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Introduction to Theories

of Career Development

and Choice

Origins, Evolution,

and Current Efforts

Duane Brown

“In the wise choice of a vocation there are three broad factors:
(1) a clear understanding of yourself, your aptitudes, abilities, in-
terests, ambitions, resources, limitations, and knowledge of their
causes; (2) a knowledge of the requirements, conditions of success,
advantages and disadvantages, compensation, opportunities, and
prospects in different lines of work; (3) true reasoning on the rela-
tions of these two groups of facts” (Parsons, 1909, p. 5).

Historical Perspective

Efforts to help people identify appropriate careers can be traced to
the fifteenth century, and by the nineteenth century at least sixty-
five books had been published on the topic (Zytowski, 1972). The
first vocational guidance program emerged in this country in San
Francisco in 1888—in Cogswell High School—and subsequently in
high schools in Detroit in 1897 (Brewer, 1942). However, the roots
of career development theory did not emerge until Frank Parsons

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Linda Brooks contributed to this chapter during the preparation of the third edition.