430 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT
is pursued until satisfaction is achieved or until P (or E) gives up on
the interaction. In PEC theory, therefore, requirements and capabil-
ities are the basic characteristics of both P and E, and satisfaction (of
both P and E) is the desired outcome of the P-E interaction. (The
preceding presumes choice on the part of P and E. In real life, how-
ever, some Ps are in their Es involuntarily, and some Es include Ps
that have been forced upon them. Otherwise, everything else holds.)
As a psychological theory, PEC theory focuses on P, but P can
only be understood as P-in-an-E; E is essential, even if the focus is
on P. That said, we begin by explicating the variables PEC theory
uses to describe P.
Against the backdrop of its genetic makeup, P’s requirements
crystallize as needsand P’s capabilities as skills.P acquires needs and
skills through experience (long-term learning) and through training
(short-term learning), that is, through interaction with E (or, more
correctly, with many Es). P’s set of needs and skills enlarges during
the growing years and becomes relatively stable with the long-term
adoption of a particular lifestyle (which typically occurs during
adulthood). The stable set of needs and skills becomes characteris-
tic of P. However, needs and skills can erode and may even drop out
of the set; new needs and skills may be added. Thus, even while
seeming to be stable, P may actually be changing.
Needs and Skills
Needis usually defined in terms of a deficit of some kind. For exam-
ple, a water deficit in the body becomes a thirst need. The most basic
human needs, such as hunger and thirst, are those involved in sur-
vival and are often termed physiologicalorbiologicalneeds. Through
the process of conditioning, humans acquire other needs that have
to do with their well-being (beyond just surviving), such as the
needs for recognition and for comfort. These well-being needs are
often termed psychologicalneeds.
Given a “deficit,” the “something” that fills it is technically
termed a reinforcerbecause it reinforces or strengthens the behav-