a series of estimates.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 19

20. Propositions of Brown’s Values-
Based Theory (continued)
6. Occupational success is related to job-related
skills acquired in formal and informal
educational settings, job-related aptitudes and
skills, SES, preparation in the work role, and
the extent to which discrimination is
experienced.
7. Occupational tenure os partially the result of
the match between the cultural and work
values of worker, supervisors, and colleagues.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 20

21. Developmental Theories
• Super’s Life Span, Life Space Theory
• Gottfredson’s Theory of Circumscription
and Compromise
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 21

22. Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space
Theory
1. People differ in their abilities,
personalities, needs, values, interests,
traits, and self-concepts.
2. People are qualified, by virtue of these
characteristics, each for a number of
occupations.
3. Each occupation requires a
characteristic pattern of abilities and
personality traits.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 22

23. Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space
Theory (continued)
4. Vocational preferences and competencies
change with time and experience.
5. The process of change is a series of life
stages.
– Growth Stage
– Exploratory Stage
– Establishment Stage
– Maintenance Stage
– Decline Stage
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 23

24. Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space
Theory (continued)
6. The nature of the career pattern is determined
by the individual’s parental socioeconomic
level, mental ability, education, skills,
personality characteristics, career maturity,
and the opportunity to which he/she is
exposed.
7. Success in coping with environmental
demands depends on the readiness of the
individual to cope (career maturity).
8. Career maturity is a hypothetical construct.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 24

25. Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space
Theory (continued)
9. Life stage development can be guided partly
by the maturing of abilities and interests and
partly by aiding in reality testing and in the
development of self concepts.
10. The process of career development is
developing and implementing occupational
self-concepts.
11. Several factors influence the process of
synthesis of or compromise between individual
and social factors.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 25

26. Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space
Theory (continued)
12. Work satisfaction and life satisfactions depend
on the extent to which the individuals find
adequate outlets for abilities, needs, values,
interests, personality traits, and self-concepts.
13. The degree of satisfaction people attain from
work is proportional to the degree to which
they have been able to implement self-
concepts.
14. Work and occupation provide a focus for
personality organization.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 26

27. Gottfredson’s Theory of
Circumscription and Compromise
• Four assumptions regarding how career
aspirations develop…
1. Begin in childhood
2. Are attempts to implement one’s self-
concept
3. Depend on the degree to which the career is
congruent with self-perceptions
4. Are guided by occupational stereotypes
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28. Cognitive Maps of Occupations
• Are organized along the dimensions of
– Masculinity/femininity of the occupation
– Fields of work
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 28

29. Gottfredson’s Developmental
Stages
• Ages 3-5: Orientation to size and power
• Ages 6-8: Orientation to sex roles
• Ages 9-13: Orientation to social valuation
• Ages 14+: Choices explored
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 29

30. Summary
• Theories of career choice and
development provide guides to this
complex phenomenon.
• All theories (except Brown’s) are
predicated on the belief that the individual
holds an independence social value and
will chose his/her own occupation.
• Indiscriminate application of a theory is
inappropriate and unethical.
Fall, 2008 WED 466 – Unit 4 30