is not arbitrary, for not all imaginable cultures would comport with
human nature (our collective genotype). Each culture, however,
represents a somewhat distinct way of organizing its members’ activ-
ities relative to their human and nonhuman environments.
No ends-directed cultural activity draws forth only one trait,
however; they all mobilize and reinforce some mixture of personal-
ity and ability. Teachers, mechanics, politicians, parents, and pole-
vaulters, for instance, all need certain combinations of mental
ability, personality, and physical competence to be effective. Recur-
ring call for such specific, ends-targeted trait combinations fosters
the development (or least the recognition) of derivative, multifac-
eted individual differences that are defined primarily by the cultural
objects and ends being sought or renounced. They are represented
in column 3 of Figure 4.6. These ends-directed trait combinations
include vocational interests (interest inscientific work), social atti-
tudes (opposition tothe death penalty), goals and expectations (aspi-
rationfora high income), and forms of expertise (skill inwriting).
These culture-specific traits correlate in meaningful ways with vari-
ous dimensions of personality or ability (or both) but seem to con-
stitute a different psychological domain than either personality or
ability (Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997; see also Holland, 1997, for
correlations between personality dimensions and Holland scales).
Ends-specific trait compounds such as vocational interests are
culture-dependent in the sense that they are trait combinations
that a culture regularly calls on for specific purposes. For instance,
the particular mix of abilities and personality traits that typify cler-
ical or mechanical interests would not crystallize as distinct, observ-
able interests in a society that had neither paperwork nor machines.
Career psychology has focused on the flux and interplay among
these ends-directed traits, specifically, on the processes by which
young people gradually learn more about themselves in relation to
the world (their interests, values, attitudes, self-concept) and orient
to some fates rather than others (hopes, fears, aspirations, expecta-
tions). This theoretical focus is understandable, because these ends-
directed trait combinations reflect young people’s most self-conscious
120 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT