Career Counseling

Contemporary Topics in Vocational Psychology

W. Bruce Walsh, Samuel H. Osipow, W. Bruce Walsh, Samuel H. Osipow

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317785231
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Career Counseling aims to link the past and the present, and to look to the future for significant developments in this critical field. Seven current methods are examined in detail:
* the Trait-and-Factor approach
* the Person-Centered approach
* the Psychodynamic approach
* the Developmental approach
* the Social Learning approach
* the Social Psychological approach
* Computer Assisted Career Counseling

Written to inform practicing vocational counselors and students about the practical and applied aspects of various counseling approaches, this book will help them maintain a data-based objectivity.

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From Trait-and-Factor to Person-Environment Fit Counseling: Theory and Process

James B. Rounds
Terence J. Tracey
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet

–William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii, lines 43-44)

Rose is a rose is a rose.

– Gertrude Stein

Without an explicit theory of vocational behavior or a theory of vocational behavior change, and with only a rudimentary notion of counseling process, trait-and-factor counseling becomes an approach, hardly a theory, that emphasizes the virtues of assessment and actuarial prediction to generate alternative options for vocational choice and adjustment problems. Indeed, Williamson himself (Williamson & Biggs, 1979) suggested that trait-and-factor counseling needs to be grounded in both a general vocational behavior theory, citing two such theories–theory of work adjustment (Dawis, Lofquist, & Weiss, 1968) and Super’s (1977) model of vocational maturity, and a more fully developed model of counseling process. Pace the common wisdom, we contend that Williamson’s formulations about vocational counseling are as viable today as they were in the 1930s–when, that is, they are articulated with current psychotherapy and counseling theory; pace Williamson himself, we argue that trait-and-factor counseling has evolved from its atheoretical (i.e., not based on an explicit vocational behavior theory) beginnings to a sufficiently theorized state–as it has come to be informed by person-environment fit theories.

Our discussion of the evolving nature of trait-and-factor counseling and practices is grounded in several ideas about the nature of career counseling. Our central idea, informing the approach we take to trait-and-factor counseling (or for that matter to any type of vocational counseling), is that vocational counseling is a form of psychotherapy. In this position, not acceptable in all quarters (for example, see Borgen, 1986; Crites, 1981; Spokane & Oliver, 1983), we do not stand alone, as the collection of chapter presented in this book, recent practitioner texts (Gysbers & Moore, 1987; Yost & Corbishley, 1987), and other theoretical writings (for example, see Patterson, 1959, 1973; Strupp, 1978; Urban & Ford, 1971) attest. We subscribe to the basic assumptions set forth by Rounds and imsley (1984):

career intervention is simply a form of psychological intervention designed to affect vocationally related feelings, attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors. Thus, it is a form of psychotherapy and should be viewed as a method of behavior change and tied to psychotherapy theory … career interventions can be practiced and evaluated within the context of more general behavior theories that provide models of behavior change ... a conceptual shift in which career interventions are understood as psychological interventions (and career counseling as psychotherapy) would foster advances in the understanding of vocational behavior change processes, (pp. 138-139)

Given these assumptions, the practice of vocational counseling is usually accomplished within a context of a general vocational behavior theory, a classificatory schema of vocational problems, a theory of vocational problems, and a theory of vocational behavior change. Theories of vocational behavior explain the process of normal occupational choice and work adjustment. A vocational problem classification identifies (labels) and describes the parameters (attributes) of these problems: the signs and symptoms and the severity, intensity, frequency, and duration of vocational problems. Once a problem is identified one needs a theory of vocational problems to understand or be able to conceptualize how and why the problem functions as it does. Such a theory explains the source of or causal relationships among the events of concern: what accounts for how vocational difficulties are acquired and maintained. Answers to these questions are the basis on which intervention tactics are brought to bear on the vocational problem. A given theory of vocational behavior change–that is, a theory of vocational counseling-will, if not explicitly then implicitly, rely on or incorporate a general theory of vocational behavior.

We take the unpopular and, for some, counterintuitive approach, that trait-and-factor counseling is viable and useful. In this chapter we argue that: (a) person-environment fit theories of vocational behavior, although traceable to Parsons’ model, have replaced trait-and-factor theories as the dominant focus of inquiry; (b) Williamson’s trait- and-factor counseling can be seen as an earlier version of what is now generally subsumed under the rubric of problem-solving theories of counseling; and (c) the person-environment fit premise of trait- and-factor counseling can be applied to the client-counselor interaction itself using current conceptions of problem solving and information processing. (It will perhaps be noticed that we leave to one side a discussion of assessment and actuarial methods, hallmarks of Williamson’s approach, which, whether theory-determined or not, continue to inform practice no matter what theoretical orientation is taken; these matters have been sufficiently addressed in the literature and are rarely points of contention. For recent reviews of vocational assessment, see Walsh & Betz, 1985, and Zytowski & Borgen, 1983, on a person-environment perspective; Borgen, 1986, on interest assessment; Betz, 1988, on career development and maturity; and Slaney, 1988, on career decision making. The best review of clinical versus actuarial judgment continues to be Wiggins, 1973; for updates of Meehl’s, 1954, monograph, see Wiggins, 1981, and Dawes, Faust, & Meehl, 1989.) Thus, it is our contention that the label trait-and-factor theory when applied to career counseling is best thought of as a problem-solving approach that emphasizes diagnosis, assessment, and actuarial methods guided by one or more person-environment fit models of occupational choice and work adjustment.

WHAT IS TRAIT-AND-FACTOR COUNSELING?

It is customary to ascribe the historical antecedents of trait-and-factor counseling to Parsons’s tripartite model of vocational advising in Choosing a Vocation, posthumously published in 1909, and D.G. Pater- son’s studies of individual differences and test development during the 1930s at the Minnesota Employment Stabilization Research Institute (Paterson & Darley, 1936). It is also customary to identify trait-and-factor counseling with E.G. Williamson’s How to Counsel Students (1939a) and the subsequent writings (Williamson, 1939b, 1950, 1965a, 1965b, 1972; Williamson & Biggs, 1979; Williamson & Bordin, 1941; Williamson & Hahn, 1940) that spanned the next 40-odd years (Williamson authored some 400 publications). And it is equally customary to make such claims as trait-and-factor counseling “has gone into an incipient decline” (Crites, 1981, p. 49), and “is in decline, if not moribund” (Zytowski & Borgen, 1983, p. 9), or, “Currently, the trait-factor model has been absorbed into many other approaches to career counseling, though few practitioners of vocational counseling today are pure trait-factor adherents” (Osipow, 1983, p. 9).

It probably is fair to characterize the trait-and-factor counseling of Williamson’s 1939 formulation in the following ways. It made use of the case history method. Williamson proposed that counseling proceeds along six steps of analysis, synthesis, diagnosis, prognosis, counseling or treatment, and follow-up (see discussion here). The first four steps were the province of the professional. The counselor engages in a tutorial or advisor relationship with the client, assisting the client in obtaining data or providing the client with necessary information, presenting and discussing alternative options and actions, and attempting to aid the client to reach the best choice, decision, or solution. Overall, the emphasis is on a rational, problem-solving counseling process. When viewed from the perspective of current help-seeking models, Williamson’s counselor role and process formulations are akin to discussions of behavioral consultation relationships and process (Dustin & Blocher, 1984). Modern-day equivalents can also be found in Goodyear and Healy’s (1988) description of the career counseling at University of California, Los Angeles Career Counseling Center (CCC) or Dawis and Lofquist’s (1984) description of practices at the University of Minnesota, Department of Psychology Vocational Assessment Clinic (VAC). (It is interesting to note in passing that both CCC and VAC are fee-based services, primarily serving an adult clientele; the CCC uses a clinical synthesis, whereas VAC uses an actuarial combination of data.) Williamson’s major contribution is the proposal that tests and actuarial methods be brought to bear on the counseling process. It should be noted, some critics to the contrary, that although Williamson’s approach is actuarial when it comes to test data and its interpretation, the combination of data from multiple sources (synthesis) and its interpretation is clinical.

It should also be noted that the approach has not failed to evolve from its Depression-era inception and motivations. Williamson (1965a, 1965b; Williamson & Biggs, 1979) modified his trait-and-factor formulations (quotes are from Williamson & Biggs, 1979) in the following ways:

It is still rational but “The interview involves cognitive and affective processes. The counselor uses the interview to assist the client in considering how these factors play roles in effective decision making” (p. 107).

Use of valid and reliable information continues to be stressed but:

It is especially important that nonquantitative clinical information be collected to make a complete picture of the individual who is being counseled. We hold that, before visiting a counselor, clients have learned much about their own characteristics by comparing their behaviors with the behaviors of other individuals… . Thus, a counselor needs to help clients to understand how their social comparison history is related to their past and present self-evaluations, (pp. 105-106)

It relies less on direct methods (advising and teaching) as a form of influence: “The counseling interview also involves interpersonal influence processes (Strong, 1968) …. In the counseling interviews, the counselor uses his or her influence power to achieve desired changes in the client's cognitive framework and behaviors” (p. 107).

The counseling process continues to be neglected: For the most part, trait-and-factor counselors have sorely neglected making theoretical and empirical investigations of the counseling process .... The importance of the client in the interpretation and acceptance of counseling information has not been emphasized fully enough. To be sure, trait-and-factor counselors still need to pay more attention to the processes by which clients attribute meaning to counseling information. (p. 126)

It continues to be atheoretical: "making no pretense of being a comprehensive theory of personality or of counseling.... For us, the trait-and-factor approach is an abstract model that counseling activities will approximate to some degree" (p. 125).

These statements also suggest a basis for the remarks just cited of Crites, of Zytowski and Borgen, and especially of Osipow about the status of trait-and-factor counseling. That the trait-and-factor approach has not quite attained the status of full-fledged theory is not in contention here; that there is more to say about it we hope to demonstrate. The rest of this chapter is divided into three major sections-In Defense, Person-Environment Fit, and Counseling Process-throughout which we pursue the main points of our argument as outlined earlier.

IN DEFENSE

Trait-and-factor counseling, whether it is dated from Parsons or from Williamson, is one of the earliest forms of vocational assistance: it is one of the few counseling approaches that developed from the study of vocational behavior. For at least the last 20-odd years, however, as the aforementioned comments on its demise suggest, trait-and-factor counseling has been criticized (if not declared dead and not quite buried) for one reason or the other. Some of the criticism has been justifiable, but most simply isn't. We do not intend a blanket endorsement of Williamson's ideas or trait-and-factor counseling as it is currently envisioned; there are serious unresolved and undeveloped theoretical issues in this area that need to be addressed. But we are going to argue that reports of the death of trait-and-factor counseling have been greatly exaggerated, that much of the current criticism is poorly thought out and weak in form. We begin with some of the criticism of trait-and-factor counseling, making such rejoinders as strike us as appropriate, and in the course of this discussion a preliminary outline of our own perspective takes shape.

Criticism

Because, when it comes to trait-and-factor approaches, critics and defenders alike rarely view theory, practice, and assessment as distinct areas of inquiry, these areas get tangled together-criticism of one area by implication tarring the others with the same brush, all of which makes it difficult to begin to answer such an unwieldy body of misconceived readings and misbegotten analyses. We approach extant criticism, therefore, by dividing (not to say conquering) it, and deploying representative re...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: Approaches to Career Counseling
• 1 From Trait-and-Factor to Person-Environment Fit Counseling: Theory and Process
• 2 Person-Centered Career Counseling
• 3 Psychodynamic Career Counseling
• 4 Developmental Career Counseling
• 5 Integrating the Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making
• 6 Career Counseling: A Social Psychological Perspective
• 7 Computers and Career Counseling
• 8 A Summary and Integration of Career Counseling Approaches
• Author Index
• Subject Index