vironment and genetic endowment) and emphasises the role of instrumental & associative
learning. Consequently, key concepts/tools for the practitioner are reinforcement and mod-
elling. The application of this theory to practice involves the practitioner attempting to iden-
tify and correct any incorrect beliefs held by the client about the decision making process.
It was developed to address the questions:
● why people enter particular educational course or jobs;
● why they may change direction during their lives;
● why they may express various preferences for different activities at different
points in their lives.The following are identified as influential in these processes:
1.1 Influential factors:
Krumboltz examines the impact of 4 categories of factors:
- Genetic endowment and special abilities
● race
● gender
● physical appearance & characteristics.Individuals differ both in their ability to benefit from learning experiences and to get access
to different learning experiences because of these types of inherited qualities.
- environmental Conditions and events
● social, cultural & political
● economic forces
● natural forces & natural resources.These are generally outside the control of any one individual. Their influence can be planned
or unplanned.
- Learning experiences
Each individual has a unique history of learning experiences that results in their occupation-
al choice. They often don’t remember the specific character or sequence of these learning
experiences, but rather they remember general conclusions from them (e.g. I love animals/
working with children). The two main types of learning experiences identified in the theory
are: