John Krumboltz

John Krumboltz (1928-Present)

John Krumboltz has spent his career in counseling developing a number of theories with important applications in career counseling. His theories are closely related to and draw on the research and learning theory of Albert Bandura.  Contemporaries of Krumboltz who have developed social learning theories with similar principles and related applications are Robert W. Lent, Steven D. Brown, and Gail Hackett.  Lent, Brown, and Hackett and their theories will be more fully explored on the next blog posts.

Drawing on Bandura, Krumboltz argues that individuals unique learning experiences (social learning) are vital components that impact the development of personalities, behaviors and choices. Paying attention to general developmental theories can be helpful, but these theories are most useful when viewed alongside or in light of an individual's unique life experiences.

More specifically, the Social Learning Theory (SLT) that Krumboltz draws on suggests that two types of learning experiences, instrumental and associative, strongly influence career decisions and choices.  Instrumental learning experiences are related to rewards and punishments.  The idea is that individuals are more likely to try something again if they were rewarded the first time they tried it and not as likely to try it again if they were punished upon their first attempt.  Associative learning experiences are lessons that we as individuals internalize based on what we have observed others experience and/or what we perceive society to encourage or discourage.

Krumboltz 3 most significant theories are:

I. Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making (SLTCDM)-1979

II. Learning Theory of Career Counseling (LTCC)

III. Planned Happenstance Theory-1999; 2009
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I. Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making (SLTCDM)

• seeks to explain why career decisions/changes are made
• names four factors that influence career paths:

1. Genetic Endowment/Special Abilities (talents, abilities, as well as race, gender, etc.)
2. Environmental Conditions/Events (factors outside individual's control ex. social, economic changes)
3. Learning Experiences (instrumental and associative-see above)
4. Task Approach Skills (includes emotional responses, work habits, and performance standards)

     Because of these factors, and skills and observations that individuals make about themselves
     and the world from them, career choices are made.

II. Learning Theory of Career Counseling (LTCC)

• theory observes that constantly changing career work environments have become the norm

      The goal of the LTCC is for counselors to help clients: develop more accurate
      self-observation generalizations, acquire more accurate world view-observation
      generalizations, learn new task approach skills, and, as a result, to take the appropriate
      career related actions.

III. Planned Happenstance Theory

• theory believes chance encounters or events (happenstance) are significant factors in career development
• in contrast with matching strategies of career counseling (ex. Super, Holland)

      Krumboltz and his colleagues argue that we can prepare for and create opportunities to
      take advantage of by developing the following 5 skills:

1. curiosity
2. persistance
3. flexability
4. optimism
5. risk taking

For an introductory 5 minute video on Happenstance theory that includes some Hollywood movie examples visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8UISZtcacA

Holland Matching Theories

John Holland (1919-2008)

Holland was a psychologist, scholar, and counselor. His career focused on the development of his: Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments.  This theory is best described in his book by the same name first published in 1959 with updated editions including the 3rd and final edition published in 1997.

Holland's theory suggests that people can be characterized by their relationship with six personality types. These six personality types are known as the RIASEC model which is an acronym for the following types:
1. Realistic
2. Investigative
3. Artistic
4. Social
5. Enterprising
6. Conventional

Both individuals and their personalities and work environments can be identified on the RIASEC hexagon.  An individual can identify which types they most closely identify with by taking a number of different assessments, one of which is the Self Directed Search (SDS).

After taking one of the assessments, the application of the theory come into play.  Counselors must know the distinguishing features of each type and also the relationship of one type to another.

Table 1 Source: Revitalizing Educational Counseling: How Career Theory Can Inform a Forgotten Practice by Robert C. Reardon and Sara C. Bertoch (http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/revitalizing-educational-counseling-how-career-theory-can-inform-a-forgotten-practice/)

There are several terms (below) that are important to understand about the relationship between an individual and their resonance with the various types on the RIASEC hexagon.

Calculus-when placing an individual's types on the hexagon in the RIASEC order as depicted above, the closer a letter is to another, the more these types resemble one another.

Consistency refers to individuals who identify with types that are close to one another.

Congruence is the term Holland uses to describe the relationship between one's personality type and one's environment. Counselors are unlikely to be able to strictly match one environment and one personality because we all relate to all types at some level.  There are no pure types of people or environments.

Differentiation refers to how strongly one relates to some types and not others.  Those who relate closely or strongly with some types, or clusters of types and not others are termed differentiated. Those who bear no or some resemblance to all types are undifferentiated.

Identity refers to how clear a picture one has of career goals.  Holland developed an assessment tool known as My Vocational Situation to measure the state of one's identity.

Donald Super's Life Span Theory

Donald Super (1910-1994) developed a Career Development Theory known as Life Span Theory. Super's ideas on career and vocation were developed and refined over the course of his more than five decade career stretching from the late 1930's through the early 1990's.  The development of his Life Span Theory took place during the middle of part of his career (starting in the 1950's and stretching through the 1970's). The basic premise of the theory is that an individual's self concept, or view that one has of oneself and their situation in life, changes over time because of different changing factors.

Some of the factors that Super identifies that contribute to one's changing self concept include:

• our physiological make up
• where we live geographically in the world
• our psychological make up (or personality) as it relates to our needs, values, interests, aptitudes and abilities, etc.
• environmental factors of the age in which we live such as: economic health, the stability of our family, the stability of our neighborhood and the communities in which we live, etc

Because one's self concept changes over time, it is subjective in Super's theory, as opposed to other theorists who try to identify objective measures of 'self'.

Super's Theory is visually depicted on a Life Career Rainbow that shows some of the factors identified above (called "lifestyle factors" in the below diagram) as well as six (6) life roles that Super sees as common to most people.  The life roles he identifies are:

• homemaker
• worker
• citizen
• leisurite
• student
• child

Super argues that individuals experience developmental stages throughout life.  The developmental stages on the above rainbow are: birth, growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance and decline. Super identifies sub-stages that fall under these stages and notes that most individual's experience of moving from one stage to another will not be linear but rather cyclical.  In other words, one might revisit different stages and sub-stages multiple times throughout their life.

Super argues that as individuals go throughout their life, the interplay of the above mentioned factors, life roles, and developmental stages contribute to one's career development, choices, and options.

Michael Schreiner has a short article summarizing Super's Theory and how it relates to career counseling.  The article can be found at the following website: http://evolutioncounseling.com/donald-super-career-counseling-theory/

Aaron Scott