KRUMBOLTZ’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Bandura’s reinforcement theory and observational learning
Individuals’ personalities come more from their learning experiences than from their genetics
Triadic reciprocal interaction system – interaction of the environment, personal factors (memories, beliefs, preferences, and self-perceptions), and actual behavior.

Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory shows how individuals make career decisions that emphasizes the importance of behavior (action) and cognitions (knowing or thinking) in making career decisions, teaching clients career decision techniques and how to use them and examines four basic factors to understand why people choose the work they do as well as other occupationally related decisions.

GENETIC ENDOWMENT

Those aspects of the individual that are inherited or innate rather than learned such as physical appearance, predisposition to illnesses.
Some people are born with special abilities in the arts, writing, music, etc.
The greater an individual’s innate genetic abilities, the more likely she is to respond to learning and teaching.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND EVENTS

Outside the control of the individual
Social, cultural, political, and economic considerations
Also, climate and geography

Social Factors
Changes in society have had a great impact on available career options

Educational Conditions
The availability of education is influenced by both social and personal factors
One’s school system and the effect of teachers are also significant

Occupational Conditions
Little control over number and nature of job opportunities

LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Career preferences are a result of one’s prior learning experiences
Each person’s learning experience is unique
Two basic types of learning experiences:

Instrumental Learning Experiences (H)
Three Components
Antecedents – refers to almost any type of condition; people respond to antecedents with behavior
Behaviors – may be obvious or subtle, may have impact on others
Consequences – may be obvious or subtle
Example: if someone gets an A on an exam, she will be more likely to continue studying in that field than if she does poorly

Associative Learning Experiences (O)
When an individual pairs a situation that was previously neutral with one that is positive or negative, an associative learning experience occurs

TASK APPROACH SKILLS

Understanding how people approach tasks
Task-approach skills – goal setting, values clarification, generating alternatives, obtaining occupational information ¼thoughts and beliefs arise from these
Interactions among genetic endowment, environmental conditions, and learning experiences lead to skills in doing a variety of tasks
How someone approaches a task depends on previous experience and influences the outcome of the task

CLIENT COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORAL SKILLS

Self-Observation Generalizations about Abilities
_ Based on prior experiences and information individuals have acquired about themselves
_ Making accurate generalizations about themselves may be difficult; may under- or overstate their abilities
_ Accuracy of generalizations is related to comparing to others

Self-Observation Generalizations about Interests
_ Generalizations about what you like and don’t like
_ Interests can be very general or very specific
_ Interest inventories are helpful

Self-Observation Generalizations about Values
_ People make judgments about the desirability of certain behaviors or events
_ From these judgments, people develop personal and work values

Generalizations about the World
_ Besides themselves, people make generalizations about the world in which they live and the people around them
_ The purpose of occupational information and experience is to provide an opportunity to make generalizations about the world

Task-Approach Skills Used in Career Decision Making - Skills learned from a wide variety of tasks

COUNSELOR BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES

Reinforcement
_ Most important technique, with the broadest use, applies to all phases of career counseling
_ Positive reinforcement increases the occurrence of a response
_ Positive reinforcement in terms of verbal praise is important


Role Models
_ Valuable associative learning experience
_ Counselors can be role models or provide their clients role models

Role Playing
_ Examples: information-seeking interview, job interview

Simulation
_ Doing some of the tasks that an individual in a particular occupation must perform; client can simulate a career experience

COGNITIVE STRATEGIES FOR COUNSELING

Goal Clarification
_ Clear and identifiable goals, restate goals

Counter a Troublesome Belief
_ Reframing – method of dealing with troublesome beliefs

Look for Inconsistencies between Words and Actions

Cognitive Rehearsal
_ Practicing or rehearsing statements that are positive, which may replace negative thoughts they may have about themselves

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY GOALS FOR CAREER COUNSELING

Emphasis on learning
Facilitate the learning of skills, interests, beliefs, values, work habits, and personal qualities that enable clients to create a satisfying life within a constantly changing work environment, learning about self and the environment
Three criteria that influence goals of career counseling
_ People need to expand their capabilities and interests, not base decisions on existing characteristics only
_ People need to prepare for changing work tasks, not assume that occupations will remain stable
_ People need to be empowered to take action, not merely be given a diagnosis

APPLYING PLANNED HAPPENSTANCE THEORY TO CAREER COUNSELING

Planned happenstance – taking advantage of chance events in one’s life
Counselors help clients recognize and incorporate chance events into their lives, as well as generate such events
Planned happenstance theory is positive and encouraging (it replaces indecision with open-mindedness)

Five skills are helpful in dealing with chance career opportunities
_ Curiosity
_ Persistence
_ Flexibility
_ Optimism
_ Risk taking

The goal of counseling in dealing with planned happenstance is to initiate a learning process that encourages curiosity and helps clients to take advantage of unplanned events

Four steps to Planned Happenstance Theory – steps may overlap at times
Step 1: Normalize planned happenstance in the client’s history
Step 2: Assist clients to transform curiosity into opportunities for learning and exploration
Step 3: Teach clients to produce desirable chance events
Step 4: Teach clients to overcome blocks to action

Krumboltz’s Career Beliefs Inventory – assesses many of the career beliefs that are potential problems for clients; has 25 scales

THE ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION

Accurate occupational information is essential to the application of social learning theory
Krumboltz has designed Job Experience Kits - used to simulate occupations; provide exercises that are similar to tasks done by people working in the occupations
Also developed computer simulations of occupations

THE ROLE OF ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS

Assessment is not mentioned, but can be useful.
Values inventories can help with planned happenstance.
Interest inventories and ability and aptitude tests can be used.
Krumboltz’s Career Beliefs Inventory can be used at many points in the career decision-making process.

APPLYING SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY TO WOMEN

Women have some control over their environmental forces
Female role models important for women
Unplanned events important in the lives of prominent women

APPLYING SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY TO CULTURALLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS

Not much research
Cultures vary as to which occupations they glamorize or value
Cultures vary as to values such as income or spirituality that they attend to
Collective action can change discriminatory environments
Counselors can help clients deal with discriminatory environments

COUNSELOR ISSUES

Listen to the client to determine the best way to respond to unexpected events
Determine whether the client’s problems fit within the competencies and ethical standards of the counselor
Only work with ethical goals