1. JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, Ed.D.
7th Edition
Take Hold of Your Future
Session 5:
Environment and Self
JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey, Ed.D.

2. Objectives 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.
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3. Definitions
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.
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4. How Self-Concept is Formed
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.
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5. How Self-Concept is Formed (Cont’d)
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.
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6. How Self-Concept is Formed (Cont’d)
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.
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7. Discussion of Student Collages
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?
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8. Holland’s Theory
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.
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9. The Six Personality Types
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.
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10. The Six Personality Types (Cont’d)
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.
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11. Relationship of Six Holland Clusters
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12. The Archway of Career Determinants
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.
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