and thus somewhat more amenable to intervention. In particular,
their consolidation and activation seems to depend somewhat on
exposure to specific kinds of environments and experiences. This
fact suggests that administering or withdrawing environments, so to
speak, can catalyze and even somewhat modify individual differ-
ences in these more specific, culture-bound constellations of per-
sonal traits. At the very least, exposure to relevant environments
can bring them forth.
Therefore, help young people develop and sample a broader menu of
possible experiences so they can better discover and develop their voca-
tional interests and values.It is hard to know whether individuals
have inappropriately circumscribed their zones of acceptable alter-
natives until their interests and aptitudes have actually been put to
the test, that is, exposed to potentially resonant and discordant
environments. Experience is never sufficient to develop specific in-
terests and skills, but it is essential. Both nature and nurture must
be present in sufficient measure for an interest to emerge.
Fact 3: People shape the environments they inhabit and the
lives they lead to a much greater degree than they imagine. This is
not to say that individuals are responsible for all the good and bad
that befalls them, only that they have considerable leverage for
improving their circumstances, their lives, themselves. We shape
our selves by choosing with whom and what to surround ourselves
or avoid and by the activities in which we immerse ourselves or
refuse to participate.
Therefore, help counselees to understand which kinds of people, activ-
ities, and settings bring out the best or worst in themselves,that is, which
environments make it easier or harder for them to be who they want
to be, to act in the ways they wish, to evoke positive responses from
intimates. It is often easier to change the way one behaves by mod-
ifying the external stimuli to which one reacts than by struggling to
muffle one’s genetic propensities. It is empowering to recognize that
one has many opportunities to shape one’s self and life by changing
even the little things—perhaps especially the little things—in one’s
environment. Put another way, counselors may be able to foster per-
136 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT