Learning theory of careers choice & counselling
People acquire their preferences through a variety of learning experiences, beliefs about
themselves and the nature of their world emerge through direct and indirect education
experiences. They take action on the basis of their beliefs using learned skills.From social learning to happenstance
The original theory (Krumboltz et al, 1976, Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1990), known as the social
learning theory of career decision making (SLTCDM), has recently been developed into the
learning theory of careers counselling (LTCC) (Mitchell and Krumboltz, 1996). The more
recent version attempts to integrate practical ideas, research and procedures to provide
a theory that goes beyond an explanation of why people pursue various jobs: `While the
two theories were published at different times, they can be regarded as one theory with
two parts. Part one (SLTCDM) explains the origins of career choice and part two (LTCC)
explains what career counsellors can do about many career related problems’ (Mitchell and
Krumboltz, 1996, 234). Most recently, Krumboltz has been developing and integrating ideas
about the role of chance (happenstance) in career decision making. Summaries of these
theory developments are given below.
At the heart of Krumboltz’s thinking is Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT). Bandura
identified three major types of learning experiences:
a) Instrumental:
results from direct experience when an individual is positively reinforced or
punished for some behaviour and its associated cognitive skills.b) Associative:
results from direct experience together with reinforcement when an individual
associates some previously affectively neutral event or stimulus with an
emotionally laden stimulus.c) Vicarious:
when individuals learn new behaviours and skills by observing the behaviours
of others or by gaining new information and ideas through media such as
books, films and television.1. Social learning theory of career decision-making (sltcdm)
This theory focuses on teaching clients career decision-making alternatives and makes
use of the concept of the `triadic reciprocal interaction’ (learning as the interaction with en-