CareerSteer – careers test for career choice                                               www.careersteer.org

        
        
        Vocational Choice and Development.  Winter, 1997.
        
        DCG, College of Guidance Studies, Swanley.
        
	Cole Davis
	  
	        
        Does Trait and Factor theory offer hopes of a neat match  between 
        jobs that are waiting to be filled and people who want jobs?  
        
        
              
           Trait   factor  theory  can  indeed  offer  a  match   between 
        individuals  and  jobs.  It seeks "to measure  empirically  those 
        variations in personality, interests, and abilities and to relate 
        those  traits  to  career  plans that would  make  a  good  fit." 
        (Seligman, 1994).
        
           Neat  matching is of course debatable, given the  elements  of 
        self-report,  usually  off-job  testing  conditions,  and  unruly 
        opportunity  structures (c.f. Roberts, 1977).   After  describing 
        the  theory and its strengths and weaknesses, it is  intended  to 
        discuss  those  of  rival theories  of  career  development;  the 
        careers  adviser  may  see career or life  stages,  economic  and 
        interpersonal influences, and the effects of prior experience  as 
        seminal   influences,  competing  perspectives   or   confounding 
        variables.   According to the strength of such  attitudes,  trait 
        factor may be seen as a harmful irrelevance, a provider of  tools 
        for  the eclectic practitioner, or a valuable theory in  its  own 
        right:  a  comparative  assessment  may  therefore  clarify   the 
        strengths of trait factor's claim.
        
           None  of  these  interpretations  are ruled  out  by  a  broad 
        definition of careers development as an unfolding process of pre-
        work   socialisation,   career   choice,   and   transitions   in 
        relationships  between  individuals and work.  Various  forms  of 
        assessment may be used - or not - at any part of this process, in 
        schools  careers advice, further and higher education, and  adult 
        guidance, as well as part of training and development  programmes 
        and outplacement counselling.
        
           The  methodological  notion views psychometric  testing  as  a 
        supporting tool (Yost & Corbishley, 1987), with other theoretical 
        models  guiding  its usage.  The adoption of this or  a  'harder' 
        stance in favour of trait factor theory will be considered  after 
        an  appraisal  of its position is followed by  its  consideration 
        alongside other theories.
           
          Psychometric  testing is perhaps the flagship of  trait  factor 
        theory.  Whilst measures such as attainment and work samples  may 
        be  more valid (in more than one sense), the reputation of  trait 
        factor tends to rise and fall with tests.   
        
           The  unpopularity  of  trait  factor theory  as  a  system  of 
        thinking  may  derive  from its origins  as  a  narrowly  focused 
        approach.   The  educational  testing  tradition  of  Binet   was 
        transferred   with  ever  increasing  rapidity  to   occupational 
        selection  during the demands of the world wars; in  both  cases, 
        the  concentration  was  on ability,  and  more  particularly  on 
        general  intelligence.  Frank Parsons (1909), generally  regarded 
        as the first exponent of  career development, was also interested 
        in  aptitudes and interests, but assumed these to be  stable  and 
        relatively  unchanging.   His system, involving an  alignment  of 
        self-knowledge   of   these   attributes   with   awareness    of 
        opportunities, was developed further (e.g. Williamson, 1939), but 
        retained a similar narrow focus until the 1950s (Seligman, 1994).   
        The  development  of  tests can be seen to  parallel  this.   The 
        Vocational  Interest  Blank,  precursor of  the  Strong  Interest 
        Inventory,   appeared  in  1927,  with  personality   inventories 
        appearing  in  the 1930s; by the 1950s, assessment  was  seen  as 
        integral to careers counselling (Seligman, 1994).
        
           The  trait  factor  theory evolved  into  a  congruence  model 
        (Holland, 1973):  people seek occupational environments which are 
        congruent with their personalities.  As well as the assumption of 
        measured  and  practical significant differences  between  people 
        suited to different occupations, well-adapted individuals  within 
        an  occupation are seen to share  psychological  characteristics, 
        individual   differences  should  interact   significantly   with 
        occupational  differences,  and job  and  person  characteristics 
        should be consistent enough to predict long term outcomes (Rounds 
        &  Tracey,  1990).   Holland  developed  a  theory  of   'person-
        environment   fit':  individuals  would  seek  out   and   create 
        environments  that  allowed  for their  idiosyncrasies  within  a 
        reciprocal process.  His latest version (Holland, 1985) tried  to 
        incorporate   socio-economic   status,   gender,   ability    and 
        upbringing.    Extensive research has supported many  aspects  of 
        his  theory (Yost & Corbishley, 1987; Spokane, 1985), which  does 
        seem to allow for factors outside of the purely intrapersonal.   
        
           In  spite  of  such refinements, trait  factor  theory  became 
        increasingly  unpopular  in the 1970s, described  as  going  into 
        'incipient  decline'  (Crites, 1981) and moribund  (Zytowski  and 
        Borgen,  1983).    This was related to a  prescriptive  model  of 
        guidance, Rodger's Seven Point Plan (1952); a sustained change of 
        attitudes  to the use of psychometric tests, with concerns  about 
        the possible negative impact upon women and people from  minority 
        groups;  and  Mischel's anti-trait critique  (1968),  emphasising 
        situational influences, part of a wider 'nature/nurture' debate.  
        
           A hangover from the 1970s zeitgeist may be partly to blame for 
        the persistence of negative attitudes within the general  public, 
        popular  sociological  and  psychological  explanations   perhaps 
        having failed to make the paradigm shift (Kuhn, 1962) back to  an 
        essentially  scientific, and thus falsifiable  approach  (Popper, 
        1959).   The opposition to positivistic methodologies was often a 
        humanistic  one,  a parallel being the  antipsychiatry  of  Laing 
        (1965)  and Szasz (1961).  The fact that tests have continued  to 
        be evaluated in the contexts of gender and ethnic norms seems  to 
        have  passed  many  commentators  by  (as  has  the  efficacy  of 
        medication in treating mental illness).
        
           Accumulating research, however, shows that personality  traits 
        are  stable in adulthood (Rounds & Tracey,  1990).   Professional 
        psychologists'  criticisms diminished over the 1980s  with  major 
        modifications  within  the  field of test  development  via  item 
        analysis  and  an increased sensitivity in the creation  of  test 
        norms.  
        
           More informed criticism of applied trait factor theory centres 
        around  the role of the psychometric test user (Anastasi,  1992).   
        Tyler  (1984) points out the limitations of tests, but  his  main 
        points   relate  to  'test  and  tell',  a  lack  of   background 
        information  or  context, essentially a  matter  of  practitioner 
        support.    A   major  survey  of  American   psychologists   and 
        educationalists  found that the worst problem within schools  was 
        the  "misinterpretation  of  and over-reliance  on  test  scores" 
        (Snyderman & Rothman, 1987).  The problem here would appear to be 
        the  continuance  of  a narrow popular  notion  of  trait  factor 
        theory, even when this is a favourable one.
        
           In  Britain, more negative general impressions, or  disregard, 
        would  appear to be the case.  Almost all interviews observed  by 
        the writer on work experience placement contained an estimate  of 
        clients'  abilities,  often teachers' predictions,  in  order  to 
        consider  the realism of proposed career and training  decisions.  
        No  practitioners  claimed  to be  influenced  by  trait  factor, 
        however,  and  payment  rather than need determined  the  use  of 
        tests.    Computer   aided  guidance   -   essentially   interest 
        inventories  with chips - were at times used, but  often  without 
        support.   This rough and ready approach is an indication of  the 
        theory's standing rather than its efficacy.  
        
           "Correlational studies consistently show significant, positive 
        relationships  between  congruence and academic  performance  and 
        persistence,  job  satisfaction, stability of  choice,  perceived 
        congruence,  and  personality, but  nonsignificant  relationships 
        between  congruence  and self-concept or  sociability."  (Spokane 
        1985)   This indicates a high degree of validity in  relation  to 
        matching people with jobs.  
        
           Arguably, self-concept and sociability should not be  expected 
        to correlate with congruence.  Alternatively, trait factor theory 
        is  still in need of modification.  A third argument is  that  we 
        should  expect and desire a difference between  self-concept  and 
        congruence  if tests are indeed of greater value than  subjective 
        impressions.    If,  however,  these are considered  to  be  true 
        deficits, self-awareness often being a stated objective guidance, 
        then such qualities may be found amongst alternative theories.
        
           An  early  application  of the  developmental  perspective  to 
        careers  was  that  of  Ginzberg et  al  (1951).    Derived  from 
        Buehler's life stage schema (1933), this is generally regarded as 
        an incomplete approach to the developmental concept,  descriptive 
        rather than analytical, made with small samples, mainly  affluent 
        middle class males (Yost & Corbishley, 1987).   
        
           Super (1957;1981) also adopts a stage theory, derived from the 
        work  of Erikson (1959).  Individuals match  their  self-concepts 
        against  their  pictures of known occupations  within  stages  of 
        Growth, Exploration, Establishment, Maintenance and Decline.   In 
        his 'Life-Career Rainbow' (1980), Super attempts to bring in  the 
        variety  of roles assumed by individuals in their  lifetimes,  as 
        well as a variety of personal and situational determinants.  Such 
        complexity is unlikely to be of practical use (Yost & Corbishley, 
        1987).  Super's self-concept theory also appears to be of greater 
        applicability to able young people than to others (Kidd, 1984a).
       
           Other developmental formulations derived from a study entitled 
        'The Seasons of a Man's Life' (Levinson et al, 1978) and from the 
        career  development perspective of Edgar Schein (1978), in  which 
        he produced another notion of self-concept, the 'career  anchor'.  
        For  the  purposes  of  examining  the  research  evidence,   the 
        developmental theories will be considered as a single body.
        
           An a priori criticism of developmental theories, that they are 
        inclined  to predict a nomothetic and even self-perpetuating  set 
        of  milestones,  is  supported by the research.   There  is  very 
        little  support for the ideas of adolescent turmoil,  stress  and 
        identity   crises   (Coleman,  1992).    As   mentioned   before, 
        personality  traits  would  appear to  be  relatively  stable  in 
        adulthood  and  may  tend  to  transcend  proposed  developmental 
        stages.   The  careers of women are also likely  to  differ  from 
        expected  developmental  norms  through  different  marriage  and 
        childbearing arrangements and ages (Gallos, 1989; Sekaran & Hall, 
        1989).
        
           Developmental   theories  may,  therefore,  be   either   over 
        prescriptive or too affected by individual circumstances to be of 
        practical  use in systematic assessment or guidance.  The  writer 
        saw   few   applications;  such  as  they  were  tended   to   be 
        practitioners' reflections on diverse ethnic family pressures.
        
          Whilst  theories such as Holland's may not devote much time  to 
        describing  the  processes leading to  occupational  preferences, 
        they  could be described as presenting a snapshot of  individuals 
        at  particular  times, giving insight into  current  preferences, 
        with  more  enduring measures of  personality,  intelligence  and 
        aptitudes.   Rather  than  being  the  servant  of  developmental 
        models, doing the technological donkey work, test users are  more 
        likely  to  consider  broad  developmental  bands  in   assisting 
        interpretation of more tangible analyses.  
        
           At their strongest, developmental theories may justify the use 
        of  testing  by  providing a context.   Gottfredson  (1981),  for 
        example,   recommends   the  use  of  psychometric   tests   with 
        adolescents because they "often have difficulty figuring out what 
        they like and what they can do, which makes it difficult for some 
        of  them to decide which occupation to pursue  ..."    Similarly, 
        mature  people  may  find ability tests  of  use,  assuming  that 
        schooling was not representative of ability, or that a particular 
        ability  or  aptitude has remained untested.    
        
           Other  developmental models include themes  of  organisational 
        adjustment  or  socialisation (Nicholson, 1984;  Van  Maanen  and 
        Schein,   1979)  and  Schein's  career  anchors,   self-perceived 
        abilities,  motivation and attitudes.  A variety  of  inventories 
        are devoted to this sort of developmental work.
        
           Before  leaving  the area of developmental theories,  a  short 
        note should be made of a related area, that of  psychodynamically 
        based theories.  Based upon the needs based motivation theory  of 
        Maslow  (1954),  Roe (1956) designed a model describing  a  basic 
        orientation to or away from people, later modified in the area of 
        early  parent-child relations.  There has been  little  empirical 
        support   for  her  views  (Osipow,  1973).   In  parallel,   the 
        psychological tests most akin to this area, T.A.T. and Rorschach, 
        are  not psychometric tests in the sense of containing  objective 
        measures,  are  not part of the trait factor  model  given  their 
        individual-based  approach,  and are not  supported  by  validity 
        studies.
        
           Another perspective which may be seen to have relevance to the 
        matching  of people with jobs is that which considers the  social 
        environment  to be crucial.  Ken Roberts (1977) may consider  the 
        individual's  viewpoint to be largely irrelevant in any  analysis 
        of  transition,  social stratification being the  main  variable.  
        Law  (1981)  focuses upon the local community  in  his  community 
        interaction  theory; the central feature of his analysis  is  the 
        process  of negotiation of 'possible future selves' which  should 
        be  explored  with  young  people (Kidd  &  Killeen,  1992).   An 
        independent study by Kidd (1984b) tended to support Law's  model: 
        all  but  one  of  the  pupils  interviewed  mentioned   friends, 
        relatives or teachers as influential in one way or another.   Out 
        of   Law's  proposed  modes  of  influence,  feedback,   support, 
        modelling,  information  and  expectations, the  latter  was  not 
        supported  by  Kidd.  Kidd's study acknowledged  the  small  part 
        played  by careers teachers and careers officers in  the  pupils' 
        thinking about work.
        
           That one is 'up against it' is not an argument for giving  up.  
        Given  the  often poor guidance available, it  is  necessary  for 
        guidance professionals to provide the best services available  in 
        order  to  influence  the  local community.  A  variety  of  test 
        facilities,  computer-aided or otherwise, may enable the  careers 
        services  to  retain  some prestige.  They also  help  people  to 
        recognise  their qualities and potential.   Whilst  socioeconomic 
        factors are very likely to affect the level of employment sought, 
        they  still do not account for preferences, the meat of  interest 
        inventories.  In any event, discounting individuals'  aspirations 
        or potential because of their background - merely on the  grounds 
        of reduced chances of success - forms a further barrier.
        
           If the multifarious commentators on future labour market needs 
        are  correct,  individuals may need transferable skills  to  cope 
        with  a number of different careers.  As well as  'readiness  and 
        ability  constantly  to reassess expectations',  individuals  and 
        their  employers  are increasingly likely to want to  assess  the 
        aptitudes,  personality attributes, and values which may lead  to 
        better  'fit'  with some types of job and work  environment  than 
        with others.
        
           Krumboltz  (1976) produced a social learning theory of  career 
        selection.   A  combination of genetic  endowment,  environmental 
        conditions,  individual  learning  and  self-observation  against 
        standards  produces  a  dynamic  interaction  in  which   various 
        personal  attributes  are capable of altering "at  any  point  in 
        life"  (Yost & Corbishley, 1987).  Apart from the  evidence  that 
        personality  tends  to  be relatively stable over  time,  such  a 
        theory   is  not  particularly  practical  without   measurement.  
        Gauging anything but distilled products of the above interactions 
        is likely to be unrealistic.  
        
           When  personal history has been taken into account - and  this 
        is  relevant for diagnosis and for interpretation and feedback  - 
        one is left with the qualities which make up the individual as he 
        or  she is at the present time.  Trait factor theory, in  one  of 
        its manifestations, provides this illuminating snapshot.
        
           Walsh (1990) considers failing to use tests as a disservice to 
        clients;  whilst  not providing a ready-made identity,  they  can 
        clarify and illuminate the view of self (integral to some of  the 
        aforementioned  theories).   
        
           In  any  event,  the scientific support for  the  more  recent 
        manifestations  of  trait factor theory is encouraging,  even  if 
        public  expectations,  funding  policy  and  practitioner  skills 
        require adjustments.  
        
           Given  the strengths of trait factor theory, and the  lack  of 
        empirical  support  for most theories of  vocational  choice  and 
        development   with  obvious  practical  application,   it   seems 
        reasonable  to  consider it as a major theory in  its  own  right 
        rather  than merely as the source of supporting  instrumentation.  
        It could further be argued that other theories should be used  to 
        support trait factor as sources of interpretive information. 
        
          Trait  factor theory is not able to produce a  'perfect  match' 
        between  people  and  jobs,  given  the  plethora  of   variables 
        involved.   Unlike  various theories which attempt to  deal  with 
        some of those variables,  it is well placed for suggesting likely 
        avenues   for  self-exploration,  in  ways  which   promote   the 
        achievement of potential.  Its viability remains to be promoted.
                
        
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