Session 5:Environment and Self

7th Edition

Take Hold of Your Future

JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, Ed.D.

At the end of this session, students will be able to:• Explain how self-concept is formed and how it relates

to career choice.• Explain Holland’s theory of personality types.• Describe the Archway of Career Determinants and its

meaning for personal career choices.

5-2Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

Objectives

• Self-Concept – a picture or image of one’s self, a combination of what we think we are, what others think we are, and what we want to be.

Definitions

5-3Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

• Holland– Parents offer activities.– Activities that are positively reinforced become

interests.– People pursue skills to support their interests.– Possessing specific interests and skills leads to the

development of values.– This sequence produces a unique “code” that people

seek to implement through work.

How Self-Concept is Formed

5-4Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

• Super– Self-concept formation begins very early in life.– It is developed by the feedback that we receive from

significant others.– Those parts of the self-concept that can apply to

work are called the vocational self-concept.– People seek to implement their vocational self-

concept in work.

How Self-Concept is Formed (Cont’d)

5-5Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

• The self-concept is continually formed and modified throughout life.

• Self-concept is the dynamic behind selection and interaction of life roles.

• Choice of an occupation is an attempt to implement a self-concept.

• Career choices will be difficult if the self-concept is fuzzy, negative, or unrealistic.

How Self-Concept is Formed (Cont’d)

5-6Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

• What statements am I making about myself in this collage?

• What do these pictures say about who I am now, or who I want to be in the future?

• What role models or early life events have affected this selection of pictures?

• What occupations might be suggested by this self-information?

Discussion of Student Collages

5-7Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

• People can be described as a combination of six different personality types.

• Environments can be described by the same six types.• Individuals of a given personality type are drawn to

environments of the same type.• Satisfaction is likely when person’s type matches an

environment’s type.

Holland’s Theory

5-8Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

• Realistic (R) – likes to work with tools, machines, animals; good mechanical skills.

• Investigative (I) – likes to work with abstract ideas; good math and science skills.

• Artistic (A) – likes to engage in creative activities; good skills in art, music, dance, or other artistic form.

The Six Personality Types

5-9Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

• Social (S) – likes to work with people face to face to help or teach them; has good verbal and social skills.

• Enterprising (E) – likes to work with people face to face to manage them or sell a product or service; has good persuasive skills.

• Conventional (C) – likes to work with data, facts, numbers; good organizational skills.

The Six Personality Types (Cont’d)

5-10Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

Relationship of Six Holland Clusters

5-11Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

5-12Take Hold of Your Future 7th Edition

From Career Choice and Development: Applying Contemporary Theories to Practice (2nd. ed.). Duane Brown, Linda Brooks, and Associates (Eds.), Copyright © 1990, Jossey-Bass Inc. Reprinted

with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Archway of Career Determinants