Learning+Theories

__**Learning Theories**__


 * The process by which individuals develop, and
 * The process by which individuals make decisions
 * Theories that fall into this category include
 * Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making (SLTCDM)
 * Lent, Brown, & Hackett's Social Cognitive Perspective (SCCT)
 * Peterson et. al Career Information-Processing Model of Career Choice (CIP)


 * Differences between Trait & Factor Theory, learning theories, and developmental theories
 * T&F theories focus on how the roles of traits (interests and values) influence decision making
 * Learning theories focus on the learning processes that lead to development of self-efficacy and beliefs
 * Developmental theories focus on the developmental stages of decision making skills

Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making (SLTCDM)

 * Krumboltz was the first to introduce a theory of career development based on learning theories
 * Focus is on the learning process that lead to self-efficacy beliefs and interests and how these impact the career decision-making process
 * Based on the work of Bandura and reinforcement theory
 * Although Bandura has altered his works, Krumboltz's theory remains relatively unchanged
 * 4 factors that influence career decision making
 * Genetic endowment and special abilities--inherited characteristics can be restrictive influences on the individual
 * Examples of these include various special abilities, such as intelligence, musical and artistic ability, and physical coordination (Brown, 2012, p. 60)
 * Environmental conditions and events--natural forces, social structures, and other external factors can influence the decision making process
 * Learning experiences--all previous learning experiences go into the decision making process. There are 2 types of learning:
 * Instrumental: learn by acting on the environment and producing outcomes; 1st hand learning
 * Associative: learn by reacting to external forces; observed learning (i.e., Bobo Doll)
 * Task approach skills (TAS)--individual skills, values, and work habits that people apply to new tasks
 * Krumboltz sees the individual as constantly encountering learning experiences, each of which is followed by rewards or punishments
 * Continuous interaction with learning experiences produces 3 types of consequences:
 * 1) Self-observation generalizations (SOG)--an overt or covert self-statement evaluating one's actual or vicarious performance in relation to learned standards. May not always be accurate, just as one's self-concept may or may not coincide with the concepts others have of the individual
 * 2) Task approach skills--efforts by the person to project into the future self-observation generalizations to make predictions about future events. These include: work habits, mental sets, perceptual and thought processes, performance standards and values, etc.
 * 3) Actions--implementations of behavior, such as applying for a job or changing a major field of study. The behavior produces certain consequences that affect future behavior


 * Application of the theory
 * He believed that people are constantly learning from every new experience.
 * He believed that these experiences produce either positive or negative reinforcements that are unique to each individual.
 * Throughout life, these new interactions, experiences, and reinforcements shape our outlook on our own abilities (self-efficacy) and how we develop decision making skills.


 * Status of the theory
 * Krumboltz rejected the notion that career counseling should simply focus on choosing an occupation based on traits.
 * He thought it would be appropriate to focus on acquiring self-knowledge and skill development in order to deal with an ever-changing world.
 * Career Beliefs Inventory-developed to help people identify their beliefs and integrate them with their interests
 * If people don’t take advantage of new learning experiences, they are likely make poor decisions
 * This model is good to use with minority and disenfranchised clients because it addresses unique worldviews, experiences, learning opportunities, and how the environment may be affecting all of those areas. He would:
 * Not let such clients accept status quo
 * Use positive reinforcement for effort and achievement
 * Use behavior rehearsal and cognitive practice to prepare for career-related tasks and direct them to role models they can emulate
 * Counter beliefs that limit growth and learning and assist clients in achieving goals
 * Counseling should proceed with these thoughts in mind:
 * Clients should prepare to expand their knowledge and skills instead of relying on their status when they enter the counseling process. Career counselors should help clients map their current status and outline a plan for change and growth. By planning to change, clients expand their opportunity structures (p. 62).
 * Clients need to prepare for an occupational landscape that is ever changing (p. 62).
 * Although diagnosing the client's current career development problem is a step in the career counseling process, it is not sufficient. Clients need to be empowered to cope with the stressors of a changing world (p. 62).
 * Career counselors need to focus more broadly and help their clients tackle the array of job related problems confronting them. Clients need to understand their values and thus, the things that satisfy them. They need to seize control of their lives and be able to deal with problems in the workplace, including how to advance in the workplace and plan for retirement (p. 62).
 * Krumboltz outlines a dynamic career counseling approach that can be applied to males and females, as well as to racial and ethnic minorities and can be useful for clients who have either individualist or collectivist perspectives (Brown, 2016, p. 91). In addition it is applicable to people who fear discrimination such as members of the LGBT community.

Lent, Brown, & Hackett's Social Cognitive Perspective (SCCT)

 * The most major departure from the work of Krumboltz was in the work of Lent, Brown, Hackett, which placed more emphasis on self-regulatory cognitions, particularly those associated with self-efficacy expectations (Brown, 2012. p. 62)
 * Self efficacy beliefs are dynamic, ever-changing self-perceptions that individuals hold about their abilities to perform particular tasks (Brown, 2012, p. 62)
 * The central propositions of **social cognitive theory** follow:
 * The interaction between people and their environments is highly dynamic; the result is that individuals are at once influenced by and have an influence on their environments
 * Career-related behavior is influenced by several aspects of the person, including gender, race, ethnicity, behavior, sexual orientation, disabilities, self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, goals and genetically determined characteristics
 * Self-efficacy beliefs and expectations of outcomes interact directly to influence interest development. People become interested in things they believe they can perform well and produce valued outcomes.
 * Gender, race, physical health, disabilities, and environmental variables influence self-efficacy development, as well as expectations of outcomes and, ultimately, goals and performance.
 * Actual career choice and implementation are influenced by a number of direct and indirect variables other than self-efficacy, expectations of outcomes, and goals.
 * Direct influences include discrimination, economic variables that influence supply and demand, and the culture of the decision maker
 * Indirect influences include chance happenings
 * Performance in educational activities and occupations is the result of the interactions among ability, self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and the goals that have been established. All things being equal, people with the highest levels of ability and the strongest self-efficacy beliefs perform at the highest level. Self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations are altered continuously as individuals interact with their environments

Status of the theory

 * Has had an impact on research regarding career choice
 * Has also influenced the career assessment process in a number of ways
 * Increasing evidence exists indicating that SCCT influences career counseling practice. The results of several reviews suggest that SCCT-based career counseling is useful with a variety of client groups ranging from adolescents to the disabled (Brown, 2016, p 95).
 * One assumption of the theory is that self-efficacy and interests are linked and that interests can be developed or strengthened using modeling, encouragement, and, most powerfully, by performance enactments
 * Groups of clients such as women who may have had little opportunity to engage in certain activities because of sex-typing can benefit from application of the theory.
 * Other groups who may benefit from this theory are racial and ethnic minorities, who, because of discrimination or poverty, may have had fewer opportunities to engage in occupationally relevant activities
 * Two career counseling applications of the theory
 * for gathering traditional test data regarding needs, values, and aptitudes
 * Second application involves the use of a modified vocational card sorting of occupations representative of the occupational struct
 * the client sorts the cards into two stacks, "in question" and "would choose"
 * two stacks are divided into categories that reflect self-efficacy and outcome expectations
 * sorting process helps counselor identify cognitions that underpin decision-making and allows counselor to examine accuracy of cognition with client

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Peterson et. al Career Information-Processing Model of Career Choice (CIP)

 * Unlike the social learning theories that focus on the work of Bandura, Peterson (et al) focuses more on information processing
 * In terms of career decisions people develop 2 types of knowledge (Brown, pg. 96): self-knowledge and knowledge about careers
 * **self knowledge-**-involves the interpretation of past events and a cognitive reconstruction of those events. If client has had few opportunities to gain self-knowledge, they will have difficulty in decision making process (What have I learned about myself and occupations that I can apply to this situation?)
 * The **metacognitions** used in the decision making process are the cognitive functions essential to monitoring and regulating the decision-making process. These include the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and processing of information relevant to the career problem at hand. The primary metacognitions involve self-talk, self-awareness, monitoring and control.
 * **Self talk**--internal dialogue carried on by decision-makers with themselves. Overall self-talk must be positive for decision making process to be optimal (Brown, pg.96)
 * **Self-awareness-**-keeps decision makers on task by producing the realization that they are the ones most directly involved and by keeping out superfluous factors (Brown, p. 96)
 * **Monitoring and control**--has a temporal function which allows people to understand when they have collected enough information, when they need to backtrack, and when it is time to move from stage to stage in process (Brown, pg. 97).


 * Decision making process acronym is CASVE:
 * **C**ommunication - begins with a signal from inside or outside organism that a problem exists
 * **A**spects - individuals try to determine the aspects of the problem
 * **S**ynthesis - individuals generate potential solutions and then identify realistic options
 * **V**aluing - a costs-benefits analysis is conducted based on the values system of the individual
 * **E**xecution - plans are developed and executed to act on the alternatives chosen


 * The greatest concern for career counselors applying this theory to their work is clients who are not good decision makers (Brown, pg. 97)
 * Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) was developed to diagnose various aspects of decision-making problems
 * CTI has items relating to each compartment included in a pyramid:
 * **apex**: thinking about my decisions
 * **mid-level**: knowing how I made my decisions
 * **base of the pyramid**: knowing myself and knowing my options

Status and use of CIP
>>> Americans or Asian Americans who might be uncomfortable reporting their thoughts
 * Application begins with assessing readiness of people to make well reasoned career choices and their cognitive and emotional abilities to make those choices. When assessing readiness, career counselors examine four factors:
 * 1) A high level of self-knowledge and a willingness to use that knowledge in the decision-making process
 * 2) Willingness to explore the world of work
 * 3) Motivation to learn about and engage in the decision-making process
 * 4) Awareness of how negative thoughts influence problem solving and the willingness to seek assistance when needed
 * Complexity factor: contexual factors that will in all likelihood influence the process (ex: family variables, employing organizations, economic variables, society at large, etc)
 * Seven-step model for career counseling:The model applies primarily to those who intend to make their own decisions
 * 1) //Conduct initial interview// - clarifies client's needs
 * 2) //Conduct preliminary assessment// - readiness of client is determined
 * 3) //Mutually define the problem and analyze causes-// causes might include cognitive and behavioral deficits, or environmental influences. Both counselor and client need to understand problem
 * 4) //Formulate goals//- should be attainable, specific, and include outcomes and timelines
 * 5) //Develop individual learning plan// - consider resources to help client meet goals
 * 6) //Implement individual learning plan//
 * 7) //Goal attainment evaluation// - assess client's ability to use skills/knowledge for future decision making
 * Study evaluating CIP:
 * The article below investigates how CIP can be usedwithin a counseling environment to help individuals with career decisions, negative self-talk, and self-efficacy beliefs.
 * [[file:CIPArticle.pdf]]
 * [[file:Relationships among career and life stress, negative career thoughts, and decision state- a cognitive information processing perspective.pdf]]
 * Concerns with CIP (Brown, pg. 98)
 * Little information exists as to the application of this model to racial and ethnic minorities, people who are disabled and the LGBT community
 * As the CTI is intrusive, this model may not be appropriate for use with certain populations, such as Native
 * This model is not appropriate for individuals who have not had prior opportunities to gain self knowledge, poor quality occupational information, or has a restricted ability to recall past events (Brown, 2002, p. 96).

References Brown, D. (2012). Career Information, Career Counseling, And Career Development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Brown, D. (2016). // Career information, career counseling, and career development // (11th ed.). New York: Pearson.