theorizing often retain the terms and definitions of the theory from
which they deduce their ideas about career choice and develop-
ment. For example, I (Brown, 1996, 2002) have retained Rokeach’s
definition of values (Rokeach, 1973) in the construction of my val-
ues-based theory of occupational choice and satisfaction. Theorists
may also choose to re-label and redefine the constructs of the orig-
inal theory. Krumboltz (Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1990) chose this
route in the development of his social learning theory of career
choice. Krumboltz, who used the social learning theory described
by Bandura (1971) as the basis of his theory building, employs the
termsassociative learningandinstrumental learningto replace the
standard terms, classical conditioning, operant conditioning,andobser-
vational learning,which Bandura used. Moreover, he defines associa-
tive learningas subsuming classical conditioning and observational
learning, which not only departs from Bandura but from generally
accepted ideas about these two types of learning. Finally, theorists
may coin new terms. Holland (1997) used an existing term, con-
gruence,to describe the relationship between personality and the
work environment. However, he offered new definitions of person-
ality and work environment in his theory.
After central constructs are enumerated and defined, theorists
identify how these constructs interact in the career development
and choice-making process. This is typically done in theories based
on modern philosophy by setting forth series of testable hypotheses
or propositions. For example, Super (1990) hypothesized that career
choice is the implementation of self-concepts. In order to under-
stand this proposition, it is necessary to have a clear definition of
self-conceptsandcareer,as well as a sense of Super’s view of the
implementation process; few theories of career development or
choice have been developed to this level of specificity. The theories
included in this volume have well-defined constructs for the most
part, and the interrelationships among the constructs included in
the theory are carefully explained. Although it sounds a bit contra-
dictory, given what has just been said, all theories, including the
ones in this book, contain ambiguities because of the complexities
of the phenomena being discussed.
8 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT