The Complexity Dimension. Complexityalludes to the extent of
issues interrelated with the career problem within the problem space
and is defined as “contextual factors, originating in the family, soci-
ety, employing organizations, or the economy, that make it more or
less difficult to process information necessary to solve career problems
and make career decisions” (Sampson et al., 2000a, p. 158). Persons
having a higher state of readiness have fewer family, social, economic,
and organizational factors to deal with in career choice. Persons hav-
ing a lower state of readiness may be coping with one seriously debil-
itating factor, such as blatant discrimination, or they may be coping
with a series of contextual factors that, taken as a group, make career
choice more difficult, such as being a single parent who is working for
an employer who is downsizing during a recession. Furthermore, the
emotional states that can result from experiencing these factors, such
as anxiety, depression, and anger, can make it difficult or impossible
to process the information necessary for effective career problem
solving (Hill & Peterson, 2001; Saunders, Peterson, Sampson, &
Reardon, 2000). Because of the complexity of issues in the problem
space and the capability to manage them, not all clients are prepared
to immediately engage the career problem-solving process. Some
clients may require intensive personal assistance from a counselor to
manage factors in the problem space that impede learning beforethey
are able to progress effectively through the CASVE cycle. However,
other clients categorized as possessing low readiness may, due to
extenuating life circumstances (for example, the need for employ-
ment to meet basic life needs), proceed with career problem solving
while receiving ongoing support for other personal issues. Thus the
assessment of readiness for career problem solving is a key feature in
the use of CIP in career counseling.
The assessment of readiness may be accomplished through the
integration of information gathered from self-report measures and
interviews. A useful readiness measure, based on CIP theory, is the
Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson et al., 1996a). The CTI
is a forty-eight-item self-report instrument that assesses the level of
a client’s dysfunctional thinking through three principal construct
A COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH 333