Krumboltzs Social

Learning Theory

G & C 508: Career Guidance
Discussant:
Krumboltzs Theory: Intro
Considered to be a learning theory
Derived from the Social Learning Theory of
Albert Bandura;

Assumes that peoples personalities and
behavioral repertoires can be explained most
usefully on the basis of their unique learning
experiences.
(www.ocean.otr.usm.edu/~w313873/PSY714/.../KrumboltzTheoryweb.ppt)
Krumboltzs Theory: Intro
Conceptualized as one theory with two
parts:
Part 1: Krumboltzs social learning theory of
career decision making.
Explains the origins of career choice.
Part 2: Krumboltzs learning theory of career
counseling.
Explains what career counselors can do about many
career related problems.
Krumboltzs Social Learning Theory of
Career Decision Making(SLTCDM)
Designed to address the WHY behind
decisions to enter, change, or express
interest in educational programs or
occupations.
Four factors that influence the career
decision making:
Genetic endowment and special abilities
Environmental conditions and events
Learning Experiences
Task Approach skills
Krumboltzs Social Learning Theory of
Career Decision Making(SLTCDM).continuation
Four Factors that influence career decision making
1. Genetic endowment and special
abilities
Krumboltz recognizes that certain inherited
characteristics can be restrictive influences on
the individual. Some examples are race, gender
and physical appearance.


Krumboltzs Social Learning Theory of
Career Decision Making(SLTCDM).continuation
Four Factors that influence career decision making
2. Environmental conditions and events
This factors include those influences that may lie
outside the control of anyone but that may
bear on the individual through the
environment in which the s/he exists. Some
influences may be synthetic, others maybe
natural. Examples include: existence of job
and training opportunities, social policies and
procedures for selecting trainees of workers,
community or neighborhood influences, family
training experiences, etc.
Krumboltzs Social Learning Theory of
Career Decision Making(SLTCDM).continuation
Four Factors that influence career decision making
3. Learning Experiences
All previous learning experiences influence the
individuals educational and career decision
making. Krumboltz identified two types of
learning experiences:
Instrumental learning situations in which the
individual acts on the environment to produce
certain consequences.
Associative learning situations in which
individuals learn by reacting to external
stimuli, by observing real or fictitious models
or by pairing two events in time or location
Krumboltzs Social Learning Theory of
Career Decision Making(SLTCDM).continuation
Four Factors that influence career decision making
4. Task Approach skills
They are the skills that the individual applies to
each new task or problem. Examples include
performance standards and values, work
habits, perceptual and cognitive processes and
so on. The application of these skills affects
the outcome of each task or problem and in
turn is modified by the results.
Krumboltzs Social Learning Theory of
Career Decision Making(SLTCDM).continuation
Four Factors that influence career decision making
As a result of the interaction of the four
skills people develop:
1) self-observation generalizations
2) task approach skills
3. actions
Krumboltzs (SLTCDM)..cont
1) self-observation generalizations
Are overt or covert self-statement that evaluates
ones own actual or vicarious performance in
relation to learned standards. The
generalization may or may not be accurate,
just as ones self-concept may or may not
coincide with the concept others have fo an
individual.
Krumboltzs (SLTCDM)..cont
2) task approach skills
They are thought to be efforts by the person to
project into the future self-observation
generalizations to make predictions about
future events. They include habits, mental
sets, perceptual or thought process,
performance standards and values and the
like.
Krumboltzs (SLTCDM)..cont
3) Actions
Actions are implementation of behavior, such as
applying for a job or changing a major field of
study. The behavior produces certain
consequences that affect future behavior.

As a result of learning experiences and the
generalizations and skills that develop from
them, individuals engage in various
behaviors that lead to entry into a career.

Krumboltzs
Learning Theory of Career Counseling
Designed to help career counselors know what
to do to help.
Career Counseling should proceed with Four
thoughts in mind:
1) People need to expand their knowledge and skills
instead of relying on their status;
2) People need to prepare for an occupational
landscape that is ever changing;
3) People need to be empowered to take action, not
merely to be given a diagnosis;
4. Career counselors need to play a major role in
dealing with all career problems, not just
occupational selection.
Krumboltzs
Learning Theory of Career Counseling
Overall Goal of the Theory: to facilitate the
learning of skills, interests, beliefs, values, work
habits and personal qualities that enable each
client to create a satisfying life within a
constantly changing work environment.

Always keep your options open.
Test your dreams one at a time.
Create your own good luck, dont wait for it.
Take risks, make mistakes.
Get the job, learn the skill.
Never complete your education; keep learning
- John D. Krumboltz, Ph.D.,
Luck is No Accident



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