form an important feedback loop, helping to solidify or reshape self-
efficacy and outcome expectations and, in turn, interests.
SCCT assumes that this basic process is constantly in motion
throughout the lifespan and that through this process people come
to develop characteristic patterns of career interests. Although
occupational interests tend to stabilize by late adolescence or early
adulthood (Hansen, 1984), change and growth in interests is theo-
retically possible at any point in life, particularly when people are
presented with environmental conditions or life challenges (such
as job restructuring, childbirth, or technical innovations) offering
exposure to new activities or encouraging the cultivation of new
skills. Of course, occasions for growth in interests may also be self-
directed, such as volunteering for new job assignments. Whether
new interests emerge depends less on simple exposure and past rein-
forcement experiences than on how people read their competence
(self-efficacy) at the activity and on their prospective expectations
about obtaining prized versus nonvalued outcomes.
Aptitudes and Values. Some career theories view interests as an
outgrowth of either personal aptitudes and abilities or work values.
SCCT acknowledges that abilities and values areimportant parts of
the process that gives rise to vocational interests; however, in our
scheme, their effects on interests are primarily funneled through
self-efficacy and outcome expectations. For instance, we posit that,
rather than influence interests directly, abilities inform self-efficacy
beliefs, which, in turn, influence outcome expectations and inter-
est. Work values are incorporated within the concept of outcome
expectations. Specifically, the latter may be conceptualized as peo-
ple’s preferences for particular work conditions or reinforcers (such
as status, money, or autonomy), which is how work values are often
defined, together with personal beliefs about the extent to which
particular occupations offer these conditions (reinforcers).
Other Person and Contextual Influences. Social cognitive vari-
ables do not arise in a vacuum, nor do they function alone in shaping
SOCIAL COGNITIVE CAREER THEORY 267