This study examined the results of a career course on the students' cognitions. Decision making, career indecision, irrational beliefs, vocational identity, and consistency of Holland typology (Holland, 1985a) have all been associated with anxiety. It was postulated that a career intervention would have an impact on irrational beliefs (Ellis, 1962) and consistency of type (Holland, 1985a). Bandura (1977) states that change in confidence, or self-efficacy expectations, is associated with lowered anxiety. / One hundred thirteen students were administered the pre-test. The study used the vocational identity scale of My Vocational Situation (MVS) (Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980) and the College Major Questionnaire (CMQ) (Baumgardner, 1976), a cognitive measure, to divide the class into four groups. / Six other instruments were administered, both at pre- and post-tests. They were the Rational Behavior Inventory (RBI) (Shorkey & Whiteman, 1977), the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1985b), another measure of vocational consistency (Barak & Rabbi, 1981), a self-generated goal and a measure of certainty/satisfaction with career choice. Post-test changes in scores were examined. / Self-efficacy was measured at pre-test and post-test, to examine whether self-efficacy expectations had an impact on outcomes, and whether the intervention had an impact on self-efficacy. An outcome-specific form adapted from Bandura (1977), and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (Tipton & Worthington, n.d.), were utilized. Both pairs of measures were then correlated with the outcome measures. / The four groups were compared using ANOVA for change scores on measures of irrational beliefs, consistency, and certainty/satisfaction (CertSat), and for level of goal achievement at post-test. Of the six hypothesized effects, only changes in CertSat were significant. / Other data supported associations between cognitive therapy, cognitive psychology, and career development. A pattern of significant correlations between RBI and MVS and between RBI and CMQ suggested that persons who espouse more irrational beliefs are more likely to score lower on vocational identity and to think more analytically about their major choices. / Neither the two forms of self-efficacy nor the two forms of vocational consistency gave reliable correlational evidence of measuring the same psychological constructs at either pre- or post-tests. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: B, page: 0590. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76047 |
| Contributors | BASH, ROGER L., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 221 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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