TPC-Journal-V2-Issue2

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 2 103 (p. 5). Sampson et al. state that decision-making “includes problems solving, along with the cognitive and affective processes needed to develop a plan for implementing the solution and taking the risks involved in following through to the complete the plan” (p. 5). Difficulties in career decision making (as in Sue’s case) may stem from a variety of factors, including emotional distress, a lack of confidence in ability to perform certain tasks, lack of experience in varied life roles, lack of self-insight, negative expectations associated with a particular pursuit, fear of failure and conflicts with important people. Some career decision-making theories emphasize the use of self-knowledge (e.g., values, interests, and skills) and options knowledge (e.g., what jobs or majors of study are available), but they have less to offer regarding how beliefs, stress and affect associated with these two areas can impede progress in career decision-making. CIP (Sampson et al., 2004) and SCCT (Lent, 2005; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) address these issues. Cognitive Career Theories CIP (Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991; Sampson et al., 2004) and SCCT (Lent et al., 1994) have focused on the role of thinking in career decision-making. Independent of each other, these theories have defined types of dysfunctional cognitions, speculated about the role of these cognitions on academic and career decidedness, and developed self-report measures pertaining to these cognitions. Within the career field, some career theorists have expressed the value of incorporating multiple career theories to provide the field with a more integrative framework for understanding career decision-making (Borgen, 1991; Hackett & Lent, 1992; Osipow, 1990). Specifically, such theorists have suggested that theories should integrate conceptually related constructs, further examine the relationship between dissimilar constructs and clarify commonly theorized outcome objectives within career decision-making. There are multiple cognitive constructs presented in CIP and SCCT career theories, but few studies have explored the interrelationships between them (Bullock-Yowell, Andrews, & Buzzetta, 2011). Cognitive Information Processing Theory CIP theory can be applied to understand the link between deficits in psychological functioning and career indecision (Peterson et al., 1991; Peterson, Sampson, Lenz, & Reardon, 2002). CIP theory utilizes the information-processing pyramid to explain the components involved in a career decision (Peterson et al., 1991). Four domains comprise the pyramid (Figure 1). Meta Cognitions Generic Information Processing Skills (CASVE) Self Knowledge Occupational Knowledge Decision-Making Skills Domain Executive Processing Domain Knowledge Domains Figure 1. Information processing pyramid. Reprinted from Career development and services: A cognitive approach by G. W. Peterson, J. P. Sampson, and R. C. Reardon. Copyright ©1991 Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, a division of International Thomson Publishing, Inc.