A 5 page research paper that presents a case study in career counseling and relates this to John Holland's personality theory of vocational choice, which the writer argues is a fascinating model for career counselors because it gives insight into how individuals go about making vocational choices. Treatment intervention is also discussed. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_khcareer.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
makes a basic assumption that when career choices are made, it is as a result of the interaction between an individuals heredity and a variety of cultural and personal factors
(Ireh 28). The following case study demonstrates Hollands theory at work by applying it to the life experiences of "Henri," a 30-year-old, obviously talented, man who has experienced difficulty finding
the correct path for his vocational life. Case conceptualization Holland proposes that when individuals make a career choice, they look for situations that satisfy their adjustive orientations (Ireh 28). By
"adjustive orientation," Holland is referring to the hierarchy of preferred methods that the individual has for dealing with environmental tasks, which derives from a combination of heredity and environmental factors
(Ireh 28). Holland organizes the various occupational environments against a variety of individual personal orientations that he classifies according to six dimensions. These are: 1) Realistic -- person enjoys
activities requiring strength, is aggressive, possesses good motor organization, lacks verbal and interpersonal skills, prefers concrete to abstract problems, and is unsociable. 2) Investigative -- person is task-oriented, thinks through
problems, and attempts to organize and understand the world. 3) Social -- person prefers teaching or therapeutic roles, etc. 4) Conventional -- person performed structured verbal and numerical activities and
subordinate roles, and achieves goals through conformity. 5) Enterprising -- person prefers verbal skills in situations, which provide opportunities for dominating, selling, or leading others. 6) Artistic -- person prefers
indirect relationship and dealing with environmental problems through self-expression in artistic media (Ireh 29). A major tenet of Hollands theory is that individual choose work tasks that are
in harmony with that individuals major personal orientation (Ireh 29). Therefore, in conceptualizing Henris case, the first thing that the counselor needs to analyze is Henris personality type. Henri