Learning Theory of Career Counseling

Environmental Conditions and Events

✳✱*

Task-approach Skills

• Usually not in an individual's control
• Cultural, social, political, or economic forces
• Career decisions may be impacted by family traditions and community resources
• Geographical location has a major impact on career choices or job opportunities/options
• Technological developments can both create new career opportunities as well as remove the need for previous jobs
• Other factors such as natural disasters, available job-training programs, and legislation can impact job opportunities or career decisions

Multicultural Emphasis

of LTCC

References

Niles, S. & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2013). Career

development interventions in the 21st century. Pearson Education, Inc.

Pratt, T., Cullen, F., Sellers, C., Winfree, T., Madensen, T.,

Daigle, L., Fearne, N., & Gau, J. (2009). The empirical status of social learning theory: A meta-analysis. Justice Quarterly, 27 (6).

• Individual must use an array of task-approach skills in the career decision making process
• These may include skills such as:
• Clarifying values, interests, and skills
• Researching and gathering information about careers
• Using information to make an informed career decision
• Consider genetic endowments, abilities, and environmental factors
• Individual's work habits
• Problem solving skills
• Cognitive Processes

Instrumental and Associative Learning Experiences

• Although LTCC does not have a specific emphasis on multiculturalism, there are many aspects of it that take cultural factors into account.
• For example, genetic characteristics and environmental conditions/events are two of the four biggest factors LTCC takes into account in terms of career development and choice
• Therefore this takes into consideration a person's race, ethnicity, geographic location, religion, culture, etc.
• This could then help a counselor make more knowledgeable and informed decisions when

advising a client because they have taken these

factors into account.

• These are types of learning/knowledge that a person acquires through observing the connection between antecedents, behaviors, and consequences
• Antecedents may include previously mentioned genetic endowments, special abilities, and environmental conditions
• Associative learning:
• When a previously neutral stimulus is paired with another stimulus that has a positive or negative

impact on the person or a consequence

• For example, someone may have a positive experience with a supervisor (positive stimulus) at a new internship (neutral stimulus) and then decide to pursue that job as a future career (positive consequence)

Personal Use with Clients

I believe the LTCC could be a beneficial theory in many types of career counseling settings. I would likely use this type of counseling with older, more introspective clients. Although part of the goal of LTCC is to help the client gain a more accurate understanding of their skills, characteristics, and career options, the client must be able to be self-reflective. I also think that in order for this theory to be applied in a successful manner, the client would need to be significantly motivated and prepared to dedicate the necessary time and effort to go through this counseling process and commit to completing the activities or programs that the counselor suggests. For example, career education programs or research into occupations can be time consuming and likely would not benefit

the client unless they are committed to completing them.

Genetic Endowment and Special Abilities

• Includes inherited qualities such as:
• Sex
• Race
• Physical traits/appearance
• Special abilities include skills such as:
• Intelligence
• Athleticism
• Musical or artistic abilities
• Special abilities are the result of both genetic factors and the individual's exposure to environmental stimuli or events

Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making

• Describes the factors that influence the career decision making of a particular person
• There are four major factors that influence our career decision making identified by SLTCDM (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013):

1. Genetic endowment and special abilities

2. Environmental conditions and events

3. Instrumental and associative learning experiences

4. Task-approach skills

John Krumboltz's Learning Theory

• Developed by John Krumboltz
• Two distinct parts (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013):
• Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making (SLTCDM)
• Learning Theory of Career Counseling (LTCC)
• Together, they are referred to as LTCC because SLTDCM is subsumed by LTCC

Learning Theory of Career Counseling

LTCC Career Development Interventions

LTCC

• Developmental/Preventative Interventions
• Includes career education programs, job club programs, study materials, etc.
• Helps clients acquire information about an occupation and utilize it to make appropriate career-related decisions
• Targeted and Remedial Interventions
• Includes goal clarification, cognitive restructuring, decision making skills, etc.
• This can help clients cope with changes in their career or resolve issues in their current career.

• Uses Bandura's Social Learning Theory and applies it to career decision making
• Social Learning Theory suggests that human behavior and personalities are directly impacted by their personal learning experiences (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013)
• Also considers the role of people's innate nature and development
• Social Learning Theory also suggests that people strive to understand the reinforcements in their environment and control their environments to best benefit them

By Julie Pinciaro

How to Use LTCC

with a Client

LTCC can be used for a variety of purposes with clients (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013)

1. Helping clients with self-observation generalizations

2. Help clients with worldview generalizations

3. Help clients learn new or more effective task-approach skills

4. Help clients take action toward developing or beginning their careers

Current Research Support

Reasons People Prefer an Occupation

• LTCC is relatively new and thus far has not been the subject of empiricall research (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013).
• However, social learning theory, which is a large basis of LTCC, has been significantly researched and empirically supported in the past (Pratt et al., 2009).

1. They have succeeded at tasks relevant to

or related to the job

2. They have seen someone be reinforced for doing tasks related to those required by the occupation

3. The positive outcomes or qualities of the job has been shared with them by someone they value, or they have previously seen the occupation being associated with positive stimuli (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013)

Four Ways These Factors Influence Decision Making

(Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013)

1. Self-Observation Generalizations

• Statements about our personal performance or assessment of our interests and values

2. Worldview

• Generalizations about how the world functions

3. Task-approach skills

• Ability to cope with the environment
• Interpret it in relation to their self-observation
• Make predictions about the future

4. Actions

• An individual's learning experiences cause them to take action toward choosing a career

Strengths and Weaknesses

of LTCC

Reasons People Avoid an Occupation

1. They have failed at tasks relevant to

or related to the job

2. They have seen someone receive a negative consequence for doing tasks related to those required by the occupation

3. The negative outcomes or qualities of the job has been shared with them by someone they value, or they have previously seen the occupation being associated with negative stimuli (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013)

Strengths

• Takes into account genetic and environmental factors
• Not specific to one culture, location, or socioeconomic group
• Considers personal strengths, weaknesses, and skills
• Does not make generalizations about particular groups of people or populations
• Interventions aim at building skills

Weaknesses

• Lack of empirical support
• Requires a client to be introspective and aware of their own skills/where they need to improve
• Requires client to be significantly motivated and dedicated to working on building these skills
• May be time consuming due to the

individual nature of the counseling

style