 Trait-Oriented Theories

Trait-and-Factor Theory
Person-Environment-Correspondence (PEC) Counseling
John Holland’s Typology

 Social Learning and Cognitive Theories

Krumboltz’s Learning Theory of Career Counseling

 Happenstance Approach Theory

 Career Development from a Cognitive Information Processing Perspective

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT, LPT, MAED EDMA, MAED GC
 Trait-Oriented Theories

Embedded in Parson’s (1909) vocational counseling paradigm of matching

individual traits with requirements of occupations.

Attracted to an occupational environment that meets their personal needs

and provides them with satisfaction became the driving force behind one
of the most popular career counseling approaches.

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Trait-and-Factor Theory

Parsons (1909) maintained that vocational guidance is accomplished first by

studying the individual, second by surveying occupations, and finally by matching the
individual with the occupation.

It means matching the individual’s traits with requirements of a specific occupation,

subsequently solving the career-search problem.

Individuals have unique patterns of ability and/or traits

Parsons’s three-step procedures

studying the individual,
surveying occupations,
and using “true reasoning” to match the individual
with an occupation
Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT
 Trait-and-Factor Theory
Williamson (1939, 1949) was a prominent advocate of trait-and-factor counseling.
Six sequential steps: analysis, synthesis, diagnosis, prognosis, counseling, and follow-up

Brown, Brooks, and associates (1990)

Work experience and general background, are as important as test results in the
career counseling process.

Sharf (2002) summarized the advantages and disadvantages of trait and- factor theory and
suggested that it is a static theory rather than a developmental one.

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Trait-and-Factor Theory

Prediger (1995) suggests that person-environment fit theory has indeed enhanced the
potential for a closer relationship between assessment and career counseling

Summary of Practical Applications

Diagnosis
Assessment was the process of analyzing data collected through a variety of tests.
Contemporary career counseling
Find work environments that are congruent with a client’s personality traits
Counselor interprets test data

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Person-Environment-Correspondence (PEC) Counseling

Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA)

Embracing how individuals interact in their everyday lives as well as how they interact in a
work environment

Work includes human interaction and sources of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, rewards, stress,
and many other psychological variables.

Dawis and Lofquist

To survive, the individual and the work environment must achieve some degree of
congruence (correspondence)

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Person-Environment-Correspondence (PEC) Counseling

Dawis and Lofquist

Summarized as follows:
(1) work personality and work environment should be amenable,
(2) individual needs
(3) individual needs and the reinforcer system
(4) job placement

Occupational reinforcers are achievement, advancement, authority, coworkers, activity, security,

social service, social status, and variety.

Job satisfaction-evaluated from outcomes (results or consequences) of work experience

tenure, job involvement, productivity, work alienation, and morale

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Person-Environment-Correspondence (PEC) Counseling

Summary of Practical Applications

1. Person-environment-correspondence theory depends heavily on
client assessment
2. Personality style is to be evaluated by the counselor in an interview
3. Presentation of assessment information should be tailored to the
client’s abilities, values, and style.
4. Career planning

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  John Holland’s Typology
John Holland (1992), individuals are attracted to a given career because of
their particular personalities and numerous variables that constitute their
backgrounds.

Modal Personal Style

Congruence of one’s view of self with occupational preference

Individuals are attracted to a particular role demand of an occupational

environment that meets their personal needs and provides them with
satisfaction.

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Holland’s Modal Personal Styles and Occupational Environments-RIASEC
Personal styles Occupational Themes Environments
May lack social skills; prefers concrete vs. Realistic Skilled trades
abstract work tasks; may seem frank
materialistic, and inflexible; usually mechanical
abilities

Very task-oriented Investigative Scientific such as chemist, physicist, and

mathematician
Prefers self-expression through the arts Artistic Artistic such as sculptor, artist, and designer
Prefers social interaction and has good Social Educational such as teacher, educational
communication skills communication skills; is concerned
administrator

leadership roles Enterprising Managerial

Practical well-controlled, sociable Conventional Office and clerical worker

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Social Learning and Cognitive Theories

Focus on a wide range of variables that affect career choice and career maintenance over the life
span

 Krumboltz’s Learning Theory of Career Counseling

A social-learning theory approach to career decision making was first proposed by
Krumboltz, Mitchell, and Gelatt (1975)

Genetic endowments and special abilities include inherited qualities

Environmental conditions and events
Learning experiences
Task approach skills

Genetic and environmental Factors

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Happenstance Approach Theory

Mitchell, Levin, and Krumboltz (1999) developed happenstance approach theory for career
counseling.

Suggests that chance events over one’s life span can have both positive and negative consequences

Five critical client skills—curiosity, persistence, flexibility, optimism, and risk taking

Clients are to look for solutions to their circumstances and develop strengths based on their past
experiences in life and work.

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Career Development from a Cognitive Information Processing Perspective
Cognitive information processing (CIP) theory and was developed by Peterson, Sampson, and Reardon (1991).
CIP theory is applied to career development in terms of how individuals make a career decision and
use information in career problem solving and decision making.
Assumptions Underlying the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Perspective of Career Development
Assumption Explanation
1. Career choice results from an interaction of cognitive and affective CIP emphasizes the cognitive domain in career decision making
processes
2.Making career choices is a problem-solving activity. Individuals can learn to solve career problems (that is, to choose careers) just
as they can learn to solve math, physics, or chemistry
3. The capabilities of career One’s capability as a career problem solver depends on one’s self-knowledge
and on one’s knowledge of occupations
4. Career problem solving is a high-memory-load task. The realm of self-knowledge is complex; so is the world of work.
5.Motivation. The motivation to become a better career problem solver stems

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Career Development from a Cognitive Information Processing Perspective

Assumptions Underlying the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Perspective of Career Development
Assumption
6. Career development involves continual growth and change in knowledge
structures.
7. Career identity depends on self-knowledge.
8. Career maturity depends on one’s ability to solve career problems.
9. The ultimate goal of career counseling is achieved by facilitating the growth
of information- processing skills.
10. The ultimate aim of career counseling is to enhance the client’s
capabilities as a career problem solver and a decision maker.
Explanation
Self-knowledge and occupational knowledge
In CIP terms, career identity is defined as the level of development of self-
knowledge memory structures.
From a CIP perspective, career maturity is defined as the ability to make
independent and responsible career decisions
From a CIP perspective, the goal of career counseling is therefore to provide
the conditions of learning
From a CIP perspective, the goal of career counseling is to enhance the client’s
career decision-making capabilities

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

  Career Development from a Cognitive Information Processing Perspective

Career Information and the CASVE Cycle

Phase of the CASVE cycle Example of career information and media
Communication (identifying a need) A description of the personal and family issues that women typically face in
returning to work (information
Analysis (interrelating problem components) Explanations of the basic education requirements for degree programs
(information) in community college catalogues (medium)
Synthesis (creating likely alternatives) A presentation of emerging nontraditional career options for women
(information) at a seminar on career development for women
Valuing (prioritizing alternatives) An exploration of how the roles of parent, spouse, citizen, “leisurite,” and
homemaker would be affected by the assumption of the worker role
(information) in an adult version of a computer-assisted career guidance
system (medium)

Execution (forming means-ends strategies) A description of a functional résumé emphasizing transferable skills, followed
by the creation of a résumé (information) presented on a computer-assisted
employability skills system (medium)

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT
Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT
 Romans 11:29

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT

 THANK YOU!

Guid 505 Career Guidance JEFFREY F. BAIT