ch. 5 Flashcards
Realistic Environment:
makes physical demands on the individual
Tools, machines, or animals that the individual manipulates
Requires technical competencies
Ability to work with things is more important than ability to work with people
May be hazardous and may produce more physical illness or accidents than other work environments
Tend to be traditionally masculine
Realistic Personality Type:
Enjoy using tools or machines
Like courses that are practical and teach the use of mechanical or physical skills
Little tolerance of abstract and theoretical descriptions
Approach problems in a practical or problem-solving manner
Likely to value money, power and status over human relationships
Behavior of Realistic clients:
Expect specific suggestions and advice to solve their career problems - a practical solution
Resistant to expressing their feelings
Apt to discuss things they have done that show an expertise in using tools
Women may encounter more resistance and harassment from men in a realistic environment versus any other environment - requires counselor to be sensitive to women and support those with realistic interests and competencies
Realistic occupations that are not traditionally masculine: silversmith, dressmaker, floral designer, and inventory clerk
Investigative Environment:
people search for solutions to problems through mathematical and scientific interests and competencies
Occupation examples: computer programmer, physician,k mathematician, biologist, science teacher, veterinarian, and research and development manager
Use complex and abstract thinking to solve problems creatively
Cautious and critical thinking is valued
Use logic and precise methodical thinking to find solutions
Intellect used to work independently to solve problems
Not required to use human relations skills nor machines
Investigative Personality Type:
Apt to enjoy learning and to be feel confident of his or her ability to solve mathematical and scientific problems
Like to work independently
NOT likely to enjoy supervising other people or dealing directly with personal problems (may enjoy analyzing or searching for solutions to psychological problems
Behavior of Investigative Client:
Enjoy the challenge of an unanswered question
Solve problems by themselves and to approach it from a rational rather than emotional point of view
Excited by a problem and want to work hard to find a solution, even though there may be relatively little financial or other reward
Counselor should act as a fellow investigator rather than as an expert who is telling them what to do
Artistic Environment:
free and open, encouraging creativity and personal expression
Freedom
People can use creative and unconventional ways to express themselves (e.g., musicians, fine artists, and freelance writers)
Allow people to dress the way they want, keep few appointments, and structure their own time
Encourage personal and emotional expression rather than logical expression
Tools used for expression rather than to complete a task
Artistic Personality Type:
Likes/needs/desires the opportunity to express himself or herself in a free and unsystematic way
May use instruments to do this like a violin, their voice, sculpting tools, or a word processor
Want to improve ability in language, art, music, or writing
Important: originality and creativity
Behavior Artistic Clients:
May prefer a non structured counseling approach as opposed to one that uses worksheets and written material
Enjoy discussing the expression and development of an Artistic product, their own thinking and creative process
Like to comment on or criticize the products of others
Use humor or other methods of expression to show their uniqueness; expression may be unclear or appear disordered
Likely to rely on emotions in their discussion of career issues and to see the choice process as affective rather than logical
Social Environment
encourages people to be flexible and understanding of each other, where people can work with others through helping with personal or career problems, teaching others, affecting others spiritually, and being socially responsible
Emphasize human values such as idealism, kindness, friendliness, and generosity
Education, social service, and mental health professions
Social Personality Type:
Interested in helping people through teaching, helping with personal or vocational problems, or providing personal services
Enjoy solving problems through discussion and teamwork rather than through delegation
Prefer to talk and resolve complex problems that may be ethical or idealistic in nature
Avoid working with machines
Use verbal and social skills
Behavior of Social Clients:
Altruistic: more concerned with contributing to a better world than with economic achievement for themselves
Value informal activities they have done (e.g., teaching young children and helping friends with personal problems)
May be interested in counselor’s profession and appreciative of counselor’s help
May be too verbal because they value talking
Enterprising Environment:
people manage and persuade others to attain organizational or personal goals
Finance and economic issues are of prime importance and risks taken to achieve rewards
People tend to be self-confident, sociable, and assertive
Promotion and power are important
Persuasion and selling occur
Provide the opportunity for power, status, and wealth
Enterprising Personality Type
Acquisition of wealth is important
Enjoy being with others
Like using verbal skills to sell, persuade, or lead
Assertive and popular
Prefer to persuade and manage rather than to help
Behavior of Enterprising Clients
Present in a self-assured manner
Open about goal to accomplish wealth
Very verbal and willing to talk about past accomplishments
Value convincing and persuading others rather than helping others
Difficulty seeing their competencies accurately and thus overestimate abilities
Conventional Environment
organization and planning
Office environments
Keep records, file papers, copy materials and organize reports
Need clerical skills, an ability to organize, dependability, and an ability to follow directions
Conventional Personality Type
Values money, being dependable, and the ability to follow rules and orders
Prefer being in control and not dealing with ambiguous requests
Strengths: clerical and numerical ability
Relationships tend to be directed toward accomplishing tasks and establish an organized approach
Behavior of Conventional Clients
Present as organized, yet dependent on others for direction
Have difficulty being open to examining new occupations or career paths on their own initiatives
Likely to be frustrated by lack of organization
Excited and interested in jobs in financial institutions (like banks) and financial and account analysis jobs
Combinations of Types
No real work environment is purely of one type
Holland’s three-letter code to designate each environment
Example: Bookkeeping is 1st) conventional, 2nd) investigative, and 3rd) social
Environments differ in terms of how much they are dominated by one or two types
Example : Detective: environment is social, realistic, and enterprising
Social: need to help other people
Realistic: importance of driving cars, using guns and fingerprint material, and so forth…
Rare for a person to fit only one Holland psychological type
As people are exposed to activities, they become more interested in certain environments and develop many specific abilities
Clients view Holland types differently than counselors
Can use other inventories like: Vocational Preference Inventory, Self-Directed Search, and Strong Interest Inventory
Counselor should:
Listen to client’s history and think in terms of Holland’s six types of people and environments
Fit between personality, interest, and experience likely to become apparent
Memorize Holland types and bring them into active memory to compare the type with the activity being discussed by client
Explain Holland’s system to clients - providing them with an opportunity to organize their thoughts about themselves and the world of work
Explanatory Constructs
four important constructs for conceptualizing and using Holland’s types in counseling
Congruence, differentiation, consistency, identity
Congruence
the relationship of the personality to the environment
More similar personality to environment = more congruent relationship
Congruence decreases as the similarity between the three-letter code of the person and environment decreases
Working towards the discovery of congruent occupations becomes the major purpose
differentiation
the relationship between and relative importance of types
Some people may predominantly resemble one Holland type, whereas others may be quite undifferentiated and have interests and competencies across all six types
Differentiated - assembly line work usually allows an individual only the opportunity to do realistic work
Undifferentiated - a teacher working at a university with opportunity to do research (investigative), teach student and help them select courses (social), and possibly consult with industry
(enterprising)
Undifferentiated people are likely to have difficulty in making career decisions
Goal of counselors: help clients differentiate and broaden their knowledge of their interests, abilities, and values within each of the six types`
