Kendra (Career Counseling)

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Postmodern Era,  The Chaos Theory of Career Development. Theorists:  Briggs, Peat, Pryor, Bright Summary: • Emerged from the disciplines of economics, mathematics, biology, and physics • Moves away from a reductionist view of human behavior to a view that emphasizes wholeness and change • This theory views individuals as being complex dynamic systems • Point Attractor o Individuals who use the point attractor pattern of behavior often focus on choosing the best occupation based on a match between their personalities, abilities, and interest ▪ Tunnel Vision, exclusive preoccupation, over confidence in decision making • Pendulum Attractor o Individuals who use this pattern of behavior are likely to engage in dichotomous either-or thinking ▪ May hold rigid beliefs • Torus Attractor o Individual show use this pattern try to contro...

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Postmodern Era, Constructivism/Social Constructionism. Theorists: Mark Savickas and others Summary: Constructivism: a type of learning theory that describes how individuals construct their own ideas about themselves, others, and their worlds as they try to make sense out of their real-life experiences Social Constructionism: covers a range of views from acknowledging how social factors shapes interpretations to how the social world is constructed by social processes and relational practices When using this theory, it “requires the counselor to enter into the psychosocial sphere of a person’s career system” Using the narrative approach within the career counseling process to help clients tell their story starting where they are in their own language Helping clients to describe their life career development past, present, and future...

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Modern Era, The Adult Career Development Transition Model.   Theorists: Nancy Schlossberg Summary: This model has three major parts. The first part focuses on appropriating the transition The second part deals with identifying coping resources The third part emphasizes strategies that can be used to take charge of the transition Three types of transitions Anticipated transition- This is caused by expected events that occur as a part of one’s life cycle Unanticipated transition-This is caused by life events that are not predicated. This type of transition is not planned for. Nonevent transition- This is caused by events that were anticipated and planned for that did not happen. Phases of transitions Pervasive, preoccupation, disbelief, a feeling of betrayal, confusion, anger, and finally resolution Four f...

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Modern Era, The Race/Gender Ecological Model of Career Development.   Theorists: Cook, Heppner, and O’Brien Summary: The model states, “human behavior results from the ongoing, dynamic interaction between the person and the environment. Behavior is the result of a muiptlicity of factors at the individual, interpersonal, and broader sociocultural levels.”   This theory has been used to understand and intervene in the vocational behavior of diverse women Example: women’s and girl’s issues related to education and the workplace, sexual violence, and legal issues   This model recognizes that every person has a gender and a race that shape an individual’s career throughout life Four subsystems that influence human behavior: The Microsystem - This includes the interpersonal interactions within a given environme...

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Modern Era, The Happenstance Learning Theory. Theorists: John Krumboltz Summary The theory "is an attempt to explain how and why individuals follow different paths through life and to describe how counselors can facilitate that process" Krumboltz believes that human behavior is a "product of countless learning experiences, both planned and unplanned" that produces "skills, interests, knowledge, beliefs, preferences, sensetivities, emotional, and future actions" 9 Factors that Influence Individuals Behavior genetics learning experiences instrumental learning experiences associate learning experiences environmental conditions and events parents and caretakers peer groups structured educational settings the imperfect world we live in 5 Actions to take when using HLT with clients Orient client expectations and...

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Modern Era,   Lent, Brown, and Hackett's Social Cognitive Career Theory. Theorists: Robert Lent, Steven Brown, and Gail Hackett Summary "Focuses on the personal constructions that people place on events related to career decision making" helps "explains the vocational behaviors of racial and ethnic groups and for its greater attention to contextual factors that influence career development" The theory was developed to explain The development of interests the choice of educational and career options Performance and persistence in educational and vocational realms The theory hypothesizes that "the self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies both predict academic and career interests" Self-efficacy beliefs: people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain de...

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Modern Era,  Holland’s Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments. Theorist: John Holland Summary Holland provides a practical applications for his theory  Recognizing individual differences and how various aspects of career theory can be applied to help clients describe their own unique career paths People can be characterized in terms of 6 categories Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional (RIASEC) The more closely people resemble a type, the more they exhibit the traits and behaviors of that type Categories differ in terms of interests, vocational and avocational preferences, goals, beliefs, values, and skills Using a hexagon can help visually understanding the calculus (or relationship) of one type to another The closer one type is to another, the more it resembles the other. The...

The Theoretical Era can be divided into two categories: Modern and Postmodern. This blog will discuss one theory from the Modern Era, Super's Life-Span, Life-Space Theory of Career Development. Theorist: Donald Super Summary: This theory "organizes the concepts of life roles and life stages into an interactive system". Super believed that "career choice was a process, not an event." Super combines aspects of many different areas including developmental, differential, social, personality, and phenomenology psychology in a mash-up that drives this theory. Super's 14 Propositions The first 3 emphasize that people have different abilities, interest, and values no person fits only one occupation, and a variety of occupations are available for an individual The next 6 focuses on self-concept and its implementation in career choices The next 4 deal with the synthesis and compromise between individual and occupation as the focus for personality organiz...

Time Frame : around 1914 to 1945 (From WW I to the end of WW II) Theorists : E.K. Strong and John Crites (differentiated between the different eras) Summary                                                                                                  Strong Interest Inventory Many tests were developed and used to measure aptitude, abilities, and interests.  This era focused a lot on developing, testing and analyzing measurements in different vocations. Merged Frank Parsons' vocational guidance with Alfred Binet's Intelligence Testing  Timeline 1927 : E. K. Strong wrote the Strong Interest Inventory 1930s : The Minnesota Mechanical Ability Tests were published and the Minnesota Employment Stabilization Research Instit...

Time Frame : mid 1800s into the early 1900s (around the same time of the Industrial Revolution and Progressive Movement) Theorists : Frank Parsons, Lysander Richards, and John Crites (differentiated between the different eras) Frank Parson - "the dominant visionary and architect of vocational guidance" Opened up the Vocational Bureau  Created the term "vocational guidance" Wrote  Choosing a Vocation (1909) Came up with Three Factors in wisely choosing a vocation Parsons Seven Steps (1909)   Personal Data  Self-Analysis The Person's Own Choice and Decision Counselor's Analysis Outlook on the Vocational Field Induction and Advice General Helpfulness in Fitting in the Chosen Work Used mental testing to measure mental capacities (in which we still use today) Additional Links : Parsons' Theory Youtube Video Reference:  Gysbers, N.C., Heppner, M.J. Johnston, J.A. (2014). Career Counseling: Holism, Diversity, and Strengths. Ale...