Super's self concept theory of career development

Career Counseling: A Holistic Approach

Theories of Career Development

Part III

Developmental Theories

Primary assumption is that career development is a process that takes place over the life span.
Developmental Theories

The Life-Span, Life-Space Approach to Careers
Donald Super (1972)

Career development was viewed as a continuous process.

Self-concept theory is a vital part of Super’s approach to vocational behavior.

Developmental Theories
Super’s Self-Concept

Research has indicated that the vocational self-concept develops through:
physical and mental growth

observations of work

identification with working adults

general environment

and general experiences.

Developmental Theories
Super’s Self-Concept

Although the vocational self-concept is only part of the total self-concept, it is the driving force that establishes a career pattern one will follow throughout life.
Thus, individuals implement their self-concepts into careers that will provide the most efficient means of self-expression.
Developmental Theories
Super’s Self-Concept

Self-concept developmental process is multidimensional.
Clients have a better chance of making optimal decisions when they are most aware of the work world and themselves.
Super’s Vocational Stages

Another of Super’s important contributions has been his formalization of vocational developmental stages:
Growth (birth to age 14 or 15)

Exploratory (ages 15-24)

Establishment (ages 25-44)

Maintenance (ages 45-64)

Decline (ages 65+)

Five developmental tasks are delineated by typical age ranges, but tasks can occur at other age levels.

Super’s Vocational Developmental Tasks

Vocational Developmental Tasks

Ages

General Characteristics

Crystallization

14-18

A cognitive process period of formulating a general vocational goal through awareness of resources, contingencies, interests, values, and planning for the preferred occupation.

Specification

18-21

A period of moving from tentative vocational preferences toward a specific vocation preference.

Implementation

21-24

A period of completing training for vocational preference and entering employment.

Stabilization

24-35

A period of confirming a preferred career by actual work experience and use of talents to demonstrate career choice as an appropriate one.

Consolidation

35+

A period of establishment in a career by advancement, status, and seniority.

Super’s Developmental Stages

Super (1990) modified the developmental tasks through the life span as shown on next slide and uses the terms cycling and recycling.
The Cycling and Recycling of Developmental Tasks Through the Life Span

Age

Life Stage

Adolescence (14-25)

Early Adulthood (25-45)

Middle Adulthood (45-65)

Late Adulthood (over 65)

Decline

Giving less time to hobbies

Reducing sports participation

Focusing on essential activities

Reducing working hours

Maintenance

Verifying current occupational choice

Making occupational position secure

Holding own against competition

Keeping up what is still enjoyed

Establishment

Getting started in a chosen field

Settling down in a permanent position

Developing new skills

Doing things one has always wanted to do

Exploration

Learning more about more opportunities

Finding opportunity to do desired work

Identifying new problems to work on

Finding a good retirement spot

Growth

Developing a realistic self-concept

Learning to relate to others

Accepting one’s limitations

Developing nonoccupational roles

Super – Career Maturity

One of Super’s best-known studies, launched in 1951, followed the vocational development of ninth-grade boys in Middletown, NY (Super & Overstreet, 1960).
The career maturity concepts developed by Super have far-reaching implications for career education and career counseling programs.
Implications of Super’s Approach

The critical phases of career maturity development provide points of reference.
The delineation of desired attitudes and competencies affords the specification of objectives for instructional and counseling projects.
Implications of Super’s Approach

Super (1974) identified six dimensions that he thought were relevant and appropriate for adolescents:
Orientation to vocational choice

Information and planning

Consistency of vocational preferences

Crystallization of traits

Vocational independence

Wisdom of vocational preferences

Implications of Super’s Approach

Example of how this information can be used.
The dimensions of career maturity support the concept that education and counseling can provide the stimulus for career development.
Super’s is most comprehensive of all developmental theories.
Implications of Super’s Approach

Two major tenets of his theory give credence to developmental theories in general.
Career development is a lifelong process occurring through defined developmental periods.

The self-concept is being shaped as each phase of life exerts its influence on human behavior.

Super (1990) illustrated a life-stage model by using a “life rainbow” as shown in Figure 2-4.
The life-career rainbow: Six life roles in schematic life space

Implications of Super’s Approach

This model leads to some interesting observations:
Success in one role facilitates success in another.

All roles affect one another in the various theaters.

Super’s Archway Model

Super also created an “archway model” to delineate the changing diversity of life roles experienced by individuals over the life span.
A segmental model

of career development

Super’s Archway Model

The relationship of the model’s segments highlights the interaction of influences in the career development process.
In a publication after Super’s death in 1994, his theory was labeled “the life-span life-space approach to careers.”
In this broad-based approach, gender and cultural differences are also addressed.
Super - Practical Applications

Super and his colleagues developed numerous assessment instruments designed to measure developmental tasks over the life span.
Career Development Assessment and Counseling model (C-DAC) was developed to measure constructs from the life-span, life-space theory in four phases.
Focus on client’s life structure and work-role salience.

Measure client’s perception of the work role, referred to as the client’s career stage, and career concerns.

Measures of abilities, interests, and values.

Assessment of self-concepts and life themes.

Super - Practical Applications

After assessment, counselor interprets data to client.
Counselor assists client to develop accurate picture of her/his self and life roles.
Counseling procedures pertinent to career development tasks are recommended.
Counseling may use coaching, educating, mentoring, modifying, or restructuring during an interview.
Developmental Theories – Gottfredson

Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-Creation: A Developmental Theory of Occupational Aspirations
Developmental Theories – Gottfredson

The main theme of Gottfredson’s (1981) theory is the development of occupational aspirations.
Her theory describes how people become attracted to certain occupations.
Developmental Theories – Gottfredson

Self-concept in vocational development is a key factor to career selection because people want jobs that are compatible with their self-images.
Key determinants of self-concept development are one’s social class, level of intelligence, and experiences with sex-typing.

Developmental Theories – Gottfredson

According to Gottfredson, individual development progresses through four stages:
1. Orientation to size and power (ages 3-5)

2. Orientation to sex roles (ages 6-8)

3. Orientation to social valuation (ages 9-13)

4. Orientation to the internal, unique self (beginning at age 14)

Developmental Theories – Gottfredson

A major determinant of occupational preferences is the progressive circumscription of aspirations during self-concept development.
Gottfredson suggested that socioeconomic background and intellectual level greatly influence individuals’ self-concept in the dominant society.
As people project into the work world, they choose occupations that are appropriate to their “social space,” intellectual level, and sex-typing.