PT10603 Personality

and Individual
Differences
Vocational Interests
 Introduction
interest= preferences
Greenhaus, Callanan & Godshalk (2000)-
interests in terms of likes & dislikes
attached to specific objects/ activities
Carlson (2002)- interests could be
understood as a form of desire,
particularly for what people wish to
understand & do.
 Vocational interests explain variance
in real-life outcomes.
Individuals choices of career which
affect their educational & intelligence,
may not be predicted by personality/
intelligence but may be affected by
vocational interests
 Extraversion & openness to
experience are often related to
vocational interests= a link between
personality & career choices
Vocational interests can be predicted
by individual differences in gender &
intelligence
 Approaches to Vocational
Interests
Furnham (1992) conceptualized 6 major
types of theoretical approaches to the
study of vocational interests
1) Developmental
2) Psychodynamic
3) Motivational
4) Sociological
5) Decision-making
6) Existential
 A description of the topic of
differential psychology could be
seen to conflate the following:
1. Interests & motivation: what a person
will do
2. Abilities: what a person can do
3. Personality: how a person will do it
 Linking theory & Practice
Although personality traits, abilities
& interests may all influence
individuals lives, people pay explicit
attention to their interests when
making decisions in regard to their
careers choice
Lent (2001) proposed 3 goals for
vocational theories:
1) To explain individuals career choices &
how these affect entry, adjustment,
progress, satisfaction * change in
educational & occupational settings
2) To construct preventive & palliative
vocational strategies that may help
individuals identify the best choices &
pursue them
3) To include a wide range of clients from
primary & secondary school to
university students, unemployed,
workers, retirees & organizations
 Stability of Interests
The importance of interests in differential
psychology is their stability across the
lifespan
Low et al (2005) provided quantitative
evidence for the stability of interests
across the lifespan-
Examined longitudinal data from age 12-40 &
found compelling evidence for the invariance
of interests across time
 Gender Differences in
Vocational Interests
Why women/ men may be over/
underrepresented in certain job types?
In regard to educational settings, as male-female
ratios very from faculty
Male students outnumber their female in hard science
What explains gender differences in vocational
interests?
Rarely reveal the causal paths
Cant sure gender differences in vocational interests
are influenced by cultural, personality/ ability
 Gender differences are a consequence of
sex biological differences between men &
women/ the product of cultural factor
Beliefs about job affect individuals level of
interest (schemata theories)
Levy et at (1988) identified 2 main factors
(achievement vs helping & low vs high
education level) that represented peoples
schemas
 Women/ men may choose jobs that others
because:
They are genuinely better at them
They believe they are better at them
Others believe they are better at them
They simply enjoy them
They have few other alternatives
They believe they have few others alternatives
Gender differences are affected by
personality dispositions & external factors
 Person-Environment Fit
Investigate interests & match of individual to
appropriate environments (Hogan & Blake,1996)
The congruence between a persons individual
attributes & those of the environment
determines the level of job satisfaction &
performance
Furnham (1987) found that extraverted
individuals preferred & worked better in open-
plan offices
Individuals personality & ability influence the
choice of their environment aw well
 Hollands RIASEC Typology
J.L. Holland (1973)- 6 types of
interests for classifying individuals &
environments illustrated by hexagon:
realistic, investigative, artistic, social,
enterprising & conventional
Congruence between environment &
individual dispositions
 3 components of analysis
characterizing Hollands theory:
1) Person (characteristics of the
individual)
2) Environment (characteristics of the
environment)
3) Fit (level of congruence between
characteristics of the person &
environment)
 Realistic: people are interested in activities
& manipulate objects, tools, machines &
animals- mechanic, carpenter, fisherman &
engineer
Investigative: people are interested in
investigation of physical, biological &
cultural phenomena in order to
understand & control such phenomena-
scientists, chemist, biologist & physicist
Artistic: people are interested in verbal/
human materials to create art forms/
products- artistic profesion
 Social: people are interested in activities that
entail the manipulate of others to inform, train,
develop, cure/ enlighten- political, educational/
social job
Enterprising: people are interested in
manipulation of others to attain organizational
goals/ economic gain- business-minded &
corporate job
Conventional: people are interested in keeping
records, filling materials, organizing written &
numerical data, operating business machines &
data processing machines- file clerk, secretary &
accountant
 Predigers Three-Factor Model
Reduced Hollands RIASEC model
to a three-factor model,
incorporating two bipolar
dimensions:
1) ideas- data
2) People- things
& One general factor
1) Response bias
 Fit across over Hollands hexagon to map the
two dimensions of people vs things & data vs.
ideas
Predigers people- encompasses interests &
tasks characterized by high interpersonal contact
Predigers things-interests & jobs characterized
by low interpersonal contact & typically
impersonal in nature
Predigers data- represents conventional &
enterprising types & is defined by concreteness
& practicality
Predigers ideas- investigate & artistic & is best
described in terms of thinking, creativity &
knowledge
 Holland & The big Five
Most closely related to RIASEC are
Extraversion & Openness
Gottfredson, Jones & Holland (1993)
examined correlations between the
RIASEC & Big Five
Openness related to social & enterprising
interests
Conscientiousness & conventional interests
Neuroticism was modestly but negatively
correlated with RIASEC
 Gottfredsons Theory
Argues that career choices are determined by a
complex interaction between individuals self-
perceptions & beliefs about jobs & their abilities,
traits & available opportunities
Enables one to make specific predictions about
vocational choices
Allows for an integration of genetic &
developmental aspects of individual difference
factors
Gottfredson (2005) conceptualizes a hierarchical
& multi-determined vocational theory
 Trait Complex theory
Attempts to integrate different constructs
in differential psychology
Better understand & predict learning
outcomes
2 principles:
Aggregation (enables us to include more than
one type of trait/individual differences
variable)
Synergy (combining different traits)
 Provides a framework for integration of
individual differences
Combine information about different physical
attributes
Ackerman & Beier (2003)- 3 advantages of the
trait complex approach in regard to vocational
interests:
1) Abandons the typological representation of
vocational interests
2) Capitalizes on the links between different
individual difference constructs
3) Integrates career choice within wider context
of intellectual development
 Ackerman & Heggestads (1997) psychometric meta-
analyses identified 4 main trait complexes:
1) Social
- a combination of extraversion, enterprising & social interests
- individual differences in interpersonal skills
2) Clerical/conventional
- conscientiousness & a high perceptual speed,
preference for traditional/ conventional interests
- opposite of the intellectual/ cultural trait complex
3) Science/ mathematical
- realistic interests, mathematical reasoning & visual perception
ability
4) Intellectual/ cultural
- dominated by crystallized abilities, creativity,
openness to experience & artistic interests
- overlap with the scientific/ mathematical trait
complex (investigative interests)
 Conclusions
Vocational interests are of practical
importance as career & vocational
counselors tend to pay attention to
individuals interests than to their
personality & abilities
The most important individual difference
approach to study vocational interests has
been the John Holland
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