Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
Contemporary Topics in Vocational Psychology W.Bruce Walsh, Ohio State University Series Editor
Leong • Career Development and Vocational Behavior of Racial and Ethnic Minorities Vondracek/Lerner/Schulenberg • Career Development: A Life-Span Developmental Approach Walsh • Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning Walsh/Osipow • Advances in Vocational Psychology, Vol. 1: The Assessment of Interest Walsh/Osipow • Career Counseling for Women (New Edition Coming in 2004) Walsh/Osipow • Career Decision Making Watkins/Campbell • Testing in Counseling Practice
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning Edited by
W.Bruce Walsh Ohio State University
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS Mahwah, New Jersey London
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” Copyright © 2003 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, NJ 07430 Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Counseling psychology and optimal human functioning/ edited by Bruce Walsh. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-3998-4 (alk. paper) 1. Counseling. I. Walsh, W.Bruce, 1936– BF637.C65 2003 158′.3–dc21 2002033867 CIP ISBN 1-4106-0920-0 Master e-book ISBN
Contents
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning: An Introduction W.Bruce Walsh 1 The Healthy Personality Susan Day and Patrick Rottinghaus
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2 Fostering Exceptional Development in Intellectually Talented Populations John A.Achter and David Lubinski
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3 Individuality and Optimal Human Functioning: Interests, Self-Efficacy, and Personality Fred H.Borgen and Lori D.Lindley
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4 Person-Environment Psychology and Well-Being W.Bruce Walsh
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5 Optimal Human Functioning From Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Cultural Competence as an Organizing Framework Frederick T.L.Leong and Paul T.P.Wong
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6 Optimal Human Functioning in People of Color in the United States Derald Wing Sue and Madonna G.Constantine
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7 Toward a Positive Psychotherapy: Focus on Human Strength Charles J.Gelso and Susan Woodhouse
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Contents
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8 Strength-Based Health Psychology: Counseling for Total Human Health Alex H.S.Harris and Carl E.Thoresen
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9 Toward a Taxonomy of Human Strengths: Career Counseling’s Contribution to Positive Psychology Mark L.Savickas
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10 Assessing Optimal Human Functioning Patricia Frazier, Shigehiro Oishi, and Michael Steger
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11 Fostering Human Strength Through Diversity and Public Policy: A Counseling Psychologists’ Perspective Rosie Phillips Bingham
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12 Fulfilling Its Promise: Counseling Psychology’s Efforts to Understand and Promote Optimal Human Functioning Shane J.Lopez, Lisa M.Edwards, Jeana L.Magyar-Moe, Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti, and Jamie A.Ryder
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Author Index
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Subject Index
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Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning: An Introduction W.Bruce Walsh Ohio State University
The aim of this volume is to focus on how counseling psychology fosters and builds optimal human strength and well-being. Counseling psychology in some form has always been a vital part of promoting good health and preventing mental, physical, and social disorders. The chapters in this book show how counseling psychology plays a major role in helping people make changes at home, work, and in the community in ways that prevent disease risk and strengthen personal and social resources. The chapter titles are as follows: “The Healthy Personality”; “Fostering Exceptional Development in Intellectually Talented Populations”; Individuality and Optimal Functioning in Interests, SelfEfficacy, and Personality”; “Person-Environment Psychology and WellBeing”; “Optimal Human Functioning From Cross-Cultural Perspectives”; “Optimal Human Functioning in People of Color in the United States”; “Toward a Positive Psychotherapy: Focus on Human Strength”; “StrengthBased Health Psychology Counseling for Total Human Health”; Toward a Taxonomy of Human Strengths: Career Counseling’s Contribution to Positive Psychology”; “Assessing Optimal Human Functioning”; and “Fostering Human Strength Through Diversity and Public Policy”: The final chapter “A Counseling Psychologist’s Perspective” summarizes, integrates, and comments on the contents of counseling psychology and optimal human functioning.
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Chapter 1, by Day and Rottinghaus, provides a perspective on the healthy personality. These authors note that defining a healthy personality is a valuedriven effort and may apply judgments too broadly. In particular, healthy personality may be significantly different across the globe and within subcultures. It is in this context that the authors attempt to look at characteristics that underpin how mentally healthy individuals respond to expectations and demands, and they suggest that there is some commonality in the underpinning. Chapter 2, by Achter and Lubinski, focuses on the evolution of theory, empirical knowledge, and practice on the optimal development of exceptionalintellectual abilities. These authors present concepts and empirical support for ways to facilitate socially valued achievement and personal fulfillment among intellectually talented persons. They note that the critical starting point is early identification. Multidimensional, above-level ability and preference assessment can, and probably should, occur by early adolescents to adequately respond to precocious intellectual abilities with developmentally appropriate educational opportunities. They point out that this kind of information can be invaluable for guiding talented youth toward avenues leading to rewarding and socially valued lives. In chapter 3, Borgen and Lindley emphasize that for years counseling psychology has led in identifying human strengths in normal people pursuing typical life goals, such as school and work. Three major domains of individuality that counseling psychology has emphasized are interests, selfefficacy, and personality. Researchers, as noted by the authors, have increasingly shown the important and incremental role of these dimensions in explaining life choices and adjustments. Accumulating evidence is showing that assessment that combines interests, self-efficacy, and personality will better describe the person’s individual strengths and better inform important life choices. Broad assessment measures are useful for efficiently describing broad goals. Borgen and Lindley note that more specific assessment measures have additional advantages. They increase the probability of identifying distinctive strengths and they add to the validity of assessment for specific choices. In sum, these authors note that counseling psychology approaches assessment as the task of helping people generate good options, choices, and possibilities. Chapter 4, by Walsh, reviews selected theories of person-environment psychology that have implications for individual satisfaction and well-being. Interactional psychology is defined as the scientific investigation of a complex interplay of situations and persons in determining behavior. Well-being is defined in terms of the degree to which a person is fully func-tioning and doing what is worth doing. Self-realization, personal growth, and development are important dimensions of this definition. It is in this context that five theoretical frameworks are reviewed with an emphasis on the implications for psychological well-being. Each theory discussed has stimulated some meaningful research that has implications for satisfaction and well-being.
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The basic premise of chapter 5, by Leong and Wong, is that there are many ways to be human, and that the cultural competence model is a useful theoretical framework for analyzing and understanding cross-cultural differences in optimal human functioning. Leong and Wong begin with several important definitional issues and move on to compose a contingency model of cultural competence to analyze and understand optimal human functioning from a cross-cultural perspective. This contingency model of cultural competence takes into account not only cultural value orientations, but also perspectives and domains. These authors further include the dimensions of religious and existential orientations. They point out that the Contingency model remains a working model and needs to be further developed conceptually and tested empirically. They also point out that the basic concepts of happiness, optimal functioning, and positive psychology vary from culture to culture and need to be clarified. Their focus on value orientations represents only one of the promising alternatives. In a closing section the authors discuss the counseling implications of the model. Chapter 6, by Sue and Constantine, focuses on optimal human functioning in people of color in the United States. These authors note that definitions of optimal human functioning are culturally bound and often do not adequately address the values, experiences, and realities of people of color. In understanding well-being among people of color, it is imperative to consider their social-political histories, experiences of racial discrimination, and cultural values and world views. These authors note that it is also beneficial to understand well-being from various cultural lenses because these perspectives may provide mental health professionals with increased opportunities to understand individuals within their cultural contexts. In chapter 7, Gelso and Woodhouse discuss a number of ways that counselors and clinicians can incorporate a conceptualization of client’s strengths into what they say and do in therapy. For example, they can explicitly comment on clients strengths, including strengths that emerge in the context of the counseling relationship. Counselors and therapists can also reframe apparent weaknesses as strengths, or attend to strengths that are imbedded in defenses. In addition, they note that supervisors of counselors and therapists can consciously engage in a parallel process of focusing on strengths in the supervision, just as therapist trainees are focusing on client strengths in the counseling and clinical hour. In terms of a research agenda for positive psychology, these authors envision two general themes: the constructs that are studied and the effects of positive interventions on process and outcome. In chapter 8, Thoresen and Harris discuss how positive psychology constructs may be relevant to the work of health psychologists and health focused counseling psychologists. These authors discuss the potential integration of positive and health psychology perspectives into a field that examines the development and interaction of positive psychology constructs, supportive social environments, health promoting behaviors, and optimal physiology. They have
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selected as examples three relevant areas of positive psychology in which theoretical developments, associated intervention strategies, as well as actual or emerging research programs exist: (a) forgiveness, (b) socially emotional support, and (c) spirituality. Chapter 9, by Savickas, discusses career counseling’s contribution to positive psychology. For purposes of identifying the human strengths and the coping responses on which career intervention concentrates, Savickas has grouped the coping responses into six syndromes of attitudes, beliefs, and competencies: concern, control, conviction, competence, commitment, and connection. In the chapter, he describes the coping responses that exercise each human strength. According to Savickas, career education and counseling, through the exercise of vocational coping attitudes, beliefs, and competencies, focus on building human strengths. The purpose of chapter 10, by Frazier, Oishi, and Steger, is to describe specific measures counseling psychology researchers and practitioners use to assess various aspects of optimal human functioning, and to discuss some general assessment issues in this area. These authors begin by describing various definitions of optimal functioning and their rationale for choosing specific domains to cover. They, next, outline the criteria used to evaluate measures and then describe and critique assessment instruments in three domains in optimal functioning important for counseling psychologists: subjective well-being, meaning in life, and posttraumatic growth. They conclude with some discussion of broader issues to consider in the assessment of optimal functioning. Chapter 11, by Bingham, focuses on fostering optimal functioning through diversity and public policy. She asks the question, “How will human beings live and thrive together” and proposes that part of the answer is in capitalizing on the world’s human diversity. She strongly recommends that we support policies that foster human strength through diversity and in this context makes five recommendations: (a) go back to the basics on which counseling psychology was founded; (b) insist on a focus on culture, race, and ethnicity in all areas of psychology; (c) do the research and promote the scholarship; (d) influence policies which impact diversity; (e) revamp graduate education and training programs to include a distinct, yet integrative focus on diversity and public policy. Finally, chapter 12 by Lopez, Edwards, Magyar-Moe, Pedrotti, and Ryder summarizes, integrates, and identifies common themes for fostering well-being and optimal human functioning. They discuss the chapters in this book in the context of the five major themes (intact personalities, individual assets and strengths, positive mental health, person-environment interactions, and educational and career development) that serve to unite the roles and tasks of counseling psychology (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). These authors also discuss the need to integrate knowledge in pursuit of the conditions that contribute to characterize optimal human functioning in different cultures. To do this they
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recommend increasing definitional clarity, toning down “turf talk,” professional collaboration, a scholarship of integration, and a broader view of knowing.
REFERENCES Gelso, C., & Fretz, B. (2001), Counseling psychology (2nd ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt.
1 The Healthy Personality Susan X Day Iowa State University University of Houston
Patrick Rottinghaus Iowa State University
Wisdom is hard won in Ann Tyler’s novels, but when it arrives it is well expressed: In Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982), a thoughtful character muses, Everything comes down to time in the end—to the passing of time, to changing. Ever thought of that? Anything that makes you happy or sad, isn’t it all based on minutes going by? Isn’t happiness expecting something time is going to bring you? Isn’t sadness wishing time back again? (p. 256) This time framework for “everything” will serve us in organizing our thoughts about what makes for a healthy personality. We look at the question in terms of how you are oriented to the past, the present, and the future. First, we take up a few background matters. One is definition of terms. When we speak of the healthy personality, our meaning overlaps with what many other phrases denote: good mental health, optimal functioning, effective personality, and so forth. The terminology is organized in Table 1.1 along with historical associations. Some definitions from the past hold the charm of simplicity: When asked what a normal person should be able to do well, Freud reputedly said, “to love and to work” (Erikson, 1950, p. 229).
TABLE 1 Ten Concepts Relating to Optimal Human Functioning
2 The Healthy Personality
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Karl Menninger (1937) defined mental health in this way: “It is the ability to maintain an even temper, an alert intelligence, socially considerate behavior, and a happy disposition” (p. 1). Aristotle endorsed a Chinese-menu approach: “virtue, practical wisdom, speculative wisdom, or a combination of these, or one of them in more or less intimate association with pleasure” (Thomson, 1953, p. 28). Sol Ginsburg (1963) settled for “simple criteria”: “the ability to hold a job, have a family, keep out of trouble with the law, and enjoy the usual opportunities for pleasure” (p. 9). We find that we do not stray far from these eloquent dicta; we essay their exegesis. Obviously, mental health is not merely the absence of mental illness, but some extra qualitative buoyancy that cannot be captured by one concept. We try to present a set of interlocking concepts that form a network of definitions. Using words from the medical model at all has come under criticism, of course. White (1973) criticized our use of the metaphor of health in psychological counseling. The metaphor harms us when we accept the medical model, which defines health as the opposite of illness, meaning that we make errors such as elevating extroversion and sociability as signs of health, simply because they stand in such contrast to the social withdrawal we see in depressed and schizophrenic people. White would prefer terms such as self-actualization to describe the highly functioning personality. He also pointed out that a mere list of qualities will not serve to define this personality, in that some components are bound to squeeze out others: “The person who tries to be a ‘jack-of-allmaturities’ may end as master of none, having failed to find what could be his greatest strengths and to recognize their incompatibility with other virtues” (White, p. 7). Jahoda (1958) pointed out two ways of defining mental health: (a) as a trait or (b) as a state: Take a strong man with a bad cold. According to the first, he is healthy; according to the second, he is sick. Both statements are justifiable and useful. But utter confusion will result if either of these correct diagnoses is made in the wrong context, (p. 8) In the linear discourse of our essay here, a certain amount of listing and categorizing is inevitable, but we hope to suggest how distinct elements inform a dynamic structure. The second background matter is one of how counseling psychology is (and has been) involved in defining healthy functioning. In 1980, Watkins reviewed historical distinctions between clinical and counseling psychology. One of these was the influence of Carl Rogers (1961, 1980) in counseling: “The concepts of empathy, reflection, self-actualization, and the fully func-tioning person have come to be the watchwords of many counselors” (p. 77). At the same time, Donald Super’s (1955) view of vocational development as a lifelong process,
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rather than a limited phase, captured the imaginations of the same counselors. Furthermore, Leona Tyler’s (1969) emphasis on individual development as a sequence of choices, “the psychology of possibilities,” provided a blueprint for counseling theory. Rogers, Super’s, and Tyler’s stances still distinguish the field of counseling psychology and combine to give our field a focus on the positive and constructive side of life. These days, the broader world of psychologists embraces a positive psychology movement (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), whose sometimes unacknowledged foundation lies in the philosophy of counseling psychology. In fact, though today’s positive psychologists often act as though they are christening a spanking new ocean liner, we notice that this boat has left the dock once or twice per decade for the last century or so. William James at the turn of the last century; the Mental Hygiene movement of the early 1900s; postFreudians like Menninger, Anna Freud, and Jung in the 1920s and 1930s; R.B. Cattell and other personality psychologists in the 1940s; a raft of theorists in the 1950s, including Erikson, Super, and Allport; Jahoda, Tyler, Shostrum, Maslow, and Rogers in the 1960s and 1970s: all have investigated optimal states of being. Just as regularly, psychologists have complained that the healthy personality is understudied. Witness Gordon Allport in 1955, “We find today many studies of criminals, few of law-abiders; many of fear, few of courage; more on hostility than affiliation; much on the blindness in man, little on his vision; much on his past, little on his outreaching into the future” (p. 18), fretting in harmony with Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi in 2000, “Our message is to remind our field that psychology is not just the study of pathology, weakness, and damage; it is also the study of strength and virtue” (p. 7). Why does the field of psychology apparently suffer such amnesia about the study of strength and virtue? Funding no doubt plays a role, and therefore politics does. It may seem more pressing for society to find effective cures for alcoholism, focusing on the disorder, than to study drinkers who never become abusers or alcoholics who cure themselves (who, incidentally, compose the majority of cures [Vaillant, 1983]). It may also be the personalities of psychologists: As your family has no doubt pointed out, we are drawn to our field because we are crazy, not sane, and we are interested in craziness. And let’s face it, the college abnormal psychology course turns on more students than the vocational psychology course does. Pathology is just more exotic, and here the relationship between clinical and counseling psy-chology comes into play. Because counseling psychologists are committed to helping basically normal persons, the enhancement of life quality is uniquely appropriate to our field, whereas treatment of mental illness is the focus of clinical psychologists (Foreman, 1966). As Super (1955) put it, clinical psychology has concerned itself with “the abnormalities even of normal persons,” whereas counseling concerns itself with “the normalities even of abnormal persons” (p. 5). Clinical psychology is more dramatic than counseling psychology, has more status,
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draws more funding, and gets more press; so the disappearing act of positive psychology may only be an artifact of counseling psychology’s offstage turf. The third background point we make briefly and then return to in various parts of this chapter. This is the point that defining healthy personality is a value-driven effort and may apply judgments too broadly (White, 1973). In particular, healthy personality may be drastically different across the globe and within subcultures. For example, an American widow’s family is anxious about her if she is still deeply depressed 1 year after her husband’s death and apprehensive about her mental health if she stays inconsolable at the 2-year point. A Greek widow’s family fully expects her to mourn deeply for at least 5 years, and worries about her mental health, as well as her morals, if she perks up sooner. These are social expectations that no doubt affect the psychological states of the widows. However, in this chapter, we try to look at characteristics that underpin how mentally healthy individuals respond to expectations and demands, and we believe that there is some commonality in the underpinning. In support of this point of view, Cattell (1973) argued that differences among cultures may be negligible when defining the core of healthy personality: “Intelligence, capacity to control impulses and to work for more remote gains, foresight, dependability in human relations, etc., are almost certainly requisites for adjustment, success, and survival in almost any fairly complex culture” (p. 17). Thus, for example, the Greek and the American widow could both benefit from accurate understanding of social expectations; reasonable assessments of their own interests, capabilities, and limitations; good control over their behavior; and hope for the future. With three background issues distilled—the problem of definition, the role of counseling psychology, and the potential impact of differing cultures—we return to time, the format of everything (according to Ann Tyler’s character). The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI; Shostrum, 1974) measures self-actualizing tendencies. An unhealthy score on one of the POI’s two scales indicates that a person “lives primarily in the past, with guilt, regrets, and resentments, and/or in the future with Utopian goals, plans, expectations, predictions, and also with worry” (Hightower, 1988, p. 528). Shostrum and many others, including Schneider (2001) in her discussion of realistic optimism, use this conceptualization as a handy framework for looking at the healthy personality: in terms of orientation toward the past, present, and future. ORIENTATION TO THE PAST The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. (Wordsworth, 1807/1974)
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Erikson wrote, “To be adult means among other things to see one’s own life in continuous perspective, both in retrospect and prospect” (1958, pp. 111–112). To see our days bound together with ultimate goodness is not only a yearning of the Romantic poets, but all humanity. Your life story is part of your personality. Of autobiographical narrative, McAdams (1999) wrote, “The past is selected and reconstructed such that it can be integrated with the perceived present and anticipated future” (p. 482), resolving problems of unity and purpose in life and establishing an ego identity (for better or worse). The tone, themes, and imagery of your story reflect the traits and dispositions of your personality, and the story changes as (or if) you transform yourself over the years. McAdams analyzed the autobiographies of active, productive middle-aged people and contrasted them with autobiographies of more plodding folks. People of high generativity in midlife see their pasts as having made sense. In particular, they perceive the bad things that have happened as eventually having good outcomes—strength coming from adversity, or a forced change of life opening up unexpected opportunities. The stories of less generative people showed a flip-flop—in their life stories, good things inevitably go bad. This difference between the high-functioning people and the undistinguished is not simply that better things have happened to the first group. It has to do with how you look back on things. Adler (1927) found that asking people their earliest childhood memories produced happy memories among the happy, sad among the sad, solitary among the solitary, social among the social, and so on. He believed that recollections reflect your style of life, your characteristic way of behaving and feeling. McAdams (1999) argued that each of us creates a life story that interprets the past from our present stance. The healthy personality reframes negative past events in terms of positive outcomes. In Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality, Allport (1955) agreed with narrative’s potential: The drama of human life can be written largely in terms of the friction engendered between earlier stages and later stages of development. Becoming is the process of incorporating earlier stages into later: or when this is impossible, of handling the conflict between early and late stages as well as one can. (p. 28) Schneider (2001) described giving past events “the benefit of the doubt,” that is, choosing a positive interpretation to past events or behavior, given that most events have a range of reasonable versions. For example, a psychotherapist may realize that his mother’s terrifying emotional volatility taught him to become highly sensitive to others’ moods, something which now contributes to his success as a counselor. He thus detraumatizes his past. Similarly, we may look back on being poor during our college days with nostalgia (as simpler times), or
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with gratitude (as having taught us to enjoy what we have), rather than remembering an era of misery. In an argument for realistic optimism, Schneider (2001) stated that “we have considerable latitude in deciding what significance we assign to events and what lessons we choose to learn from our experience” (p. 253). In looking at our past, “we can take advantage of the latitude in potential reasonable interpretations to select an interpretation that focuses on the positive aspects of the situation” (p. 254). For example, inability to afford a prestigious private college after high school results in a young woman’s going to a state university. In adulthood, she can choose to look back in anger, fantasizing about how much improved her life would be if she had headed East; or she can choose to emphasize her good fortune in the vivid and diverse social circle she found at State. Schneider refers to such a reframing of past events as “discovering a perspective that is simultaneously truthful and favorable” (p. 254), even though many aspects were admittedly negative. Unexpected pregnancies often illustrate the principle poignantly. Because we often make judgments about our situations in comparison with other ones, we can choose objects of comparison that enhance our satisfaction with our current state (Schneider, 2001). Thus, we might compare our work load with some other era’s when we had far more to do, rather than with the lifestyle of a retired friend. We also might pay attention to positive aspects of the present moment, appreciating being safe and warm in a pleas-ant environment while we are hard at work. This is the type of focus that characterizes healthy personality and increases the likelihood of more positive events and interpretations: “Realistically, having a good attitude is likely to pay off” (p. 260). Cognitive reframing also involves acceptance of the past rather than constant preoccupation with it, a preoccupation that many counselors call “being stuck.” Holman and Silver (1998) found that among incest survivors, Vietnam veterans, and firestorm survivors, people who were stuck in the past were significantly more psychologically distressed than those who were oriented to the future. In all three groups, a future orientation was significantly associated with psychological well-being. Holman and Silver grant that some processes of focusing on past experience, such as searching for meaning and working through, may be necessary in the face of trauma, but “if these initially adaptive coping strategies keep people focused on a distressing and seemingly unresolvable past, they appear to be detrimental for long-term adaptation” (p. 1159). We would emphasize the “seemingly unresolvable” aspect here, meaning that the psychologically stuck people have not been able to cognitively reframe or reinterpret the past into an integrated life story, weaving distressing events into a coherent timeline. Another way of being stuck in (or by) the past is to negate or deny negative experiences, through suppression, repression, or motivated forgetting. In this sense, the narrative has gaps and discontinuities that make the story feel inauthentic even to the storyteller.
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Finally, blame and shame, luck and talent, are balanced. A highly functional adult looks at the past with some parts of the negative charged to others’ accounts and some to her own, and with some parts of the positive credited to the luck of the draw and others to her own efforts. Judging the self too harshly (“Everything was my own fault.”) or too leniently (“Everyone was against me.”) are hallmarks of people not at peace with their past. Indeed, moderation has its merits when considering the past. Instead of emphasizing Aristotle’s mean, perhaps the best possible realistic interpretation of one’s situation is most fruitful. Counseling psychologists strive to promote such healthy views through encouraging informed, yet positive views of past, present, and future.
ORIENTATION TOWARD THE PRESENT We will assert that your goals are an intimate part of your behavior and feelings in the present. However, setting goals is the province of your orientation to the future, and we discuss it in the next section of this chapter. For now, consider yourself in the present—today, this week, this month. Today is a snapshot of your usual functioning, and this week is a prescient video of all the weeks in your future. An evaluation of your mental-health status hinges on whether your point of view, focus, and activity is appropriate to your era of life. We look to Super (e.g., Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996) and to Erikson (1950) for life-span approaches to healthy existence. Both of these theorists identified life stages that entail different challenges and require different strengths. A school child’s task is to get along with peers, defer to authority, and learn material; we do not expect children to plan their own day, or to support their family financially. D.H. Lawrence’s story “The Rocking Horse Winner” (1932/1982) forcefully reminds us what happens when a family’s whole fortune depends on a child’s streak of good luck at the racetrack: The child is ridden to his grave. The work of an adolescent is to find an identity and establish reciprocal relationships; we forgive their flickering and capricious personae. The teenager Hamlet (Shakespeare, 1601/1970) is unable to decide on a course of action, even when commanded to wreak bloody revenge for his father’s murder. His identity is not strong enough to bear the weight of the obligation. Of adolescents, we cannot expect either the resolve or reliability we desire in adult identity, or the tractability we encourage in children. Adolescence is a time when cultural differences may come into play in defining mental health; In middle-class United States, the allowable period of identity exploration, romantic upheaval, and occupational indecision is protracted (say, until age 40!) in comparison with cultures where parenthood and provisioning duties arrive earlier and more imperatively. In these societies, the waywardness and general fecklessness of U.S. teens would be considered antisocial rather than charming.
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In most of our adult life, we are called to love and to work. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness” (qtd. in Rather, 2001, p. 71) (Jefferson, 1788). Little (1999) proposed a model of adult well-being, which he saw predicted by five features of a person’s work (considering that vocational identity is, in his broader terminology, a major personal project). To enhance well-being, the project must possess the following: Meaning (subjective value), structure (manageability), community (social approval and support), efficacy (confidence of progress), and low stress (relative freedom from conflict). Consider your own jobs and projects from this point of view, and you will see why some have been so satisfying and others disappointing or frustrating. Holland (1997) saw all of these features in relation to an individual’s personality (for example, what is meaningful and manageable to a happy dairy farmer contrasts sharply with what is meaningful and manageable to a happy theater critic). Holland believed that the important variable underlying occupational well-being was congruence, that is, a good fit between personality and the demands and rewards of the job. The same could be said for successful marriages and thriving friendships. This notion of congruence is also central to Rogers’s person-centered approach. Rogers (1980) perceived a wish for intimacy as inherent in human potential; Adler (1927) believed that social interest was the pinnacle of human goodness; Erikson (1950) listed love as a basic virtue, and included service to humanity as a form of generativity. The demands and rewards of connection with others are welcome to the healthy personality, both in the personal sphere of romantic love and the larger sphere of community. Marie Jahoda (1958) asserted that the empathic person “treat the inner life of other people as a matter worthy of his concern and attention. Implicitly, he is also expected to arrive at conclusions about others that are free from distortion” (p. 52). In psychoanalytic terms, the empathic adult is not incapacitated by the narcissistic wound. Willie Loman, the tragic hero of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, is the prototype of the failed adult personality: destitute in love and ridiculous at work, his final useful act is smashing up the car so his suicide looks accidental, and his family can collect insurance. (Note that far from being limited to Western culture, the tragedy of Willie Loman has found huge popularity in theaters internationally and has probably been produced somewhere in the world every day since its opening in 1949 [Barnet, Berman, Burto, & Draya, 1997].) The call to love and work in most senses continues through old age, albeit many times in forms different from the adult era. In the United States, we have a
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national problem among people who retire from the official workforce only to find themselves modern King Lears, displaced and superfluous. The situation highlights the way our culture neglects existential issues of aging. We don’t expect the elderly to do hard physical labor, to supervise a workforce, or to patiently endure the rigors of classroom learning and teaching. The tasks of the elderly are less concrete, more transcendental—in fact, Allport (1955) asserted that a mark of positively advancing maturity was “the extent of one’s feeling of self-involvement in abstract ideals” (p. 45). Jung (1931/1960) viewed the transition from the adult to the aged era as passing from a biological-social to a spiritual being; the life tasks of the elderly rest in reconciling opposites in the unconscious and understanding life stories. Jung stands out among stage psychologists because he saw old age as a forward-moving as well as a backward-looking era. Likewise, Baltes and Staudinger (2000) have developed a wisdom heuristic that delineates sophistication in six areas: 1. Strategies and goals involving the conduct and meaning of life; 2. limits of knowledge and uncertainties of the world; 3. excellence of judgment and advice; 4. knowledge with extraordinary scope, depth, and balance; 5. search for a perfect synergy of mind and character; and 6. balancing the good or well-being of oneself and that of others, (p. 132) These psychologists argue that the wisdom heuristic would usefully be included in our construction of a hierarchy of optimal human development. Unlike physical strength and cognitive speed, wisdom is a target elders can still aim for fruitfully. In the popular notion, we idealize the role of the elderly in giving advice and providing seasoned perspective for younger people. Erikson (1950) named wisdom as the virtue stemming from the challenges of old age. To what end? Of course, the ultimate gauntlet of the elderly—to face the inevitable and profess, “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee/Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so” (Donne, 1633/1974). The Question of Happiness Maslow (1969) wrote that self-actualized adults “have a feeling of belongingness and rootedness, they are satisfied in their love needs, have friends and feel loved and loveworthy, they have status and place in life and respect from other people, and they have a reasonable feeling of worth and self-respect” (p. 35). (These blessings may come from different sources and carry different weights in different cultures; the list itself is cross-cultural.) We would expect that such a psychologically optimal state would produce a high overall level of subjective well-being, or happiness. One definition of such a state says that on the balance, people with subjective well-being experience more positive affect than negative, across time and domains (Diener, 1984). In his review of
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subjective well-being theory and research, Diener found evidence for two competing explanations. In the bottom-up approach, a person develops a global tendency to see things positively when positive experiences accumulate in life. In the top-down approach, a person with a sunny disposition sees a larger number of events as positive. The top-down approach emphasizes your personality traits, whereas the bottom-up approach emphasizes your history and what you have learned to expect. Further puzzles about subjective well-being remain unsolved, especially conundrums about which direction happiness flows: for example, are happy people more active, goal-directed, and socially involved, or does being active, goal-directed and socially involved create happy people? Here in the United States, a satisfying love life and high self-esteem, similarly, are strongly linked to happiness, but which comes first? Nonetheless, in predicting well-being, individual demographic variables like age, gender, income, and marital status all together account for only 10% to 15% of the variance in subjective well-being (Diener, 1984), leaving a large amount that might be explained by personality and its genesis. The concept of psychological health is neither singular nor constant, but an ephemeral process that yields life satisfaction through its pursuit. A healthy personality does not live in continual happiness. Sorrow is part of life for everyone, but as Frankl (1959/1984) put it, “Once an individual’s search for a meaning is successful, it not only renders him happy but also gives him the capability to cope with suffering” (p. 163). Carver and Scheier (1999) also focused on the dynamic nature of the adult era: “The goal of developing a career isn’t just the goal of finally being ‘established.’ It’s the pathway of steps involved in getting there” (p. 554), and Allport (1937) wrote, “It is the striving towards the known goal that confers unity, not the successful arrival” (p. 350). Rogers believed that each individual has the natural proclivity to achieve selfactualization given the appropriate environment. This formative tendency emphasizes dynamic growth toward wholeness. We are always in the process of becoming a psychologically healthy person. This evolving quality of aligning our real and ideal selves provides an excellent heuristic for explaining the healthy personality.
ORIENTATION TO THE FUTURE We have discussed mental health in terms of your adequacy for the demands of your era of life at the moment. This present adequacy, though, is infused with your attitude toward the future—in particular, your level of optimism. Optimism has such a baked-in quality that it is often considered a personality trait. In fact, it correlates moderately with Extraversion and Conscientiousness on personality inventories (Marshall, Wortman, Vickers, Kusulas, & Hervig, 1994). Good
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things flow from optimism: Research has shown its association with physical health (Scheier & Carver, 1985; Peterson, Seligman, & Vaillant, 1988; Segerstrom, Taylor, Kemeny, & Fahey, 1998), success in political campaigns (Zullow, Oettingen, Peterson, & Seligman, 1988), adjustment to college (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992), work productivity (Seligman & Schulman, 1986), and prevention of depression (Sweeney, Anderson, & Bailey, 1986), in addition to other desirable characteristics such as happiness, achievement, and perseverance (Peterson, 2000). A positive view of the future allows individuals to become more engaged in life itself, a critical component of psychological health. Let us investigate some of the ways that optimism operates. Remember Little’s (1999) formula for optimal work: One of the five critical features was efficacy, or confidence of progress. No matter how meaningful, manageable, and socially approved a project appears, if you are not fairly sure that you can make progress, you are stymied. Self-efficacy, a belief that you are capable in a certain area, is essential for success (Bandura, 1986). Teachers of statistics will tell you that one of their major challenges is persuasion: convincing mathphobic students that they really can learn the material. You have no doubt felt the surge of hope at the merest glimmer that you are, after all, going to be capable of driving in Houston, or making your computer and printer cooperate with each other, or understanding Kierkegaard. Adler, in Understanding Human Nature (1927) connected optimism with confidence and other virtues: “There is the way of optimism, in which the child is confident of easily solving the problems which he meets…In his case we see the development of courage, openness, frankness, responsibility, industry, and the like” (p. 25). The optimist, according to Adler, possesses a style that “considers the tasks of life eminently within his power” (p. 25). Feelings of competence inform a basic component of future orientation: setting goals. William James (1890) emphasized the connection between our self-beliefs and life outcomes: “Our self-feeling in this world depends entirely on what we back ourselves to be and do” (p. 310). This relationship is central to Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory. Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994) highlighted the role of self-efficacy in their social cognitive career theory, which explains the process of interest development, choice, and persistence toward career related goals. In career counseling, we encourage clients to back themselves to seek goals commensurate with their values, abilities, personality, and interests. We often witness areas of self-doubt carrying the day, though. For example, many people who love psychology reject the college major because of the statistics requirements. Also, people often choose classes, majors, and jobs not to pursue a goal but to avoid an activity they fear, like writing (e.g., Bennett & Rhodes, 1988). Again, James (1892) resonates,
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We desire to feel, to have, to do, all sorts of things which at the moment are not felt, had, or done. If with the desire there goes a sense that attainment is not possible, we simply wish; but if we believe that the end is in our power, we will that the desired feeling, having, or doing shall be real; and real it presently becomes, (p. 415, emphasis added) True to the roots of counseling psychology, White (1973) encouraged conceiving of each client in terms of their sense of competence, and their pursuit of their individual interests. In White’s definition, confident people whose interests (rather than their fears) organize their life patterns are the healthy ones. Expectations of progress and success in personal projects (another way of saying confidence) are robustly related to subjective well-being (Diener, 1984; Little, 1999). Confidence is also key in Carver and Scheier’s (1999) conception of effective coping, in that it provides impetus to make efforts toward a reasonable goal in spite of setbacks. Heatherton and Nichols (1994), for example, found that people who successfully made positive life changes, in contrast with those who tried unsuccessfully, reported having more self-control in general and better outcome expectancies, in that the failed life changers were not as certain that change would produce meaningful relief from distress anyway. Setting congruent life goals at long range is not the only way optimism functions. How you deal with stressful situations and daily hassles also provides a useful context for defining healthy approaches to life. People differ in the way they appraise and react to negative life events as well as anticipate future outcomes. Lazarus (1984) defined coping as “constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person” (p. 141). Numerous studies have demonstrated the utility of two prominent types of coping: problem and emotion focused strategies (Snyder & Dinoff, 1999). Problem-focused coping involves active efforts to remove or diminish the source of the stress. Emotionfocused coping involves managing affective reactions. Which strategy or combination of strategies is best depends on the context, of course. An unavoidable stressor, like facing heart surgery, requires that a person manage emotions. A changeable situation, like having your computer break down, calls for a problem-focused strategy (probably backed up with some emotion modulation and foul-language management). Watson, David, and Suls (1999) noted that basic dispositional tendencies, such as Neuroticism and Extraversion (in negative and positive directions, respectively) predict an individual’s choice of coping strategy and level of perceived distress. Maladaptive coping strategies involve denial and stuckness. Optimists use problem-focused coping, positive reframing, and acceptance of unavoidable reality. Pessimists tend to disengage, to use denial and avoidant coping. Optimists even jump the gun and use preventive coping strategies to avoid future potential problems (Carver & Scheier, 1999). In Listening to
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Prozac, Peter Kramer (1993) asserted that the last three people standing in any very long line are depressed. They are unable to think of an alternative plan. What they lack is cognitive flexibility, a quality we sometimes see as the key to the golden kingdom of psychological peace and plenty. It is cognitive flexibility that allows you to find another computer to write on, wash the dog while the hard drive gets repaired, or even continue writing by hand! It is also cognitive flexibility that allows you to see the breakdown as somewhat positive because the dog needed washing badly, and you got a fresh perspective on your ideas from using pen and paper anyway, and the whole thing makes a funny story at happy hour. As Aristotle said, “It is impossible for the entirely happy man to become miserable….The truly good and wise man, we are convinced, bears with dignity all that fortune sends him and invariably takes the most honourable line of conduct that is open to him in the circumstances” (Thomson, 1953, p. 34). The truth is that we never really know what is going to happen, and cognitive flexibility will be required. Gelatt’s (1989) notion of “positive uncertainty” highlights this reality and exhorts us to stay calm in the face of chaos. Traditional linear approaches to decision making are limited because of the future’s unpredictability, and according to Gelatt, we must embrace flexible and healthy attitudes toward inherent uncertainty. Similarly, Mitchell, Levin, and Krumboltz’s (1999) “planned happenstance” emphasizes strategic openness to chance events, allowing us to capitalize on uncertainty. Otherwise, we shall certainly be blindsided. The young person who has mapped out his future in medicine at an early age, complete with choice of medical specialty and residency site, finds himself at the career counselor utterly bemused by a firstyear B average in college. A young woman groomed to fit her father’s footsteps as an engineer and successful in her nontraditional major ends up desolate when she discovers that she abhors the setting and society of her chosen profession. An optimal outlook on the future frames unpredictable events as challenges or opportunities rather than problems (Schneider, 2001). A friend of ours, facing an unforeseen period of deprivation, told us, “This will be a chance to see what I’m made of,” suggesting that she intends to learn something from the experience. Notice also the tone of openness to experience in our friend’s remark, another echo of the interrelatedness among conceptions of healthy personality. A less optimal viewpoint might emphasize the suffering she dreads, or the unfairness of the situation, or the perfidy of other people involved. That viewpoint, arguably, would worsen the experience itself Called on to revenge his father’s murder, if Hamlet had said, “This will be a chance to see what I’m made of,” instead of “To be or not to be…,” we would have a much shorter play, and probably not a tragedy. Carver and Scheier’s (1981) behavioral self-regulatory model depicts multiple levels of concreteness and immediacy stacking up toward a superordinate goal. At the bottom level are the small actions we take in the
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present to work toward the goal, and subsequent levels represent intermediate goals on the way. So, if a young man’s goal was to become a best-selling novelist, he might have “keep a daily journal of observations” on the bottom rung, and “succeed as a creative artist” on the top. This fellow will obviously encounter many barriers. If he is an optimist, he will persist toward the goal and have the cognitive flexibility to see many paths to it, so that one blocked path does not flummox him. He can move to the next. He is not dependent on the outcome of any single effort and can accept thwarted efforts with some equanimity (and indeed, rejection is a way of life for writers). He may come up against significant barriers—for example, a distaste for solitary work and an inability to schedule himself. If these are intractable, he will take a look at his superordinate goal—“succeed as a creative artist”—and ask whether there is another way to define it, a way that is congruent with his personality. He might look into the life of an editor at a publishing house, for example, where the work is highly social and structured by the institution, and yet creative and lucrative. Many of us have had to redefine success on our way there. The trick is to know when you need to persist and when you need to revamp the plan. Career counselors are familiar with clients who maintain the fantasy of becoming doctors while barely making Cs in biology, and fertility clinics swarm with people who believe that parenthood is their only possible way to happiness. But for the healthy personality, “Giving up is an indispensable part of selfregulation, because people need to be able to retrace their steps, back out of corners, free themselves to go elsewhere” (Carver & Scheier, 1999, p. 566). Ongoing commitment to an unattainable goal, or one whose attainment will not yield the hoped-for results, drains a person’s zest for living. Likewise, premature disengagement of effort from a challenging task interferes with the discovery of one’s true potential, thus limiting the attainability of optimal outcomes. For example, an otherwise capable student who avoids working on his thesis because he questions his abilities will not produce his best scholarship. Both of these ineffective approaches prevent individuals from discovering alternative, viable goals. How does a person know whether to persist or revamp? Leona Tyler (1969) said, This requires that he know himself well enough so that he can assess the utility or value to him of each alternative, and that he understand his relationships to other people and to the world of ideas and action well enough to estimate the probability that a course of action he chooses will turn out well. (p. 159) Basically, she prescribes a wealth of accurate insight. There is a common fancy that optimists have an unrealistic view of everything and are untrustworthy judges of situations. Yet it seems that all the good things come to optimists,
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whereas pessimists must console themselves with the dismal and limited probability that they are right. In truth, recent research supports the idea that optimists adapt better to new situations because of their greater flexibility in seeking, processing, and acting upon information (Aspinwall & Brunhart, 1996; Aspinwall, Richter, & Hoffman, 2001). Optimists are even more likely to notice negative information than pessimists are, probably because the optimists believe they will be able to cope with whatever they find. “In particular, optimists seem to be more able than pessimists to vary their beliefs and behavior to match important features of the situation at hand” (Aspinwall et al., p. 218). As Schneider (2001) pointed out, an optimistic interpretation of an event or forecast can be just as realistic as a pessimistic one, given the fuzzy nature of reality. Striving for Wisdom The ultimate healthy view toward the future involves the acceptance of inevitable uncertainty and limitations of life while maintaining a hopeful concern for subsequent generations. These ideas are reflected in Erikson’s final psychosocial stages of generativity versus stagnation and integrity versus despair. In spite of the deterioration of physical and mental faculties, we have the potential (and need) to culminate in a generative state leading toward wisdom. Such integrative understanding of the lifespan (Erikson, 1968) and enhanced functioning in cognitive pragmatics (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000), indicative of a wisdom, offer insights for subsequent generations. Erikson emphasized the responsibility to pass on strengths gained through the lifespan to the next generation. He wrote of the unique wisdom of the ages to be discovered and imparted by individuals while maintaining a detached understanding that this knowledge must ultimately serve to support future generations as they face the demands of their own era.
APOSTROPHE In White’s (1973) classic piece, “The Concept of Healthy Personality: What Do We Really Mean?” he contended that most of us would rather go under the knife of a superior neurosurgeon who was emotionally distant from his wife, than undergo surgery by a so-so neurosurgeon with a healthy personality. Likewise, moments of narcissistic self-congratulation, pointless indulgence, ill-advised liaison, single-minded preoccupation, bottomless grief, bootless rebellion, and wild hilarity are significant detours along the road to optimal functioning, which never ends. After an exhaustive investigation of the topic commissioned by the U.S. government and summarized in Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health (1958), Marie Jahoda wrote, “There are, then, other good things in life, apart from mental health” (p. 79).
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Watson, D., David, J.P., & Suls, J. (1999). Personality, affectivity, and coping. In C.R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping: The psychology of what works (pp. 119–140). New York: Oxford University Press. White, R.W. (1973). The concept of healthy personality: What do we really mean? The Counseling Psychologist, 4, 3–12. Wordsworth, W. (1974). My heart leaps up. In M.H.Abrams, E.T.Donaldson, H.Smith, R. M.Adams, S.H.Monk, L.Lipking, et al., (Eds.), The Norton anthology of English literature (Vol. 2, 3rd ed., p. 174). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1807) Zullow, H.M., Oettingen, G., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1988). Pessimistic explanatory style in the historical record: CAVE-ing LBJ, presidential candidates and East versus West Berlin. American Psychologist, 43, 673–682.
2 Fostering Exceptional Development in Intellectually Talented Populations John A.Achter Concordia College—Moorhead
David Lubinski Vanderbilt University
This chapter focuses on the evolution of theory, empirical knowledge, and practice on the optimal development of exceptional intellectual abilities. We are pleased and honored to contribute to a volume on positive psychology that highlights the contributions of counseling psychology. The scientific study of identifying and nurturing intellectual giftedness, although not consistently given priority nor always regarded in a positive light by society over the past 100 years, is one of the earliest examples of positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). It deserves a prominent place in any review of this topic. Like their colleagues in other areas of applied psychology, counseling psychologists have contributed richly to uncovering antecedents to the development of extraordinary human accomplishment. The future promises a continuation of this trend. By any reasonable standard for practice based on science, this tradition of talent identification and development constitutes one of applied psychology’s major success stories (Benbow & Stanley, 1996; Lubinski, 1996; Lubinski, Webb, Morelock, & Benbow, 2001). Applied psychologists in general (Paterson, 1957; Viteles, 1932), and counseling psychologists more specifically (Dawis, 1992; Tyler, 1974, 1992; Williamson, 1965), have an impressive history of quantifying human abilities
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and preference dimensions, and using this information to help people focus their development in directions that enhance life success and happiness. These two concepts, success and happiness, go by other names—competence and fulfillment, satisfactoriness and satisfaction—and embody two of the most important classes of personal attributes studied in applied psychology: abilities and preferences, respectively. For helping people select opportunities for positive development, abilities (capabilities) and preferences (motives) have received more applied-psychological attention than any others. This two-part emphasis can be seen in the prefaces to two landmark publications: E.K. Strong’s (1943) Vocational interests of men and women, and Donald Super’s (1949) Appraising vocational fitness. The application of knowledge regarding these personal attributes to the field of talent development has played a major role in guiding the identification and nurture of intellectual precocity for nearly 100 years. This chapter concerns the exceptional development of intellectual talent and is organized into two broad sections: historical and modern contributions. First, we provide a historical overview of the major people and ideas moving the scientific study of intellectual talent forward over the past 100 years. Second, building on this, we review key empirical findings from recent decades in the context of implications for educational and counseling practice today. Within this discussion, we summarize a theoretical model for organizing contemporary research. Finally, we close with a summation of current knowledge and offer some future research directions. The need for more scientific knowledge on truly exceptional forms of achievement, creativity, and lifelong learning is underscored. This knowledge is likely to come from more complete understandings of the personal attributes characterizing intellectually precocious populations and the environmental provisions that catalyze their talents to full fruition.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO TALENT DEVELOPMENT Several writers date the origins of systematic thinking about nurturing intellectual ability to Plato (trans. 1945), sometime around 400 B.C., when in The Republic, he advocated for early talent identification in order to con-serve talent and educate future leaders. It wasn’t until over 2000 years later, in the late 1800s, that standardized empirical methods for measuring intellectual functioning revolutionized the way such talent is identified. Leta Hollingworth (1926), a widely recognized pioneer in the development and education of profound intellectual giftedness, credits Galton (1869) with first showing that intellectual ability follows a normal distribution. However, not until the advent
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of intelligence testing, with Binet and Simon (1905), did scientifically significant efforts to identify gifted children begin in earnest. For almost a century, applied psychologists have articulated the importance of attending to the needs of persons of high intellectual capacity. They have persevered through fluctuating social attitudes that have run the gamut from uninterested or antagonistic, to quite supportive during brief “crisis” periods (e.g., the Sputnik launch in 1957). Three common myths about the gifted have persisted throughout this time, and are still evident today: (a) the gifted can be anything they want to be in life, (b) they will find their own way to successful and satisfying careers without much assistance, and (c) they have so much already, it is elitist to give them more. During a hopeful period early in the 20th century, O’Shea (1926) wistfully noted, in the editor’s introduction to Hollingworth’s (1926) seminal work, Gifted Children: Their Nature and Nurture, The present writer can easily recall the time when everyone thought that Bright’ children could look out for themselves—as a result of which opinion they were neglected, in the schools at any rate, in order that teachers might devote all their energies to the less able. (p. xii) Unfortunately, nearly identical sentiments have required countervailing efforts over subsequent decades by scientists and practitioners working with intellectually talented populations (cf., Benbow & Stanley, 1996; Hobbs, 1951; Pressey, 1949, 1967; Stanley, 1974, 1996; Terman, 1954; Tyler, 1965, 1992; Williamson, 1965). Throughout this chapter, we hope to review some of the arguments and empirical data that challenge these myths. First, the intellectually gifted cannot necessarily be anything they want to be; rather, their unique combinations of specific abilities, interests, motivation, and environmental support make some paths of development more suitable than others. Second, gifted children do not always find their own way; rather, they are more likely to achieve at exceptional levels when given appropriate educational and environmental opportunities, and are at risk for underachievement when not given such opportunities or when their unique abilities and preferences are not identified. Third, and related to the previous two points, attending to the unique needs of the intellectually talented benefits not only talented students, but also society as a whole when these individuals grow up to apply their realized abilities toward the challenges and needs of the world, A practical implication of the perpetuation of these myths is that educators, counselors, and policy makers have often disregarded the need for special attention or unique opportunities for this population, and instead have dedicated the bulk of attention and resources to those with identified deficits whose needs are perhaps more obvious. Yet, like all special populations, the intellectually
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talented have unique needs that require special attention. This imbalanced focus on deficit versus strength mirrors another historical imbalance in psychology, that of remediating pathology versus building on human assets. Of course, a focus on strengths, a longtime defining emphasis of counseling psychology (Gelso & Fretz, 1992), exemplifies the present-day positive psychology movement (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). A great counseling psychologist and advocate for the intellectually talented, Sidney Pressey (1955), recognized the deficit-strength imbalance several years ago. Using his own positive psychology language, he called for research into the concept of “furtherance”—that which facilitates or enhances full development of talent and personality—to complement existing research into “frustration”—that which detracts from personality or competence. This concept of furtherance provides an appropriate lens for reviewing the contributions of psychologists interested in talent development during the past century. Pioneers and Proponents In her careful studies and schooling of children manifesting profoundly high IQs (180+), whom she admiringly labeled “fortunate deviates,” Hollingworth (1926, 1942) discerned many of the topics considered today as important for nurturing high talent. She recognized, for instance, that traditional education, formulated to suit the majority of students in the average range of intellectual functioning, was inadequate for the gifted because it left them without enough challenging and interesting work (Hollingworth, 1942). Students tended to become bored and disengaged with the traditional lockstep, age-based curriculum. According to Hollingworth (1926), an appropriate response was to allow gifted students “to traverse the established curriculum at a pace that will keep them occu-pied” (p. 273), a strategy often referred to as “acceleration,” but which might be more accurately called “appropriate developmental placement” (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000). Hollingworth argued that students should be instructed according to their level of competence rather than their chronological age. Hollingworth was a strong advocate for identifying intellectual talent at young ages, setting the stage for what might be called an epidemiology of positive development—identifying populations “at promise” for remarkable accomplishments (in contrast to “at risk” for negative outcomes; cf. Lubinski & Humphreys, 1997). Hollingworth (1926) recognized that to facilitate optimal intellectual development, personal qualities beyond intelligence must also be taken into account. She was an advocate, for example, of paying attention to the early interests of gifted children, “for it is known that attitudes and ideals formed in childhood have an important influence in shaping the life that follows” (p. 140). Her belief about the importance of childhood interests has only recently been subjected to empirical study, and has been supported (Achter, Lubinski, Benbow, & Eftekhari-Sanjani, 1999; Schmidt, Lubinski, & Benbow, 1998).
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As one of the first to apply standardized intelligence tests to identify and study the upper range of the normal distribution, Hollingworth (1942) added much to early knowledge about intelligence. By studying her gifted students longitudinally, for instance, she documented the stability over time of measured intellectual functioning as relative status in a population. She, thus, set the stage for subsequent research revealing the power of intelligence in predicting educational achievement (Benbow & Stanley, 1996; Murray, 1998) and career success (Lubinski, 2000; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998) over the lifespan. Among her many important contributions as a pioneer in the psychology of women, Hollingworth (1926) also documented the equality of women and men in general intelligence, countering the long-held myth that females were intellectually inferior to males. This landmark finding surely helped open the doors to greater attention to and opportunities for females in school and work. A contemporary to Hollingworth, Lewis M. Terman, is probably the most recognized 20th century figure in the study of intellectual talent. Terman’s (1925–1956) ambitious longitudinal study of 1528 high IQ (140+) children from Age 11 through adulthood is still in operation today. (Holahan, Sears, & Cronbach, 1995). Curiously, Terman (1954; Terman & Oden, 1947) initially was a skeptic regarding the needs of the gifted. He had internalized the prevailing sentiment of the early 1900s, “early ripe, early rot,” which supposed that child prodigies tended to develop either emotional or intellectual deficiencies in adulthood. His subsequent research not only disproved this myth, but also provided a solid foundation for much of what we know today about the physical and psychological development of gifted persons over the lifespan, which more recent studies with better controls have confirmed (Benbow, Lubinski, Shea, & Eftekhari-Sanjani, 2000; Lubinski, Webb, et al., 2001; Lubinski & Humphreys, 1992). Like Hollingworth, Terman (1954; Terman & Oden,1947) promoted the use of both curriculum acceleration and enrichment to adequately meet the needs of the gifted. For more than 30 years he documented the undeniable success of most of his study’s participants; Terman’s work also substantiated the great predictive power of general intelligence (Terman, 1954; Terman & Oden, 1959)—now among the most robust and well-known generalizations in applied psychology (Campbell, 1990; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). Like Hollingworth, Terman (1954) also recognized early on that high intelligence alone did not produce high levels of accomplishment. He discovered that, although high IQ had predictive power on average across achievement domains for his select group, it could not perfectly distinguish between individuals who would and would not become successful, nor suggest what direction success might take. He acknowledged the importance of both “special aptitudes” and interest patterns in determining the developmental trajectory of those with high general intellectual ability, and used early versions of the Strong Interest Inventory to study the latter, with good predictive success (Terman &
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Oden, 1947). He also highlighted factors such as drive to achieve, social adjustment (Terman & Oden), persistence, self-confidence (Terman & Oden, 1959), and a stable and supportive family background (Terman, 1954) as intellectual facilitators because they helped distinguish between high-achieving and low-achieving persons in his high IQ group. All of these nonintellective factors have remained of interest to modern researchers (cf., Ericsson, 1996; Eysenck, 1995; Gardner, 1993; Lubinski & Benbow, 2000; Simonton, 1999), and some of them will be discussed later in this chapter. An underappreciated contemporary of both Hollingworth and Terman was Carl Emil Seashore. His 28-year post as Dean of the Graduate College at the University of Iowa (1908–1936), and his position as Dean of the Graduate College pro tempore (1942–1946) at the same institution, prevented him from the kind of recognition enjoyed by others, partly because he had no students to help in disseminating his writings. Yet, Seashore’s (1922) classic publication in Science, “The Gifted Student and Research,” and his contributions to A History of Psychology in Autobiography (Seashore, 1930) and Pioneering in Psychology (Seashore, 1942; see especially his treat-ment of gifted students, pp. 193–199), are still very much worth reading. Seashore (1922) recognized that identifying gifted students at a young age capitalizes on the enthusiasm, motivation, curiosity, and criticism that mark this period in life, and he proposed educational reforms to better attend to the unique educational needs of talented youth. He comprehended well the needs of the gifted and articulated a concise educational philosophy applicable to students at all ability levels: “Keep each student busy at his highest level of achievement in order that he may be successful, happy and good” (p. 644). This philosophy is consistent with the individual differences tradition in psychology (Tyler, 1974; Williamson, 1965). Another important counseling psychologist working from the individual differences tradition was E.G.Williamson (1939), who like Seashore, promoted the needs of intellectually talented individuals by calling for early identification and flexibility in the curriculum (including acceleration). Early on, Williamson commented that “genius does not always find its own way” (p. 387), and charged counselors with the responsibility of discovering gifted students, assessing the degree and pattern of their talents, and assisting them in achieving “optimum success and satisfaction” (p. 128). Like Seashore (1922), Williamson stressed intellectual comradeship in the counseling of intellectually talented youth. In Vocational counseling: Some historical, philosophical, and theoretical perspectives (Williamson, 1965), he outlined methods for accomplishing this through the modification of learning environments in accordance with students’ rates of learning. Strikingly similar echoes of Seashore and Williamson are found in Sidney Pressey’s mid-20th century publications (Pressey, 1949, 1967). He published widely, in outlets like the American Psychologist and Science (Pressey, 1946a, 1946b), on the benefits of educational acceleration (while also urging care in
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guarding against social maladjustment). As noted previously, he advanced the concept of “furtherance” (Pressey, 1955) as a framework for cultivating promising young scholars and scientists and helping them become adults who make outstanding contributions to their disciplines and to society. In drawing an analogy to talent development in music or athletics, he observed that “early encouragement, intensive instruction, continuing opportunity…a congruent stimulating social life, and cumulative success experiences” (p. 126) mark the lives of those who become eminent in their fields. Attendant with these mid-century contributions, Paul Witty (1951) edited an important volume entitled The Gifted Child, to which one of Pressey’s students, Nicholas Hobbs (1951), contributed. Witty commented that talented children and youth are “society’s richest but most neglected resource” (p. 209), and challenged educators to “divest themselves of the belief that gifted students can get along by themselves and that it is undemocratic to give them special education suited to their particular needs” (p. 275). Picking up on this idea, and adopting a more activist tone, Hobbs also spoke out in defense of the needs of the intellectually gifted, stating, To develop a most vigorous democracy we must avoid the deadening mediocrity that arises when equality is interpreted to mean that people must all be alike…. Not only must we avoid this leveling tendency, we must actively seek full expression of the differences between people, with a deep respect for the right of people to be themselves, (p. 170) In his classic article, “The compleat counselor,” Hobbs (1958) asserted that counselors have a responsibility to facilitate the development of high intellectual potential. Our next historical figure, Leona E.Tyler, is arguably the most renowned counseling psychologist of the 20th century. In the peak of her career, she had the most popular texts in both counseling (Tyler, 1953) and individual differences psychology (Tyler, 1965). Earlier in her career, she also worked on Terman’s longitudinal study. An important shift in the direction of talent development research was noted in the 1960s. Tyler (1965) observed that until this time, the study of individual differences was nearly synonymous with the study of general intelligence (cf., Jenkins & Paterson, 1961). The shift was toward recognizing and studying “special talents” in addition to general ability. As previously noted, both Terman (1954; Terman & Oden, 1947) and Hollingworth (1926) recognized that several dimensions of individual differences contributed to the fulfillment of intellectual promise but, at the time, “with regard to testing for special talents, psychological technique has not advanced so far” (Hollingworth, pp. 32–33). Tyler (1965) pointed out that, although specific intellectual abilities are fairly highly correlated with one another and their communality isolates the construct of
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general intelligence, these correlations are not perfect. Enough variability exists to identify individuals with tilted ability profiles. For instance, referencing data from Project TALENT, a longitudinal study of over 400,000 high school students (Flanagan & Cooley, 1966), Tyler (1974) reported that 16% of students entering college scored above the 90th percentile on a test of general aptitude, but 35% scored in this range on one or more of the specific abilities (quantitative, scientific, or technical) assessed, Tyler, thus, demonstrated that the landscape of differential intellectual potential is vast (cf., Humphreys, Lubinski, & Yao, 1993). Our final historical figure, Julian C. Stanley, systematically exploited that differential potential. Likely the most notable psychologist in the late 20th century to study intellectually precocious youth is Julian C.Stanley. With his Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) research and service program, initiated at Johns Hopkins University in 1971, Stanley advocated for the widespread use of above-level testing of specific abilities to identify intellectually precocious young adolescents (Keating & Stanley, 1972; Stanley, 1977). Stanley and his colleagues were the first to systematically use college entrance exams (e.g., SAT, ACT) to differentiate levels of ability in both math and verbal domains for gifted adolescents (Ages 12–14). By raising the ceiling of test difficulty, above-level ability testing produced a greater spread of scores among students who had reached the measurement limits on in-grade school achievement tests, thereby distinguishing the able from the exceptionally able and the superbly able in a given domain. Such testing has given talented students, and their parents, teachers, and counselors a clearer picture of students’ exceptional intellectual strengths, as well as their relative weaknesses. This valuable information cannot be gleaned from high-flat performance on gradelevel achievement tests or a test of general intelligence; methods that, when used exclusively, contribute to misperceptions of multipotentiality among the intellectually talented (Achter, Benbow, & Lubinski, 1997; Achter, Lubinski, & Benbow, 1996). Stanley and colleagues have documented nearly 30 years of success in using above-level ability testing to tailor differential educational programming to enhance academic achievement and personal adjustment (Benbow, 1991; Benbow & Stanley, 1996; Stanley, 2000). By successfully applying new methods for early identification and for measuring specific abilities, Stanley further validated the unique needs of intellectually precocious students that early pioneers expressed (in particular, Hollingworth, Pressey, Seashore, Terman, Tyler, & Williamson). In fact, Stanley’s work is perhaps the best exemplar to date of an applied psychological enterprise for facilitating what Pressey (1955), whom Stanley knew personally, called “furtherance.” This concludes our brief overview of early protagonists and the applied psychological work they have contributed to this important sphere of human capital. Some of the most distinguished applied (including counseling)
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psychologists of all time helped in developing the area of talent development. Indeed, four of the historical figures outlined previously served as American Psychological Association presidents: Seashore (1911), Terman (1923), Hobbs (1966), and Tyler (1973). We recommend reviewing the original sources cited in this chapter for a richer appreciation of the trends developed and encouraged by our predecessors. Collectively, the work of these early pioneers revealed the existence of a vast amount of quantitative and qualitative potential in this special population, highlighting the fact that although the gifted are distinguished by their general intellectual capacity, they are not a categorical type. It is not surprising that the individual differences tradition in counseling psychology— with its appreciation for within-group variability, emphasis on individual assessment, and sensitivity to idiographic detail (Dawis, 1992)—found the study of intellectually gifted populations fascinating for applying its measurement tools, theories of human development, and penchant for social advocacy. The trends reviewed previously and the empiricism supporting their psychoeducational significance are important to keep in mind, not only for understanding where we are at today, but also for gaining a purchase on ways to accomplish constructive advances.
MODERN EMPIRICAL ADVANCES Thanks to the groundwork established by many early individual-differences investigators, modern methods of synthesizing empirical studies have produced key psychological advances that promote the optimal development of intellectual talent. Contemporary findings have improved our understanding of the antecedents to educational and vocational choice, and of performance after choice (Dawis, 2001). In particular, we now have a much better understanding of the major interest dimensions (Day & Rounds, 1998; Holland, 1996) and their contribution to educational-vocational choice (Lubinski, 2001; Savickas & Spokane, 1999); we also possess a better understanding of human-intellectual abilities (Carroll, 1993) and their contribution to the level of educationalvocational achievement and work performance (Gottfredson, 1997; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). Over the past 30 years, these advances have contributed to a marked escalation of knowledge regarding the psychological nature and correlates of intellectual precocity, which have, in turn, enhanced gifted education. What has accrued in the study of intellectually talented youth blends seamlessly with the modern advances on the nature and organization of cognitive abilities (Carroll, 1993), educational-vocational interests (Day & Rounds, 1998; Holland, 1996), and more encompassing theoretical models of positive psychological development (Ackerman, 1996; Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997; Lubinski, 2000; Lubinski & Benbow, 2000) based primarily on the study of heterogeneous adult
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populations. The utility of ap-plying these individual differences concepts to studying and understanding intellectually precocious youth supports the idea that intellectual giftedness among youth is best construed in terms of precocity, or development that is advanced for its age (Benbow & Stanley, 1996). The Contributions of SMPY As noted previously, elements of many contemporary advances may be traced to Stanley’s work, whose longitudinal study of precocious youth, SMPY, significantly changed the landscape of gifted education. At a time when many social scientists were following Kuhn’s (1962) recommendations for scientific revolutions, by jettisoning the “normal science” of their disciplines and purporting “paradigm shifts,” Stanley (1974, 1996; Keating & Stanley, 1972) built on the work of earlier applied psychologists to reach new heights. Stanley did not reject what the construct of general intelligence had to offer gifted education. Rather, he assimilated this powerful dimension of psychological diversity and then extended the psychometric approach to major group factors for identifying and developing more specific intellectual strengths. Because of his interest and experience in identifying and developing scientific talent, Stanley began in 1969 by studying mathematical reasoning ability (Keating & Stanley, 1972; Stanley, 1973, 1974). However, by 1980, SMPY was devoting an equal amount of attention to verbal reasoning ability (Stanley, 1996). To study long-term outcomes and the development of talent across the lifespan, SMPY—now based at Vanderbilt University—is currently tracking over 5000 intellectually precocious youth identified through talent searches by Age 13 as being in the top 1% in verbal or mathematical reasoning ability (Lubinski & Benbow, 1994; Stanley, 1996). The remainder of this chapter will focus on research findings from SMPY, as this is one of the largest contemporary studies of intellectual talent, and the one with which we are involved and most familiar. Identifying intellectually precocious youth through assessment tools initially designed for college-going high-school seniors is one of applied psychology’s most impressive contributions to the conservation and development of human talent to date (Benbow et al., 2000; Benbow & Stanley, 1996; Lubinski, 1996, 2000; Lubinski, Webb et al., 2001; Stanley, 1954, 1990, 2000; Webb, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2002). The assessment of gifted youth at Ages 12 or 13 using abovelevel tests such as SAT–Math and SAT-Verbal produces an ability profile that is quite diagnostic (Benbow & Lubinski, 1996; Benbow & Stanley, 1996). For example, researchers at SMPY have observed that many intellectually talented individuals exhibit differential strengths in either mathematical or verbal reasoning in adolescence (Achter et al., 1996). Over time, these differential areas of strength forecast the selection of contrasting educational and career paths (Achter et al., 1999; Lubinski & Benbow, 2000; Lubinski, Benbow, Shea,
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Eftekhari-Sanjani, & Halvorson, 2001; Lubinski, Webb, et al, 2001). This information can meaningfully influence practice. Educators and counselors equipped with this specific ability information can differentially plan educational programs that are developmentally appropriate for bright youth. Over the last 10 years, particularly compelling evidence also has documented the importance of assessing personal attributes beyond abilities in this special population, just as Hollingworth and Terman anticipated. Among intellectually precocious young adolescents, conventional preference questionnaires initially designed for adults have revealed marked individual differences (Achter et al., 1996), stability over 15- and 20-year-intervals (Lubinski, Benbow, & Ryan, 1995; Lubinski, Schmidt, & Benbow, 1996), and construct (including predictive) validity (Achter et al., 1999; Schmidt, Lubinski, & Benbow, 1998). The assessment of preferences in an above-level format can help educators and counselors refine recommendations to gifted youth by highlighting applications of talent that could maximize satisfaction. Positive findings underscoring the importance of diverse intellectual and nonintellectual attributes have required a multidimensional model for conceptualizing talent development—one that insists on more comprehensive assessments on which to base longitudinal inquiry, applied practice, and the design of more optimal learning environments for gifted youth. The model utilized by SMPY is the Theory of Work Adjustment (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984; Lofquist & Dawis, 1991). Theoretical Underpinnings: Person-Environment Fit and the Theory of Work Adjustment For nearly a century, psychological approaches to person-environment fit (PE fit; Rounds & Tracey, 1990) have strived to understand the process of career choice. The Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA) is a modern-day descendent of work dating back to Parson’s (1909) Choosing a Vocation, which inspired the articulation of trait-and-factor theory in vocational psychology (Paterson, 1957; Williamson, 1939), the foundation of TWA. Roe’s (1956) pioneering framework linking personal characteristics (interests & abilities) to work environments is also squarely centered within this tradition, as is Holland’s (1985, 1996) Congruence Theory. Yet, TWA is ar-guably the most comprehensive PE fit theory today. Although it was initially developed to conceptualize work adjustment in adult populations, TWA has broader implications ranging from educational to industrial psychology (Lubinski, 2000). Lubinski and Benbow (2000) have extended its use to organizing the ability-preference findings from SMPY summarized previously, creating a multidimensional approach for conceptualizing talent development and lifelong learning.
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According to TWA, optimal learning and work environments are defined by the co-occurrence of two broad dimensions of correspondence. The first is satisfactoriness (a match between ability & ability requirements) and the second is satisfaction (a match between preferences like interests & values & the rewards typical of contrasting learning & work environments). For further explication of this model, and how it connects with other theoretical frameworks for understanding ability (cf., Carroll, 1993) and interest dimensions (cf., Holland, 1996; Prediger, 1982), see Lubinski and Benbow (2000); for applied practice in gifted education, see Benbow and Lubinski (1997) and Lubinski and Benbow (1995). Fig. 2.1 contains a graphical representation of TWA (on the right) and its related ability and interest components (on the left) that help guide assessment of the person (or individual) side of the PE fit model. Achter et al. (1999) reported longitudinal findings from SMPY in support of the TWA-based model for conceptualizing and promoting talent development. By showing that age-13 assessments on preference dimensions added incremental validity to age-13 assessment of mathematical and verbal abilities in predicting educational outcomes at age 23, this study documented the distinctive advantage of assessing both abilities and preferences when working with talented youth. Achter et al. administered the SAT and Airport, Vernon, & Lindzey’s (1970) Study of Values (SOV) to 432 intellectually precocious young adolescents, and then surveyed them again 10 years later, after they had secured college degrees. College majors were categorized into three broad criterion groups; Math-Science, Humanities, and Other The SAT mathematical and verbal measures accounted for 10% of the variance between these groups by themselves, and the five SOV scales accounted for an additional 13% of variance. Given the heterogeneity within these three broad degree-groupings, and considering that time-one assessment occurred at age 13, accounting for 23% of the variance was truly impressive. Fig. 2.2 depicts discriminant analysis classification accuracy into the three criterion groups, based on both ability and preference dimensions. Note that discriminant loadings (contained in the structure matrix) support interpretation of distinct math–science and humanities dimensions, with math ability and theoretical values loading most strongly on Function 1 (coupled with negative loadings for social & religious values) and verbal ability and aesthetic values loading most strongly on Function 2.
FIG. 2.1. The Theory of Work Adjustment (right) is combined with the radex scaling of cognitive abilities (upper left) and the Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional (RIASEC) hexagon of interests (lower left) for conceptualizing personal attributes relevant to learning and work (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000). The letters within the cognitive ability arrangement denote different regions of concentration, whereas their accompanying numbers increase as a function of complexity. Contained within the RIASEC is a simplification of this hexagon. Fallowing Prediger (1982), it amounts to a two-dimensional structure of independent dimensions: people-things and data-ideas, which underlie RIASEC. The dotted line running down the individual and environment sectors of Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA) illustrates that TWA places equal emphasis on assessing the personal attributes (abilities and interests) and assessing the environment (abilities requirements & reward structure).
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FIG. 2.2. Group centroids and discriminant-structure matrix (Achter et al., 1999), The bivariate group centroids for the total sample were (Function 1, followed by Function 2): Math-Science (.43, −.05); humanities (−.29, .60); and Other (−.57, −.21). To make the scatter plot less cluttered, each bivariate point represents an average of two participants’ discriminant scores (most typically, the closest geometrically). Percentages were computed using all individual data points. SOV=Study of Values; SAT=Scholastic Aptitude Test; F1=Function 1; F2=Function 2.
TWA’s breadth encompasses several rich traditions that have served applied psychology well and have contributed greatly to the study of talent development. TWA continues to serve as a positive framework for conceptualizing studies of the SMPY cohorts. Longitudinal Findings Emerging in the 21st Century In the remaining pages, fresh longitudinal findings are presented, organized around three critical topics for understanding, assisting, and studying talent development: ability level, ability pattern, and ability underidentification. The TWA framework nicely organizes all of these findings.
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Ability Level. The range of individual differences in human abilities is huge, and the magnitude of these differences is sometimes underappre-ciated. Consider, for example, general intelligence. In terms of IQ points, scores within the top 1% on general intellectual ability range from approximately 137 to well over 200, a tremendous amount of quantitative variation among an already highly select group. The same is true for specific abilities. However, the question often asked is whether these differences in ability level make realworld differences in the lives of people. Or, to paraphrase the late Donald G. Paterson, (R. V. Dawis, Personal Communication, 2000), “Do these differences make a difference?” Recent longitudinal reports unequivocally reveal that they do. Extending a study of quantitative differences in educational and career outcomes between gifted individuals in the top vs. the bottom quartiles of the top 1% in mathematical ability (Benbow, 1992), Lubinski, Webb, et al. (2001) studied an independent sample of 320 profoundly gifted individuals, identified for their exceptional (i.e., top 1/10,000) mathematical or verbal reasoning ability at Age 13 (M estimated IQ>180). By Age 23, 93% of this group had obtained bachelor’s degrees, 31% had earned master’s degrees, and 12% had completed doctoral degrees. Furthermore, fully 56% of this select group expressed intentions to pursue doctorates, a number over 50 times the base rate expectation (viz., 1% in the general population, U.S. Department of Education, 1997), By comparison, studies of persons in the highly able, but less select, top 1% of cognitive ability have revealed pursuit of doctoral degrees at 25 times base rate expectations (Benbow et al., 2000)—still remarkable, but only half the rate observed among the top 1 in 10,000. In addition, as impressive as this “difference that makes a difference” is, it does not tell the whole story regarding the magnitude of achievement in the higher ability group. For example, among those pursuing doctorates in the top 1 in 10,000 study (Lubinski, Webb, et al., 2001), 42% were doing so at universities ranked within the top 10 in the United States, another indication of the extraordinary promise of this group. By comparison, only 21% of the top 1 in 100 (Benbow et al., 2000) were pursuing doctorates at universities ranked in the top 10. An abbreviated listing of individual achievements attained by the top 1 in 10,000 group by Age 23 (see Table 2.1) further underscores the real-world significance of their ability level. It certainly appears that increased ability level translates into increased achievement among those in the top 1% (or the top ⅓ of the ability range), just as they do in the general population (Murray, 1998). It will be fascinating to observe the achievements and impact these highly talented individuals will have as SMPY tracks their lifespan development.
TABLE 2.1 Awards and Special Accomplishments of the Top 1 in10,000 in Mathematical or Verbal Reasoning Ability
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Ability Pattern. Attention to the bottom right quadrant of Table 2.1 reveals another critical factor for understanding and nurturing talented youth: ability pattern. Lubinski, Webb, et al. (2001) divided their top 1 in 10,000 sample into three groups based on individual ability profiles. Two groups were tilted (either High-Math or High-Verbal) and one was more intellectually uniform or flat (High-Flat). The High-Flat group had SAT-Math and SAT-Verbal scores that were within one standard deviation of the other. The other two groups had contrasting intellectual strengths: the High-Math group had SAT-Math scores greater than one standard deviation above SAT-Verbal scores, whereas the High-Verbal group exhibited the inverse pattern. These three ability patterns, drawn from age 13 assessments, eventuated in distinct developmental trajectories (see next). These three phenotypic patterns also are being examined by the human genome project, seeking to uncover general, and specific genetic markers of human intelligence (Chorney et al., 1998; Plomin, 1999). Lubinski, Webb, et al. (2001) compiled the idiographic accomplishments and awards shared in open-ended questions and placed them in one of three clusters: Humanities and Arts, Science and Technology, and Other (Table 2.1). They then went back to ascertain whether these three clusters were differentially representative of their three ability groups. Of those listing accomplishments in science and technology (see Table 2.1), three fourths were in the High-Math group. By comparison, two thirds of those listing accomplishments in the humanities and arts were in the High-Verbal group. High-Flat participants reported similar numbers of accomplishments in the sciences and humanities clusters. It is evident that ability pattern relates to the types of activities to which these individuals devoted time and effort. Moreover, differential course preferences among these three groups in high school and college anticipated these qualitative differences in achievement (see Fig. 2.3). The High-Math group consistently preferred math-science courses relative to the humanities, whereas the inverse was true for the High-Verbal group; results among the High-Flat group were, again, intermediate. Other investigations on the longitudinal significance of ability pattern, using more comprehensive assessments, have generated even more refined predictions. For example, Shea, Lubinski, and Benbow (2001) tracked a group of over 550 individuals representing the top 0.5% in general intellectual ability over 20 years. They demonstrated that verbal, mathematical, and spatial abilities, assessed in early adolescence, were related in distinct ways to subsequent educational-vocational group membership in engineering, physical sciences, biology, humanities, law, social sciences, and business. Figures 2.4 and 2.5 highlight the configural arrangement of bachelor degree groups (Fig. 2.4)
FIG. 2.3. Participants’ favorite course in high school and in college (Lubinski, Webb, et al., 2001). Percentages in a given column do not necessarily sum to 100% because only participants indicating either math—sciences or humanities courses are displayed. Significance tests for differences among groups for favorite course are as follows: High School Math-Sciences χ2(df=2)=20.7, P<.0001; College Math-Science χ2(df=2)=18.2, P<.0001; High School Humanities χ2(df=2)=36.6, P<.0001; and College Humanities χ2(df=2)=30.2, P<.0001.
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and occupations (Fig. 2 5) in three-dimensional space; organized by standardized units of mathematical (X-axis) and verbal (Y-axis) ability. For each grouping, the direction of the arrow represents whether spatial abilities (Z-axis) were above (positive value) or below (negative value) the grand mean for spatial ability. These arrows were scaled on the same units of measurement as the SAT scores, so one can envision how far apart these groups were in threedimensional space as a function of these three abilities. As displayed in Figures 2.4 and 2.5, exceptional verbal ability, relative to mathematical and spatial ability, was characteristic of group membership in the social sciences and humanities; whereas higher levels of math and spatial abilities, relative to verbal abilities, characterized group membership in engineering and math—computer science. Other sciences appeared to require appreciable amounts of all three abilities. The findings were highly consistent for other outcome criteria, including most- and least-favorite high-school class and graduate field of study (Shea et al., 2001).
FIG. 2.4. Trivariate means for conferred bachelor-degree groups (Shea et al., 2001). Ability variables are scaled on a uniform metric. Group Ns are provided in parentheses.
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FIG. 2.5. Trivariate means for occupational groups at Age 33 (Shea et al. 2001). Ability variables are scaled on a uniform metric. Group Ns are provided in parentheses. DAT-C= (Differential Aptitude Test—Composite); SR=(Space Relations); MR=(Mechanical Reasoning); SAT-V=(Scholastic Aptitude Test—Verbal); SAT-M=(Scholastic Aptitude Test—Mathematical).
Ability Under/Identification. The Shea et al. (2001) study was among the first to document the unique developmental implications of spatial ability among the gifted, further highlighting the importance of comprehensive cognitive ability assessments. As we strive not to miss those students who might usefully contribute to our increasingly technological society, identifying spatially talented individuals is one of the current critical challenges in the field. Indeed, using normal curve theory, it is estimated that approximately half of the top 1% in spatial visualization are not identified by modern talent search procedures that focus only on mathematical and verbal talent. We are unaware of any greater loss of human capital than the neglect of this special population (cf., Gohm, Humphreys, & Yao, 1998; Humphreys et al., 1993; Humphreys & Lubinski, 1996). These students will not necessarily find their own way if their exceptional spatial talents are not recognized and encouraged.
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It seems clear in reviewing modern findings that comprehensive ability and preference assessment among the intellectually gifted at an early age is useful in predicting both educational-vocational choice and level of success–achievement. The contemporary research supports and extends the work of pioneers dating to Terman and Hollingworth, highlighting the utility of early identification, attention to both general and specific abilities, the provision of developmentally appropriate opportunities, and the importance of nonintellective factors such as preferences. The research and service model guiding SMPY might also be regarded as reflecting furtherance (Pressey, 1955), in that talents and interests are identified early, are allowed to develop through appropriate educational opportunities, and eventuate in impressive (often highly precocious) outcomes. In the remaining section, we discuss ways to refine the accuracy of longitudinal predictions, and thereby enhance the specificity, comprehensiveness, and confidence of early educational and vocational counseling. Future Directions: Other Factors Affecting Development It is certainly true that the landscape of intellectual precocity is not onedimensional—and the paths along which it develops involve some of the most intriguing psychological phenomena of the human condition (Ericsson, 1996; Eysenck, 1995; Galton, 1869; Gardner, 1993; Heller, Mönks, Sternberg, & Subotnik, 2000; Jensen, 1996; Simonton, 1988). Yet, even with the multidimensionality reviewed up to this point, something is missing. Among individuals who possess comparable ability and preference profiles, and who have been given commensurate opportunities, huge individual differences in achievement are routinely observed. We do not know all the causal determinants relevant to modeling individual differences in achievement and creativity. One class of causal factors, however, is often underappreciated by counselors and educators whose clientele comprises students working toward advanced degrees. These are the conative factors. Since at least the time of Aristotle, attributes like capacity to work, industriousness, persistence, and zeal have been posited to contribute to individual differences in achievement outcomes. Modern theoreticians studying art, athletics, business, the military, politics, and science, among others, have repeatedly stressed these personal attributes of energy or psychological tempo (Ericsson, 1996; Eysenck, 1995; Gardner, 1993; Jensen, 1996; Simonton, 1988). Some persons seem to have great mental ability (e.g., high IQ), but appear to lack mental energy needed to use this ability. Probably part of the reason applied psychologists have not extensively discussed these determinants is that we do not have good measures of them. Yet, it is easy to surmise that they operate to explain significant variance in learning and performance. Indeed, it is likely that under- and overachievers are distinguished, in part, by this set of attributes.
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Some modern theorists have discussed these attributes and have begun to develop measures for them, but we are still at a relatively primitive stage compared to our tools for assessing abilities and preferences. For example, Ackerman (1996) developed a measure for a construct he called, “typical intellectual engagement” (Goff & Ackerman, 1992). In addition, Dawis and Lofquist (1976, 1984) offered four aspects of “personality style” to characterize the temporal characteristics of behavior: celerity, endurance, pace, and rhythm. For both groups of investigators, concentrated effort, time on task, and energy invested play large roles in the development of knowledge structures and expertise. To provide a glimpse in to the potential importance of these factors, Fig. 2.6 contains data from over 1700 participants from SMPY’s 20-year follow up (Benbow et al., 2000; Lubinski & Benbow, 1994). All were assessed with the SAT before age 13, during the 1970s, and scored in the top 1% in quantitative reasoning ability for their age group (several had more exceptional SAT-Verbal scores). At Age 33, subjects were asked how much they typically work in their current job (top panel), and second, how much they would be willing to work in their ideal job (bottom panel). This figure reveals huge individual differences in time invested in vocational development. If these individual differences remain stable, which they will for at least a subset of participants, the amount of time invested in career development for some participants will be but a small fraction of what it is for others. It is reasonable to suggest that these individual differences in work hours will eventuate in a vast array of achievement outcomes, ranging from considerably below typical to extraordinary. This is an area that is crying out for more research.
CONCLUSION Few endeavors are more important than helping individuals shape their lives in ways congruent with the positive features of their individuality. We have presented some concepts and empirical support for ways to facilitate socially valued achievement and personal fulfillment among intellectually talented persons. Hopefully, enough information is in this chapter to convince readers that the critical starting point is early identification. Multidimensional, abovelevel ability, and preference assessment can—and probably should—occur by early adolescence to adequately respond to precocious intellectual abilities with developmentally appropriate educational opportunities. This information can be invaluable for guiding talented youth toward avenues leading to rewarding and socially valued lives.
FIG. 2.6. Two questions about work taken from the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth’s 20-year follow-up questionnaire (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000). Participants were identified at Age 13 as having quantitative reasoning abilities within the top 1%of their age group. At Age 33, they were asked (a) how many hours per week they typically worked, by gender (excluding homemakers), and (b) how many hours per week they were willing to work, given their job of first choice, by gender. Note that the 1972 to 1974 participants were given six temporal options, whereas the 1976 to 1979 participants were provided with five choices.
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Although ability and preference dimensions are critical to assess, they should not be viewed as a panacea. We recognize that there are instabilities associated with early assessments, and that they provide only rough guide posts for facilitating educational and career planning. Indeed, periodic reassessment of these personal attributes over the course of one’s development is advisable. Abilities and interests can and do change for some individuals, and assessing the magnitude of such changes is helpful for making informed educational and career choices. Yet, there is more than enough stability in these early assessments to warrant their routine use. Following Tyler (1953, 1992) and Williamson’s (1965) idea that successful counseling provides clients, students, and workers with tools for taking charge of their personal development, these assessments can be especially helpful in gaining clarity when faced with conflicting counsel from family, peers, teachers, and self on how best to structure one’s educational and vocational development (Lubinski & Benbow, 2001). Indeed, a cogent case could be made that failing to employ these construct-valid measures contributes to the “educational and occupational maladjustment,” which years ago, D.G. Paterson (1957) called on applied psychologists to alleviate with practice based on science. Finally, beyond the personal (endogenous) attributes important for talent development, the idea of furtherance reminds us that actualizing potential also requires several positive environmental (exogenous) conditions. Once talents and interests are identified for a given domain, “frequent, much-admired successes increase effort, build up psychosomatic vigor, make attempts more vigorous, and adequate, and better integrated, and build ability” (Pressey, 1955, p. 124). Hollingworth, Terman, Seashore, Stanley, and others have documented many examples of this process at work. When challenging opportunities are successfully embraced and followed by additional opportunities for more sophisticated development, an environment for developing genuine excellence is provided. This is critical for the exceptional development of intellectual talent.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS John A. Achter, Counseling Center, Concordia College -Moorhead; David Lubinski, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University. Support for this chapter was provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (MDR 8855625), an anonymous donor, and a Templeton Award for Positive Psychology. An earlier version of this chapter profited from comments by April Bleske-Rechek, Julian C. Stanley, and Rose Mary Webb.
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3 Individuality and Optimal Human Functioning: Interests, Self-Efficacy, and Personality Fred H.Borgen Iowa State University
Lori D.Lindley Louisiana Tech University
People are hugely different from each other in many ways—their interests, their self-efficacy, and their personalities. Just ask them, and you will find out. With our typical assessment inventories this is what we are doing in a structured way. Query someone about bungee jumping and you will soon know a great deal about that person. Ask that person about making “cold calls” to sell a product. Then, ask about creating a sculpture. After that, ask about using a torque wrench. Ask about studying a difficult topic for 4 hours at a time. Then, ask about giving a speech to an audience of 200. Ask about comforting a friend who has lost a loved one. Ask about confidence in doing the task, about whether they would enjoy doing the task, and how it might express their deeper personality. Ask about their historical development on these issues. You will quickly be defining the distinctive individuality of that person. Moreover, a typical group of
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people, such as an occupational group, will differ greatly on most of these dimensions. Individual differences in human experience and perceptions are potent. Ordinary people are intensely different in their passions, aversions, fears, foibles, and identities. With experience it is not hard to develop inventories that quickly map that intense individuality. People can directly tell us much about themselves by their responses to simple inventories (Burisch, 1984; Kuder, 1977). Three robust domains of individuality that are central to counseling psychology are interests, self-efficacy, and personality. This chapter addresses how these domains contribute to optimal functioning in venues of living such as working and learning (cf. Borgen, 1999). Our particular focus is the importance—for both theory and practice—of using interests, self-efficacy, and personality in combined and multivariate ways. Together, they are a rich source for identifying human strengths to expand choices that increase optimal functioning. The topic of assessing individuality is voluminous. It is far-flung in different literatures and different subdisciplines—from industrial psychology to school psychology to psychopathology. We view this large landscape from counseling psychology’s perspective of assessing strengths in normally developing individuals performing typical life tasks. Our personal experience is strongest in the area of vocational psychology, and that forms the core of our perspective.
COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVES ON ASSESSMENT Counseling psychologists have long had a distinctive perspective on psychological assessment. Perhaps no one has had more influence on the way counseling psychology views individuality and assessment than Leona Tyler (1959, 1978, 1992). Before human agency and focus on individual strengths were everyday foci of counseling psychology (Borgen, 1991), she transformed the psychology of her day toward a most optimistic view of human possibilities through assessment. Individuality Some 25 years ago, Tyler (1978) argued for the broadening of psychology as a science. She wanted assessment to focus on the positive; she was more interested in the uniqueness of each individual and how that is manifested, rather than whether one individual is smarter, more skilled, more sane, or in any other way better than another. For Tyler, human behavior was about ac-tion rather than reaction, and she was thus ahead of later ideas about human agency and self-efficacy. She stressed the possibilities and choices that people have by
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virtue of their inherent creativity, allowing them to transcend a determinist model It is noteworthy that she worked in a Zeitgeist infused with Rogers’ (1951) client centered perspective, which elevated the individual’s phenomenology to center stage in psychology. Tyler’s colleague Sundberg (1977) crafted a pioneering assessment textbook incorporating these ideas. Two alternate methods in psychology are the idiographic and the nomothetic The idiographic approach seeks to draw a coherent, lawful picture for the single individual The nomothetic approach, psychology’s dominant model, seeks general laws for groups of people. Tyler (1978) blended the idiographic and nomothetic, seeking to focus on her vision of assessing individuality. Her stated goal was “an understanding of qualitative as well as quantitative manifestations, the characteristics that constitute variations on universal human themes, those that are common to distinctive types of persons and those unique to single individuals” (p. 36). Our view is that nomothetic methods can approach the individuality of the idiographic method when specific dimensions are appraised comprehensively and multivariately. An individual’s distinctive personality, the circumstances of his or her life, and the decisions he or she makes (and consequent behaviors) are all inextricably interwoven, mutually and reciprocally impacting one another (Betz & Fitzgerald, 1993; Tyler, 1978; Walsh & Betz, 1985; Zytowski & Borgen, 1983). Both personality and situational factors influence a person’s decisions and actions; those decisions, in turn, alter the environment and shape the person’s individuality. According to Tyler, “people are less limited and more versatile than our dominant psychological theories have led us to assume” (p. 232). According to Walsh and Betz, people vary from one another in their psychological characteristics and the psychological meaning they give to various situations, tendencies that can be effectively identified and described through the use of psychological and environmental assessment tools. If we know how an individual is interpreting a given situation, and how he or she is disposed to respond to such a situation, behavior is reasonably predictable. Domains of Individuality and Venues of Living In Tyler’s (1959, 1978) view, the term, individuality, denotes how counseling psychology builds on an individual differences approach to assessing, describing, understanding, and helping people (cf., Dawis, 1992; Spokane & Decker, 1999), Motivated by the modern interdomain assessment viewpoint (Chartrand, 1991; Lowman, 1991) and the venerable person-environment (PE) fit perspective, Borgen (1999) proposed that we think about “domains of individuality” and “venues of living,” and the ways they are related in nomological space. By the phrase “domains within the person,” Borgen referred to traditional groupings of assessment variables such as interests, personality, self-efficacy, values, and abilities. The domains are depicted as overlapping
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Venn diagrams, suggesting that there may be important overlap among and relationships among the domains. By “venues of living” on the environment side, Borgen meant the criterion spaces where relevant behaviors occur; these include learning, working, loving, and playing. Again, these venues are depicted as overlapping, with one venue of living affecting others. Using the model of PE fit (Chartrand, 1991), person variables are expected to interact with variables in the life space. Individuality interacts with the whole array of life experience. Positive Psychology and Optimal Functioning Seligman (1998), a recent president of the American Psychological Association, used the term, positive psychology, to describe the trend to emphasize a focus on human strengths. Actually, this trend is not new to a counseling psychologist; it is prominent in the views of Tyler (1978) mentioned previously, and Seligman himself promoted a similar focus for some time. In his popular 1991 book, Learned Optimism, Seligman used attribution theory to demonstrate in lay terms the powerful influence of the way an individual thinks about a disappointment or failure on subsequent reactions, feelings, and behaviors. Specifically, stable, global, and internal attributions for failure have a much more detrimental effect on the individual than do external, situation-specific, and unstable attributions. Those who believe that the failure is not due to some fundamental personal flaw and only applies to that specific situation and instance are much more likely to move beyond the failure more quickly (Seligman, 1991). The term optimal functioning has been highlighted by leaders of the recent positive psychology movement, most notably Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000). For Csikszentmihalyi (1990, 1997) optimal functioning occurs when the person is in “flow,” where attention is fully engaged in a challenging and intensely interesting task that taxes the person s best skills. This peak performance is not unlike current sports vernacular, where highly skilled athletes are said to be in a “zone,” where good, even miraculous, things happen when they “bring their A game,” competing under intense challenge and complete focus. Flow might occur in any venue of living, whether learning, working, loving, or playing. Niche Psychology and Optimal Functioning The PE fit model is a predominant way of explaining life behaviors, including careers (Walsh, Craik, & Price, 2000). The most influential PE fit career model is Holland’s (1997), which asserts that people and work environments can be grouped in parallel types and that people thrive in environments matching their personal types. The enterprising person moves with swagger in an entrepreneurial world, but may well be a duck out of water in the artistic world. Another way of phrasing this is that people are at their best—they are
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functioning optimally—when they are operating within the niche that is ideal for them. Thus, people flourish when their environments stimulate and reward their individuality, including their distinctive interests, self-efficacy, and personal styles. People will be in flow at the intersection of their interests and abilities. The PE fit model adds an important interactional component, stating that optimal results occur when there is a good match between the individuality of the person and the psychological contours of the environment. During his recent stint as president of the American Psychological Association, Seligman developed his new focus on positive psychology after an epiphany while weeding the garden with his 5 year-old daughter, Nikki (Seligman, Walker, & Rosenhan, 2001, p. 693). Seligman was intent on getting the weeding done, and was expressing irritation with Nikki’s playful approach to the weeds. He was startled into personal change when Nikki said, “When I turned 5, I decided not to whine anymore. That was the hardest thing I have ever done. And if I can stop whining, you can stop being such a grouch.” Suddenly, a gestalt switch fired for Seligman, and he embraced 40 years of counseling psychology’s paradigm of human strengths: Raising children, I realized, is vastly more than finding what is wrong with them. It is about identifying and nurturing their strongest qualities, what they own and are best at, and helping them find niches in which they can best live out these strengths. Thus, Seligman came to advocate for a positive psychology based on identifying and nurturing human strengths (Seligman, 1998; Seligman et al., 2001). Placement Versus Selection Models The purpose of assessment critically affects the variables that are most relevant. The distinctive focus of counseling psychology has always been primarily the individual client. The purpose has been to maximize outcomes for that individual. Such outcomes are measures of success in our culture: satisfaction in school, job satisfaction, and personal happiness. Psychology has long distinguished between placement and selection models (Goldman, 1971). Figure 3.1 illustrates features of these two contrasting models. In the placement mode, we start with a single individual and use assessment to find optimal possibilities for that person. In the prototypic selection model, we start with multiple individuals and we try to find the one best qualified for an outcome, such as a job. Typically, placement models maximize outcomes for individuals, selection models maximize outcomes for institutions, such as schools or employers. These models, in their traditional prototypic form, have quite different objectives of benefiting primarily individuals or institutions. Both models are interested in assessment for optimal functioning, but from the different perspectives of
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individuals or institutions. This duality is reflected in the two central outcomes of Dawis and Lofquist’s (1984) theory of work adjustment, which highlights the importance of PE fit. Their work outcome from the individual’s perspective is “satisfaction”; their second outcome, tilted toward the perspective of the institution (or employer) is “satisfactoriness.” The first criterion refers to the needs of the individual, and the second criterion refers to the needs of the institution. We have illustrated the traditional placement-selection distinction by linking placement to decisions optimized for the single individual and selection to an institution finding the best person for a single job. This is an overdrawn distinction, even though it reflects some of the traditionally different roles of the counseling psychologist and the industrial-organizational psychologist. In recent times, institutions have shown more interest in the placement model Notably, employers have used psychological assessment to guide employees toward ideal options within the organization. In an ideal world, the needs of both individuals and institutions are included in our assessment models.
FIG. 3.1. Placement and selection models in assessment.
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Profiles of Possibilities By definition, a scale that is a normally distributed T-score, with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, will have 25% of the people in the norm group at a score of 58 or higher. This is case for the content scales of the Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994) where, for example, 25% of the people in the norm group have a score of 58 or more on the Realistic General Occupational Theme (GOT). The 15 % of the scores on the 6 GOTs and the 25 Basic Interest Scales (BIS) that fall in the upper 25%, but below the top 10%, for their gender are labeled as high interest, and are profiled on the “whisker” in the “box and whisker” on the Strong profile. For purposes of this illustration, we define a Strong content score as showing high interest if the score is 58 or higher. For simplicity, we combine the genders in this illustration. There are many more possibilities in a profile of scores than in a sole focus on a single score. We illustrate this with the GOTs and BISs of the Strong, but the point could be made cogently with a more varied profile containing interests, self-efficacy, values, personality, and abilities. People are distinctive in a great variety of ways. With normally distributed T-scores, only 25% of the group can have high interest on a single scale. However, the situation of identifying distinctive interests shifts radically when we look at a more complex profile of interests, as illustrated in Fig. 3.2. If we examine the profiles of 6 GOTs in the Strong norm group, 73.5% have at least one score with high interest. Even more striking, in the profile of 25 BIS, nearly everyone (96.9%) has at least one score with high interest. In this sense, nearly everyone is above average if we look at a diverse profile of interests. Peak Profiles. The counselor is often trying to help the client find the peaks in her or his psychological profile. What are the things the client really likes to do, what are the things the client really feels good about doing? If the person’s profile has a reasonable amount of detail, there will usually be dimensions that emerge as strengths. This counseling use of assessment is radically different from the way assessment is often used in selection contexts. The institution says, in effect, we have this variable that we consider important for our setting. Half the people fall below average on this variable, and 90% fall below the score we use for admission to our setting. We want to find out where a person falls on this dimension. (Strong 1943, 1955) showed that what we dislike is at least as definitive for our career paths as what we like. Our illustration could easily to designed to show the power of dislikes within a profile perspective.)
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FIG. 3.2. Specificity of interest profiles and likelihood of identifying high interests, GOT =General Occupation Theme; BISs=Basic Interest Scales.
The Power of Discovering Strengths. Buckingham and Clifton (2001) illustrated the appeal that discovering strengths has for self-directed modern career seekers. Working in the large Gallup Organization, they have developed a strength-profiling inventory that searches for strengths across 34 themes, such as empathy and command. They strongly advocate that organizations thrive best when they help individuals identify their strengths and select niches that nurture the growth of these strengths. This is positive psychology at work, quite congruent with the widespread use of instruments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers & McCaulley, 1998), which focuses on personal strengths and how they can be maximized in organizations.
ASSESSING INTERESTS Seventy-five years ago, Strong (1927) launched the assessment of vocational interests as one of the major success stories in psychometrics and assessment. His creation of the occupational scale, empirically identifying interest items differentiating people in the occupation from the norm group, was a landmark achievement. This “contrasted-groups” method of creating empirical scales became widely influential in personality measurement in the Minnesota
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Multiphasic Personality Inventory (Hathaway & McKinley, 1951) and the California Psychological Inventory (Gough, 1957). What is not so widely understood is that Strong’s occupational scales are inherently multivariate (Dawis, 1991), in that each scale identifies all the dimensions in an item pool that differentiate that occupation from others. Thus, physicists might like science and math and dislike sales and public speaking, and all that diverse content will be embedded in the physicist occupational scale, It is a single scale, but it is also a linear composite that weights all these content dimensions. If we were to examine the physicists’ profile on the BISs of the 1994 SII (Harmon, et al., 1994) there would be peaks on the Science and Mathematics scales, and valleys on the Sales and Public Speaking scales. As Dawis pointed out, the Strong occupational scale is implicitly analogous to a discriminant function, although it is just a rough approximation because of sampling error in individual items and the use of unit weighting. Occupational scales continue to be a centerpiece of the Strong, but the inventory has expanded over recent revisions and now contains 6 GOTs, 25 BIS, and 4 Personal Style scales. Although the Strong has become increasingly complex, Holland has opted for simplicity in interest assessment, and used that to build a large influence on the field. For 3 decades, the Big Six of Holland’s hexagon has been an increasingly dominant way of conceptualizing individual differences in vocational psychology (Borgen, Holland, 1991; 1997, 1999). The hexagon is the icon that portrays Holland’s best-known contribution, the six parallel types of personalities and work environments. The structural relationships within the hexagon are also prominent, reflected in the calculus that proximity of types reflects psychological similarity, and distance reflects dissimilarity (Holland, 1997; Rounds & Day, 1999). Holland’s (1997, 1999) hexagon has become a lens though which much of vocational life is now productively viewed. It informs both instrument development and the research we do to validate and expand our inventories. It is clearly one of the great successes of counseling psychology. It is widely used in assessment and counseling. It is a theory that has been widely tested, yielding a number of well-replicated advances in construct validation. Compared to developments in the Big Five personality model and in selfefficacy, the Holland model has the longest history and, in many ways, is the most developed model both theoretically and in assessment practice. Holland’s first publication of his theory occurred over 40 years ago (Holland, 1959). His efforts at measuring his constructs are also long-standing, with his Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1977) and Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1979). The explicit discovery of the hexagonal relationships was published in 1971 (Cole, Whitney, & Holland). Thirty years ago, the Holland system was incorporated into the SII as a major organizing system (Campbell & Holland, 1972). Today, four of the five leading interest inventories (see Savickas, 1998)
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are explicitly organized by close variants of the Holland system, and the fifth inventory yields information about Holland code types. Savickas (1998) devoted an issue of the Career Development Quarterly to exemplar interpretations of the five most popular interest inventories, completed by the same ambitious and patient client, with the apt pseudonym of Ellenore Flood. The inventories were (a) the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, (b) the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey and Career Search Schedule, (c) Holland’s Self-Directed Search, (d) the Strong Interest Inventory and (e) Skills Confidence Inventory, and the Unisex editions of the ACT Interest Inventory. This special issue exemplifies the current influence of Holland’s theory and vocational taxonomy on interest measurement. All of these instruments are interpretable with a Holland code. With the exception of the Kuder inventory, all of the instruments are explicitly organized around the six Holland dimensions.
TWO DECADES OF SELF-EFFICACY IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY Self-efficacy was originally introduced by Bandura (1977) as the central feature of his social-cognitive theory. Subsequently self-efficacy has been studied in the context of a wide variety of domains within counseling psychology, including career choice and pursuits (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), work-related behavior (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998), psychological counseling (Larson, 1998), academic success (Lent, Brown, & Larkin, 1984,1986; Wood & Locke, 1987), and social skills (Bradley & Betz, 1999). Self-efficacy has proven to be an important element in the understanding of optimal human functioning, because of its capacity to predict whether an individual will attempt a task, how much effort will be exerted, and how long the individual will persist in the face of adversity. Self-efficacy expectations are basically an individual’s beliefs about his or her ability to successfully complete a task or activity (Bandura, 1977, 1986). The definition of self-efficacy has also been expanded to include a general belief in one’s ability to successfully handle or control important events in life (Bandura, 1989). The most important source of information affecting selfefficacy is mastery experiences, or successful performances of the behaviors under consideration (Bandura, 1999). When individuals have the experience of completing a task to a satisfactory level, they are much more likely to believe they can do it again. Conversely, when people experience failure at a particular task, their self-efficacy decreases. The potency of mastery experiences as a source of efficacy information has been well established by researchers in counseling psychology (Campbell & Hackett, 1986; Hackett & Campbell, 1987; Lent et al., 1994; Lent, Lopez, & Bieschke, 1991). Campbell and Hackett found dramatic effects on self-efficacy
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of either success or failure on a number sequence task. Specifically, those who succeeded showed increased efficacy after the first success and further increased efficacy after the second success; the opposite pattern of results was found for those who failed. These results were replicated with a word anagram task (Hackett & Campbell). However, direct success experiences may fail to increase self-efficacy if the individual attributes the achievement to external factors such as luck or the help of others rather than to his or her own ability. For example, Campbell and Hackett (1986) found that women were more likely than men to attribute success on a math-related task to luck, and persisted in rating their ability lower than men did even after identical success experiences. Self-efficacy is most likely to be strengthened by repeated experiences of success with a task that are reinforced and that occur under various conditions (Lent et al., 1994). Other factors that affect people’s attributions regarding success experiences include task difficulty, effort expended, assistance received, emotional and physical state, and rate of improvement over time (Bandura, 1999). With regard to failure, some individuals exhibit more resilience in their self-efficacy than others. Specifically, people who attribute failure to lack of effort maintain high self-efficacy, but when people who attribute failure to lack of ability fail, their self-efficacy plummets (Bandura, 1993). Career Self-Efficacy Vocational behavior is one of the areas in which the application of self-efficacy theory has received a large amount of theoretical and empirical atten-tion (Lent et al., 1994; Lent & Hackett, 1987). Hackett and Betz (1981) first suggested that self-efficacy might be important in understanding career development, specifically impacting academic achievement, career choices, and career adjustment. Since then, various forms of career-related self-efficacy have been found to be robustly predictive of choice and success in academic and vocational domains (Betz & Hackett, 1986; Lent et al., 1994; Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991), For example, self-efficacy for the six Holland (1997) themes has been demonstrated to predict occupational choice (Donnay & Borgen, 1999; Harmon, et al., 1996). Strong efficacy beliefs can be facilitative of career choice, but weak efficacy beliefs can be barriers to choice (Betz & Hackett, 1997). In the area of academic achievement, 14% of the variance in performance and 12% of the variance in persistence has been accounted for by self-efficacy (Multon et al., 1991). Self-efficacy has demonstrated unique predictive ability above and beyond that of ability, vocational interests (Lent et al., 1986), congruence between interests and major, and anticipation of consequences in decision making (Lent, Brown, & Larkin, 1987). Science and engineering majors who exhibit greater confidence in their ability to meet departmental standards of achievement are more persistent in their majors and earn higher
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grades (Lent et al., 1984). However, self-efficacy for science- and math-related tasks seems important for achievement in students across majors (Lindley & Borgen, 2002). Confidence in the Investigative theme is significantly related to ACT scores in both men and women from a variety of academic majors but is more important in the prediction of GPA for women than for men. Self-efficacy has been shown to be especially important in understanding women’s career development (see Phillips & Imhoff, 1997). Betz and Hackett (1981) were the first scholars to examine this area of inquiry; they found women to have lower efficacy expectations than men for traditionally masculine occupations and higher efficacy expectations than men for traditionally feminine occupations, whereas no differences were evident in men’s efficacy expectations for masculine and feminine occupations. In regression analyses they found that consideration of occupational alternatives was predicted by gender, selfefficacy, and vocational interest, but not by ability. Although self-efficacy is a personal estimation of ability, research has shown that measurements of selfefficacy and ability on a particular domain are often only moderately and inconsistently related (Lent et al., 1984, 1986; Swanson & Lease, 1990). Selfefficacy has been described as more important than ability in the prediction of performance (Lent et al., 1994); in one study, math aptitude scores were shown not to contribute to the prediction of major choice at all (Betz & Hackett, 1983). It has also been demonstrated that females have lower efficacy expectations for traditionally male content domains, such as mathematics (Betz & Hackett, 1983; Campbell & Hackett, 1986; Lent et al., 1991; Matsui, Matsui, & Ohnishi, 1990) and mechanical ability (Swanson & Lease, 1990). Betz and Hackett (1983) found math self-efficacy to be the strongest predictor of choice of a math-related major; women’s lower math efficacy is reflected in their underrepresentation in such majors. These findings and those of Betz and Hackett (1981) have been explained by the influences of gender role socialization; women’s range of career self-efficacy may be narrower than men’s primarily because of gender differences in Bandura’s (1982) sources of efficacy information (Hackett & Betz, 1981). Specifically, boys and girls are likely to have differential access to mastery experiences, role models, and verbal persuasion in task domains related to occupations that are traditionally considered to be masculine or feminine. These differences in experience lead to differences in self-efficacy, which in turn, contribute to the underrepresentation of women in more prestigious, male-dominated careers (Betz & Hackett, 1997). Low self-efficacy among women has also been cited as an important internal (psychological) barrier to career development, as well as a contributor to the potency of external barriers (Hackett & Betz, 1981). Specifically, external barriers (e.g., discrimination, sexual harassment, poor social support) can only be overcome with the help of a strong sense of self-efficacy. Although gender differences have been reported consistently in self-efficacy for the six Holland (1997) themes, as well (Betz, Borgen, & Harmon, 1996;
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Betz, Harmon, & Borgen, 1996; Lindley & Borgen, 2002; Parsons & Betz, 1998; Swanson & Lease, 1990), very few gender differences in Holland theme confidence are found within occupational groups. Similarly, studies that focus on students in science-related majors have often failed to find gender differences in self-efficacy regarding the tasks of their major (e.g., Lent et al., 1984). Women who pursue these majors may do so because of their higher levels of self-efficacy, or may have greater opportunities for mastery experiences once they become involved in a traditionally masculine major or career. In a study of Japanese undergraduates who had passed the highly selective entrance exam, Matsui et al. (1990) found only modest gender differences in math self-efficacy, and no significant gender differences in the four sources of efficacy information. Furthermore, gender differences in self-efficacy for a math-related task diminish when men and women have the same success experiences in a controlled environment (Campbell & Hackett, 1986), and in a general college population, gender differences in math self-efficacy disappear when differential efficacy-building experiences are controlled (Lent etal., 1991). Gender differences in math self-efficacy also disappear when the task involves stereotypically feminine activities, such as mentally calculating a grocery bill (Betz & Hackett, 1983). Interestingly, Campbell and Hackett (1986) found that women’s self-efficacy was more strongly affected by both success and failure on math-related task experiences than men’s; this could be because the women had fewer past experiences in mathematics with which to make their efficacy judgments. Generalized Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy was originally developed as a task-specific variable, and continues to most often be conceptualized in relation to a particular activity or domain of activities. Research in counseling psychology has tended to focus on taskspecific self-efficacy rather than generalized self-efficacy, or a general confidence in one’s own ability to succeed in a variety of domains. When specific behaviors are the focus of investigation, task-specific self-efficacy measures are typically found to have more predictive ability (Lennings, 1994; Maddux, 1995; Slanger & Rudestam, 1997); for example, career decisionmaking self-efficacy is specifically associated with less career indecision (Taylor & Betz, 1983), but more general measures of academic self-efficacy have been shown to have no relationship with career indecision (Lent et al., 1987). Furthermore, within-individual differences between self-efficacy domains certainly exists (Lent et al., 1986). However, there is also considerable evidence to suggest that self-efficacy can also be conceptualized as a general dispositional variable (e.g., Judge, Thoresen, Pucik, & Welbourne, 1999; Tipton & Worthington, 1984), and a few researchers in counseling psychology have begun to explore this concept. Betz and Klein
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(1996) reported significant correlations between generalized self-efficacy and the average of confidence scores for the six Holland themes for both women and men, although the relationship was stronger for men than for women. Lindley and Borgen (2002) reported strong correlations between generalized selfefficacy and the Investigative, Enterprising, and Conventional themes for both men and women. However, they also reported significant relationships between generalized self-efficacy and the other three themes for women but not for men. In regression analyses only Investigative and Enterprising confidence contributed to the prediction of generalized self-efficacy for women, whereas for men only Investigative and Conventional confidence were significant predictors. More research is needed to better understand the concept of generalized self-efficacy.
ASSESSING PERSONALITY STRENGTHS The MBTI (Myers & McCaulley, 1998) is probably the most well-known personality inventory that focuses significantly more on strengths and positive aspects of one’s personality than on one’s weaknesses, deficiencies, or psychopathology. According to McCaulley (1990), the concept of “mutual usefulness of opposites” (p. 127) found in the MBTI promotes appreciation of one’s own characteristics as well as respect for the differences found in others. The MBTI will soon be the most widely-used psychological tool for non-clinical populations (McCaulley). In addition to its diverse uses in counseling, the MBTI is used in a variety of ways in academic settings, workplaces, and religious communities to help people better understand themselves and their relationships with others, including why they prefer to work with certain types of people in certain conditions rather than others. Interestingly, this instrument of the positive focus of counseling psychology is based on Jung’s theory of psychological type that originated over 75 years ago. The NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992; 1995) is another popular personality inventory that has been developed for nonclinical populations and therefore deemphasizes pathology. This inventory is based on the five-factor model of personality, commonly referred to as the Big Five. The five-factor model postulates five broad, basic dimensions that serve as a framework for organizing a large number of human-personality traits (Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1993). The five factors are Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness. People who are high on Extraversion are gregarious, assertive, active, upbeat, and talkative; whereas people who are low on Extraversion are reserved and independent, and prefer to have more time alone. People who are high on Agreeableness are caring, trusting, and eager to help people; whereas people who are low on this factor are competitive, skeptical of others’ intentions, selfish, and have little desire to get along with
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people. Individuals who are high on Conscientiousness are organized, strongwilled, purposeful, and motivated to achieve; whereas those who are low on Conscientiousness are relaxed, easy-going, careless, and unreliable. People who are high on Neuroticism are susceptible to psychological distress and negative affect, often have irrational ideas and low impulse control, and cope poorly with stress; whereas people who are low on Neuroticism are stable and emotionally well-adjusted. Individuals who are high on Openness are imaginative, intellectually curious, experience intense emotions, have broad interests, and tend to espouse unconventional values; whereas those who are low on this factor are conventional and conservative in thought and behavior (Costa & McCrae, 1992). In general, moderately high scores on four out of the five factors (excluding Neuroticism) are associated with positive personality traits, although extremely high scores can be problematic. For example, very high scores on Conscientiousness have been associated with compulsive tendencies or workaholic behavior (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Neuroticism, however, differs from the others in that high scores are “bad,” and that the word itself has strong negative connotations. Interestingly, the new NEO-4 (Costa & McCrae, 1998) has eliminated Neuroticism and is based on the other four factors. This could be due to the current focus on positive human traits, or simply to people’s preference not to have to acknowledge negative aspects of themselves. The Barrick and Mount (1991) classic meta-analysis of the relationship of the Big Five dimensions to work performance stimulated great interest and applications (cf., Costa, McCrae, & Kay, 1995). Lowman (1991) wrote about practical issues in integrating personality measures in career counseling. His insights and literature review predate the recent spate of literature related to the Big Five model, but his observations about the importance of achievement motivation and extraversion have been confirmed by recent research. In counseling he saw personality measures as being used sequentially, after initial consideration of interest and ability measures. Lowman asked if there are some personality measures that are more related to work behavior than others. He concluded this is indeed the case, and different personality variables may serve different functions in various situations. For example, an individual who scores low on a measure of Extraversion probably should not pursue a career in sales; however, someone who scores high on a measure of Extraversion may or may not excel in sales depending on his or her other various interests and abilities. However, which variables are relevant and exactly what influence they have is neither theoretical clear-cut nor empirically well-validated. Ideally, a career-relevant personality variable would be one that has theoretical and empirical relevance, and that would demonstrate a pattern of differential performance in a given occupation. Of course, integration of personality data with other information, such as interests and abilities, is critical.
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ADAPTABILITY: THE CONVERGENCE OF INTERESTS, SELF-EFFICACY, AND PERSONALITY Efficacy expectations are related to occupational interests, such that people develop interests in activities about which they feel efficacious (Betz & Hackett, 1981; Lent et al., 1994; Lent et al., 1986; Lent, Larkin, & Brown, 1989; Lent et al., 1991). In addition, self-efficacy and interests mutually influence one another; self-efficacy leads to greater interest in an activity, which in turn leads to interest-related goals and increased involvement in that activity. Increased involvement leads to more success experiences, which boosts self-efficacy. Specific confidence in the various Holland (1997) themes has been shown to relate to interest in that theme (Betz, et al., 1996; Donnay & Borgen, 1999; Swanson, 1993). Although it has been suggested that self-efficacy is not conceptually distinct from interest in a particular theme (Tracey, 1997), other research has provided evidence that the two are indeed separate constructs (Betz, et al., 1996; Swanson). Confidence in the Holland themes has been shown to relate to other individual characteristics as well (Tuel & Betz, 1998). Specifically, confidence in the Social theme is related to a preference for working with people, whereas confidence in the Realistic or Investigative theme is related to a preference for working with ideas, data, or things. Confidence in the Investigative, Artistic, Social, or Enterprising theme is related to a preference for an academic learning environment as opposed to a practical one. Confidence in the Artistic, Social, Enterprising, or Conventional theme is related to a desire to be a leader. Confidence in the Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Enterprising, or Conventional theme is related to a preference for risk taking and adventurous activities. The important relationships between self-efficacy and personality variables have thus far been largely unexplored by researchers (Borgen, 1999). Lindley (2001) reported a strong positive correlation between generalized self-efficacy and the Big Five personality variable Conscientiousness, and a strong negative correlation between generalized self-efficacy and Neuroticism. Furthermore, she reported generalized self-efficacy to have moderate positive relationships with Extraversion and Agreeableness. Extraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness were all found to relate substantially to two or more Holland theme self-efficacies. The relationships between self-efficacy and other dispositional variables that contribute to healthy human functioning have also only begun to be examined in counseling psychology. Lindley (2001) reported that general-ized self-efficacy was strongly related to self-esteem, locus of control, nonneuroticism, positive affect, and optimism; but that, in general, self-efficacy for the six Holland themes tended to be unrelated to these dispositional variables. One notable exception was a significant correlation between Enterprising confidence and
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self-esteem. More research is necessary to better understand the connections between various forms of self-efficacy, personality variables, and other traits of individuals. Tilley, Osborn, Wubben, and Quinn (2001) concluded that personality, when studied multivariately, is substantially related to level of confidence on the six General Confidence Themes (GCTs) of the Skills Confidence Inventory. They also concluded that personality is more strongly related to level of confidence than level of interest, as measured by the six GOTs of the SII. For a sample of college students they calculated confidence level and then interest level by averaging, respectively, the six GCTS and the six GOTS. Measures of the Big Five personality dimensions were then used as a set in multiple regression to predict, respectively, level of confidence and level of interest. The Big Five predicted level of confidence with a multiple correlation of .468, and level of interest with a multiple correlation of .270. These results suggest further exploration is needed to understand level of confidence on a measure such as the Skills Confidence Inventory. Level of interest profile and personality has been studied (e.g., Fuller, Holland, & Johnston, 1999; Tilley et al., 2001) with important results. The effects appear to be even more substantial for selfefficacy measures, and the theoretical and assessment implications merit serious attention.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DOMAINS OF INDIVIDUALITY: THE INTERDOMAIN PERSPECTIVE Over the years, there often has been little communication between the subdisciplines of psychology studying vocational interests, personality, and selfefficacy. Many writers might give the impression that these are quite separate constructs. Our perspective, however, is that it is now evident that the linkage between these constructs is much greater than many of us have previously thought. There are several seminal studies and theoretical pieces that now support this emerging view of a more unified view of individuality. This point is echoed by Spokane and Decker (1999), who observed, “It is increasingly apparent that interests, personality, self-efficacy, and other variants of personality and vocational self-concept may be facets of a unified set of complex underlying traits” (p. 230). Ackerman and Heggestad (1997) jointly examined vocational interests, personality, and intelligence. Their review and meta-analysis found that these domains overlap, and that together they fit Holland’s familiar RIASEC hexagon. This study combines with a number of others showing the overlap among domains of individuality. Several examples of this shift of thinking can be cited. Interests and abilities have been examined by Swanson (1993) and Prediger (1999). Interests and self-efficacy have been examined by Betz et al. (1996) and
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Donnay and Borgen (1999). Cross-domain relationships in the O*NET content domains of interests, personality, and abilities have been examined by Hanson, Borman, Kubisiak, and Sager (1999). The operational centerpiece of Holland’s theory, the Self-Directed Search (SDS), can readily be viewed as a measure of multiple domains, including interests and self-rated abilities. Each RIASEC dimension comprises four subareas; activities, competencies, occupations, and abilities. SDS respondents are providing information both about what they would like to do, as well as what they are good at doing. Thus, one would suspect that SDS scores may be measuring a composite of interests and self-efficacy. The issue pivots on whether there is in fact a difference between self-ratings of abilities and measures of confidence (self-efficacy) for performing tasks, Betz (1999) considers these constructs to be different. In the camp of measures of self-rated abilities she places Holland’s SDS. On the other hand, Betz observes that confidence (self-efficacy) is measured by such recent instruments as the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (Campbell, Hyne, & Nilsen, 1992), the Skills Confidence Inventory (Betz, et al., 1996), and the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (Lucas, Wanberg, & Zytowski, 1997), which measure interests and confidence as separate domains. This separate measurement, as opposed to the SDS composite scores, enhances the counseling intervention strategies that are possible (Betz). Changing Views of the Links Between Interests and Personality The literature, especially historically, contains dissonant messages about interests, personality, and their relationships to work. We know that interests are powerfully related to work behavior (Campbell, 1971; Donnay & Borgen, 1996;Hansen, 1984; Harmon et al., 1994; Strong, 1943). However, then the dissonance begins. On one hand, Holland’s (1959) mantra for decades was that interests are expressions of personality. On the other hand, other experts in vocational psychology wrote that personality has demonstrated only weak relationships to work behavior (Guion & Gottier, 1965; Hansen, Strong, 1943). Both of these positions cannot be true unless we humor Holland and suggest he is only speaking metaphorically; or that the actual empirical relationship between interests and personality is only modest, permitting them to share common variance, but not the valid criterion variance that is related to work behavior. A fresh look at this topic, and some compelling new data, lead us to conclude that the overlap between interests and personality is likely quite substantial, and therefore, personality must be related to work behavior if interests are related to work behavior. In his retirement years, Holland has persistently addressed the empirical question of the overlap between interests and personality, stimulated by Costa and McCrae’s developing Big Five personality measure (Costa & McCrae,
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1984; Holland, 1997, 1999). There are now at least a dozen studies of this topic, all converging on the robust conclusion that parts of Holland’s interest hexagon are substantially related to the Big Five personality pentagon. A recent metaanalysis by Larson, Rottinghaus, and Borgen (2002) summarized these links between the Big Six and the Big Five. The overall results are depicted in Fig. 3.3, which reorders the Big Five personality dimensions to give the best fit with Holland’s hexagon. The major results are that personality extraversion is related to Enterprising and Social interests, that personality openness is related to Artistic and Investigative interests, and that personality agreeableness is modestly related to Social interests. There is now little doubt that there are substantial relationships between segments of the Big Six interest model and segments of the Big Five personality model More work is needed to integrate these results in our theoretical conceptions and our assessment practice.
FIG. 3.3. Summary of meta-analyses of Big Six interests and Big Five personality dimensions.
Holland (1999) highlighted a study by De Fruyt and Mervielde (1997) that provocatively advances our knowledge of the relationship between interests and personality. The overall results for the six RIASEC interests and five NEOAC personality dimensions replicate the findings that have been accumulating since the 1984 Costa and McCrae study (cf. Borgen, 1986; Holland, 1997, Larson, et al., 2002). What is especially intriguing and informative about the De Fruyt and Mervielde study is their inclusion of the 30 facets scales of the NEO, with six specific subscales for each Big Five domain, Holland (1999) observed that the
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personality facet scales clarify some of the differences between adjacent Holland types. For example, the six facets for Extraversion have very different patterns of correlations with Holland’s Social and Enterprising scales. Social types are most related to warmth (r=.38) and Enterprising types are most related to assertiveness (r =59). Each Holland type is about equally related to the facet for positive emotions (r=.24 for Social; r=.21 for Enterprising). These kinds of data give us much more information about the link between interests and personality than was available earlier; for example, Hansen (1984) could discern that Extraversion was related to Social and Enterprising types, but she did not have access to the kind of specific personality data that the De Fruyt and Mervielde study provided. Holland (1999) did not want to go beyond the simple correlations De Fruyt and Mervielde provided. He eschewed a multivariate analysis. To us, however, the distinctly different patterns of correlations with facets (within a Big Five personality domain), cry out for a multivariate perspective to enlarge our understanding of the linkage between interests and personality. Furthermore, if an examination of facets of personality can be so illuminating, so too would be an examination of the facets of Holland’s six themes, namely the BIS of the Strong inventory (Harmon et al., 1994). One could readily hypothesize what would be found when more specific interests were correlated with more specific personality facets. For example, facets of Enterprising interests should be differentially related to facets of Extraversion, an usually diverse range of dimensions. As an example, interests in public speaking should be particularly linked to Assertiveness. Larson and Borgen (2002) conducted a study with gifted adolescent students that shows, as hypothesized previously, that specific facets of interests correlate best with specific facets of personality. They used the 1985 SII (Hansen & Campbell, 1985) and two personality inventories: the Big Five as measured by the NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Big Three as measured by the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, 1982). Larson and Borgen (2002) predicted that specific NEO-PI-R facet scales and specific MPQ primary scales would add incremental variance to the prediction of selected BISs on the Strong after the contributions from the respective Big Five or Big Three Factors were removed. Their predictions were largely supported. For example, the 1985 Adventure BIS was much better explained by a specific personality facet scale for Extraversion than by broad domain score for Extroversion. Extraversion accounted for only 2% of the variance, whereas the Excitement Seeking facet accounted for an additional 15% of the variance. Data collected for the revision of the 1994 Strong Inventory show massive differences across occupations on personality variables (Donnay & Borgen, 1996; Harmon et al, 1994). The personality variables in question are the new Personal Style scales of the 1994 Strong. There are four of these scales: Risk Taking-Adventure, Learning Environment, Work Style, and Leadership. They
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were expected to be helpful in understanding personal styles within occupations, so the developers were surprised to see how powerfully they differentiated occupations (Donnay & Borgen, 1996; Borgen & Harmon, 1996; Harmon et al.). Three of these Personal Styles are similar to dimensions of the Big Five personality model. The Leadership scale is closely related to personality Extraversion, the Learning Environment scale is related to personality Openness, and the Work Style scale is related to personality Agreeableness. We can illustrate these personality differences across occupations by looking at the Leadership Style scale, recognizing it is close to a measure of Extraversion. For example, the Strong norm group data show nearly two standard deviations mean differences between school superintendents (M=58.6; SD=7.6) and auto mechanics (M=42.9; SD =10.1) on the Leadership Style scale. The effect size for the difference is 1.78. By inference then, the Extraversion differences between superintendents and auto mechanics must also be very substantial. A reasonable inference also is that extraversion is important to both the job satisfaction and performance of school superintendents. We are persuaded by data such as these for the occupational groups in the Strong norm group to believe that there are major personality differences across occupations. Interests and Self-Efficacy Scholars using social cognitive theory provide us with the most thorough and developed treatment of the relationships between interests and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Lent et al., 1994). Their focus is causal pathways for developmental processes, rather than psychometric overlap. The richness of their conceptualizing for vocational psychology is evident in the dozens of propositions and hypotheses that Lent et al. derive from their theorizing. A number of instruments have been developed to assess the specific constructs of their theory. In addition, the Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI) was designed to measure self-efficacy within the Holland system (Betz, et al., 1996). Designed as a companion to the SII, it measures GCTs on the six Holland RIASEC dimensions. Together the GCTs and the Holland GOTs provide a complementary way of assessing both confidence and interests for the broad activities of the Holland hexagon. This approach follows Campbell’s lead in the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (Campbell et al., 1992), the first major inventory to explicitly measure separate dimensions of interests and self-rated skill. (See also Lucas et al. [1997] with the Kuder inventory.) The Skills Confidence Inventory brings the insights of self-efficacy theory and practice to the traditions of interest measurement. Facilitated by the organization of both interests and self-efficacy around Holland’s hexagon, a number of studies have been conducted. The first studies addressed the validity and utility of the Skills Confidence Inventory. Betz (1996) showed that
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occupations in Holland job families were differentiated as expected on the Holland self-efficacy dimensions. Isaacs, Borgen, Donnay, and Hansen (1997) examined the combined multivariate utility of Holland scales for self-efficacy and interests to predict college majors, within Holland’s coding sytem, for 740 college students. Their discriminant function predictors were the six GCT from the Skills Confidence Inventory and the six GOT from the SII. Each set of scales was substantially predictive of college major, but together, there was a synergistic effect for the combined use of measures of self-efficacy and interests. For 1105 working adults in the norm groups for the SII and the Skills Confidence Inventory, Donnay and Borgen (1999) examined joint effects of self-efficacy and interests on the six Holland dimensions. They demonstrated that the concurrent validity for predicting occupational group was enhanced when both domains of individuality were used in concert and multivariately. They also examined the correlations between self-efficacy and interests on parallel RIASEC dimensions. The correlations were highest for the R, I, and A dimensions (.62, .65, & .58, respectively). The relationships were lowest for S, E, and C (.43, .39, & .41, respectively). These differences are intriguing, especially because they seem to be patterned within halves of the hexagon. This intriguing pattern continues to be replicated in subsequent studies with the Skills Confidence Inventory and SII. Gasser et al. (2001) found this pattern of results in a sample of college students, and Chartrand, Borgen, Betz, and Donnay (2002) found this differential pattern of correlations in large groups of people (27,000) taking the two instruments. This is a provocative result requiring exploration: Is it an intrinsic feature of the interest dimensions, or is it a specific characteristic of the inventories? A central tenet of the social cognitive theory of Bandura (1997) and Lent et al. (1994) is that self-efficacy is a primary causal pathway to interests; which, in turn, leads to important vocational behaviors such as occupational choice. From a psychometric perspective their theory says that the shared variance, or overlap, between self-efficacy and interests is substantial. The combined counseling use of measures of interests and self-efficacy is showing considerable promise for enhancing meaning and validity (Betz, 2000; Betz et al., in press; Betz & Borgen, 2000; Donnay & Borgen, 1999, 2000; Lenox & Subich, 1994). Self-Efficacy and Personality In counseling psychology, the interface between self-efficacy and personality has received limited empirical attention. Our position, albeit somewhat speculative, is that the linkage between personality and self-efficacy is probably greater than has previously been acknowledged. The simple basis for this belief is the empirical syllogism that if A (interests) and B (personality) are related, and A (interests) and C (self-efficacy) are related, then B (personality) and C
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(self-efficacy) must be related. To the extent that the A–B and A–C connections are strong, then the B-C connection must follow in our little “thought experiment” Our initial work with the Skills Confidence Inventory also leads us to believe that certain kinds of people (e.g. Holland E-types) are more likely to show high confidence (self-efficacy) across the RIASEC themes (Betz et al., 1996). We speculate that it is the optimism and resilience of the E-type that creates this result. Thus, we believe that it will be productive to explore this interface in more detail. Lent et al. (1994) theorized how personal dispositions might be related to self-efficacy within career development. Looking at causal pathways, they suggested that negative affect such as anxiety or depression might limit engagement with learning opportunities that could result in increased selfefficacy. Thus, they would link negative affect with low self-efficacy. We concur with this expectation, but suggest that its converse is also likely to be useful. Individuals with positive affect, such as optimism and resilience, are more likely to engage in learning opportunities that enhance self-efficacy. Watson and Tellegen (1999) argued that negative affectivity and positive affectivity are relatively independent dimensions, and not merely opposite poles of the same dimension. If they are correct (cf., Russell & Carroll, 1999) then a full treatment of self-efficacy and personality should include both negative affect and positive affect. Thus, we propose there is an important optimism and self-efficacy link that needs exploration. In fact, Staggs observed that any personality dispositions that facilitate learning experiences in a particular venue are likely to enhance self-efficacy (Staggs, personal communication, March 3, 1999). This viewpoint might lead to several hypotheses, such as being high on Big Five agreeableness would lead to more interpersonal learning experiences and hence greater self-efficacy in the interpersonal area. Interests, Self-Efficacy, and Personality: An Empirical Example Previously, we have shown how pair-wise there is emerging evidence of substantial relationships between interests, personality, and self-efficacy. More research about the relationships among all of these domains of individuality simultaneously would advance both theory and practice. Rottinghaus, Lindley, Green, and Borgen (2002) conducted a study that shows the promise of simultaneously using the domains of interests, selfefficacy, and personality in an assessment model. With a college sample, they were interested in predicting three levels of educational aspirations (1= Bachelor’s; 2=Master’s; and 3=Doctorate). Their predictor sets, using hierarchical regression, were Big Five personality, RIASEC measures of selfefficacy, and RIASEC measures of interests. Following Lent et al.’s (1994) theoretical conception of causal relationships, they entered personality first, then self-efficacy, and then interests. With the addition of each block of predictors,
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R2 rose from .10, to .26, to .29 for the combined sample of women and men; similar incremental results were obtained for women (.13, .29, .32) and men (.13, .30, .37), separately. Specific univariate results also amplified the distinctive interest, self-efficacy, and personality dimensions that differentiated college students with different educational aspirations. For example, aspirants to the doctorate were highest on Investigative interests, Investigative and Social confidence, personality Openness, and the Learning Environment personal style scale of the SII. All of these results are quite reasonable, and would support the assessment judgments that skilled counselors would use with these measures. The study empirically demonstrates the value of considering all of the domains of interests, self-efficacy, and personality in our theoretical and counseling models.
HIERARCHICAL MODELS: PARSIMONY AND SPECIFICITY Big dimensions have recently characterized assessment. Most prominent are the Holland hexagon and the personality pentagon. Big dimensions, and their broad taxonomies, have the advantages of parsimony. Minimalist approaches often get the most mileage—look how far Holland’s hexagon has traveled. When effectively done, the simplified taxonomies maximize the greatest amount of relevant information in the fewest number of dimensions. When they achieve this level of useful simplicity, they powerfully stimulate research and practice (Borgen, 1991; Campbell & Borgen, 1999; Savickas & Spokane, 1999). They are readily understood and adapted by others—scholars and practitioners alikeand they have tremendous theoretical and applied value. The effects of the Big Six and the Big Five are palpable, reflected in literature cited throughout this chapter. There is no major dispute about whether Holland’s RIASEC dimensions are the best six-variable summary of vocational interests. The Big Five personality dimensions have had an even more rapid and widespread impact than Holland’s dimensions. For example, following the impetus of Barrick and Mount’s (1991) meta-analysis, there are rapidly growing Big Five literatures in industrial psychology and in personality psychology. Although many see that a consensus has emerged that the Big Five dimensions are the best summary of personality dimensions (Costa & McCrae, 1992, 1995; Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1993), there are significant contrarian viewpoints (e.g., Hough, 1992). Many would argue that important nuances are lost when only the broad dimensions are used. They assert that each of the Big dimensions comprises subscales that are not merely homogeneous subsets of the Big dimension, but distinctive content scales with relatively distinctive psychometric properties, especially validity. The upshot is that in many applications, use of the subscales
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of the Big dimensions will enhance the utility of assessment. For example, the NEO-PI-R domain score for Extraversion is the sum of six facet scores: Warmth, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity, Excitement Seeking, and Positive Emotions. Specific scales will have specific validity, as shown by Vinchur, Schippman, Switzer, and Roth (1998). We suspect that similar results will emerge in the measurement of self-efficacy. Bandura (1997) acknowledged that self-efficacy can be measured with various levels of breadth or specificity. Specific measures of self-efficacy, as Campbell et al. (1992) developed for basic dimensions in the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, are likely to have particular value for specific criterion venues. Such a conclusion also matches directly with Bandura’s (1997) theoretical em-phasis on the situationality of self-efficacy. Recently, Betz et al. (in press) have expanded the Skills Confidence Inventory (Betz et al., 1996) to include Basic Confidence Scales that match many of the BISs of the SII (Harmon et al., 1994). General and Specific Interest Dimensions We show an interest measurement example that highlights the importance of specific dimensions. We use the General Reference Sample of the 1994 SII (Harmon et al., 1994), and specifically show how architects and technical writers differ on the broad and the specific dimensions. The broad dimensions are Holland’s, the six GOTs on the Strong; the specific dimensions are the 25 BISs, which can be grouped as rough subscales under the GOTs. We picked architects and technical writers as our example because they are both Artistic types in the Holland system (Holland, 1997), but they also differ substantially on the BISs. The results for comparing 400 architects and 400 technical writers with broad GOT dimensions and then with some more specific artistic BISs are displayed in Fig. 3.4. Each occupation contained 200 women and 200 men. Discriminant function analysis was used as a technique for weighting the interest variables in a linear composite that would best differentiate the occupations. First, on the left side of the figure, only the 6 GOTs were used. The strength of the differentiation is displayed in several ways: hit rate, Wilks’s lambda, and Cohen’s d. The right side of the figure displays similar information, but here the analysis substitutes the four artistic BISs for the Artistic GOT Again, measures of strength of differentiation are displayed. As is evident in the profiles on the right side of the figure, the new variables that add to the identification of architects versus technical writers are the Writing BIS, in one direction, and the Art and Applied Arts BISs in the other direction. The result of adding these three specific scales to the broad GOTs is to substantially increase the differentiation. Hit rate goes from 58% to 76%, 1 minus lambda (proportion of variance) goes from .054 to .353, and Cohen’s d goes from .52 to 1.58. Clearly, the more specific BISs, when relevant to specific criterion variance, can add very substantially to explanation of occupational differences.
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FIG. 3.4. Discriminant analysis differences between two Artistic-Investigative-Realistic (AIR) occupations, architects and technical writers: First with six GOTs, and then with the four artistic basic interest scales substituted for the Artistic GOT. GOT=General Occupational Theme; BISs=Basic Interest Scales.
Our transparent example for architects and technical writers is designed to have a clarity that readily demonstrates the role of broad Holland scales and specific BISs. Such a question can be addressed at a general and much more abstract multivariate level by asking how are a large number of occupations differentiated by the six GOTs versus-the 25 BISs. Donnay and Borgen (1966) addressed this question with the 18,951 working adults in the 50 occupations in the General Reference Sample for the 1994 SII (Harmon, et al., 1994). Discriminant analysis was used to differentiate all 50 occupations simultaneously, first with the set of 6 GOTs, and then with the set of 25 BISs. They split the sample in half to cross-validate the results; because of the large sample sizes, results were nearly identical for each half sample. Hit rates doubled (from about 10.5%–22%) when the more specific BISs were used. Proportion of variance explained jumped from .65, to .66, to .92 when the BISs, rather than the GOTs, were used. This is quite striking evidence that the BIS scapture a very substantial proportion of the interest differences between occupations. They do it with substantially more accuracy than the GOTs. In addition, they do it for the reasons illustrated in the previous example for architects and technical writers. Of course, when we do the analysis with so many occupations and variables, our insights to the specific differences are lost in hyperspace. The Donnay and Borgen (1996) study found that 21 of the
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discriminant dimensions were significant! If we want to see the whole process, we are better off with parsimony and simpler data sets. However, if we want to capture all of the known and useful criterion variance, we are better off (if we have large sample sizes) to let the formula incorporate all of the relevant information. Our contrast of architects and technical writers is similar to many that could be displayed of other occupations, with their specific criterion fea-tures that are better differentiated with specific content scales than with general ones. An occupation is a specific criterion, with its own nuances: Strong considered those nuances so important that he created an occupational scale for each occupation to reflect the item-level specificity of the occupation (Campbell & Borgen, 1999). We can place an occupation in a broad type defined by Holland’s taxonomy, but we will often achieve that simplicity at the cost of some validity. The future of interest measurement will be enhanced by greater use of content scales similar to the BIS. A number of writers have addressed the advantages, within certain contexts, for a more fine-grained set of scales (Borgen, 1986, 1999; Day & Rounds, 1997; Donnay, 1997; Rounds & Day, 1999). Many interest inventories (e.g., Campbell et al., 1992; Harmon et al., 1994; Lucas et al., 1997) include both kinds of scales and their authors advocate for their complementary uses in counseling. The developing O*NET national occupational information system (Peterson, Mumford, Borman, Jeanneret, & Fleishman, 1999) will need to include specific scales beyond Holland’s and the Big Five to have utility for more specific occupations, or for fairly specific job families. The initial O*NET work espouses hierarchical models, and the developers have presented that thus far for personality, but not for interests. Particularly in a highly computerized and interactive world, assessments can be based on quite complex underlying and multivariate formulae that work implicitly in the background, but produce user-friendly information that is simple and on target with the questions users bring.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Individuals are hugely different on an array of dimensions. When we access these dimensions in a combined way we begin to capture individuality. Individuality is the distinctiveness of the individual person on the many dimensions relevant to life satisfaction and success. Such life outcomes are more likely when the distinctiveness of the person is well matched to an environmental niche. People function optimally when they fit well with the psychological contours of their environment. Important components of human adaptability within environments are interests, self-efficacy, and personality. Exemplified by the work of Tyler (1959, 1978), counseling psychology approaches assessment as the task of helping people generate good options,
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choices, and possibilities. This is the placement model of assessment (Fig. 3.1). It does not require winners and losers from an assessment process, but it seeks to generate the best of possibilities for each individual. This viewpoint is quite compatible with the PE fit model, suggesting that people will function optimally when they live within a niche that is congruent with their distinctive individuality. Counseling psychology has led in identifying human strengths in normal people pursuing typical life goals, such as school and work. Three major domains of individuality that counseling psychology has emphasized are interests, self-efficacy, and personality. Researchers have increasingly shown the important and incremental roles of these dimensions in explaining life choices and adjustments. Accumulating studies are showing that assessment that combines interests, self-efficacy, and personality will better describe the person’s individual strengths and better inform important life choices. Broad assessment measures are useful for efficiently describing broad goals. More specific assessment measures have additional advantages. They increase the probability of identifying distinctive strengths, and they add to the validity of assessment for specific choices. Mapping Domains of Individuality and Venues of Living Borgen (1999) advocated an expanded and more explicit PE fit model that specified domains of individuality and venues of living. Domains of individuality in his model included interests, self-efficacy, personality, and values. He suggested that relationships among these domains are important and merit additional study. He saw the criterion spaces, the niches where people live, as including four venues of living: loving, working, learning, and playing. The possible relationships among, and within, all these elements [36 in all] are daunting, but considerable progress is being made in filling in this nomological space. Many recent studies of this kind are covered in this chapter. For example, our knowledge has been significantly advanced by recent studies of the linkage of personality and interests. Larson et al. (2002) summarized these studies in a meta-analysis of the popular models of Big Six interests and Big Five personality (see Fig. 3.3). These results leave no doubt that there are important relationships between these models of interests and personality. Several recent studies cited in this chapter speak to the relationships between interests and self-efficacy, and to their incremental validity in predicting life activities such as working or learning. This is probably the most vigorous current area of activity, with major theoretical implications and with major practical advances in assessment. Exciting theoretical issues for future work include (a) why some domains show higher relationships between interests and self-efficacy than do others; and (b) how well do the data support the Lent et al.
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(1994) predictions of social cognitive career theory? More applied issues also loom: (a) how can we best use measures of interests and self-efficacy in counseling and assessment practice; (b) how well can we build new and specific measures of self’efficacy (Basic Confi’ dence Scales: Betz et al., in press) that will parallel current specific measures of interests, such as the Basic Interest Scales; and (c) how can we build interventions and developmental experiences that will enhance interests and self-efficacy. Assessing Strengths Through Specific Profiles of Possibilities Specific measures of important domains of individuality permit profiles of possibilities. Such comprehensive profiles are best at identifying strengths for the widest variety of people. In our example herein for the SII (Fig. 3.2), only ¼ of people had high interests for a particular scale, but ¾ had high interest on at least one of the six Holland scales, and over 95% had a high interest on at least one of the BISs. The potentials for identifying important peak profiles increase even more when our assessment approach includes other domains, such as selfefficacy and personality. If our outcome criteria are broad, such as Holland job family, then broad scales such as Holland’s six RIASEC scales will have good validity. If the focus of assessment is more specific, such as specific occupations or more specific job families, then more specific dimensions such as BIS—when used as a comprehensive, multivariate set—will have substantially more validity. This was illustrated by Donnay and Borgen’s (1996) concurrent prediction of 50 occupations from different types of scales in the SII. Prediction hit-rates in the cross-validation sample were 10.5% with the 6 Holland GOTs, but 22.2% with the 25 BISs. This was a two-fold increase in prediction. This point was also illustrated in this chapter (Fig. 3.4), where the different kinds of scales were used to differentiate architects and technical writers, who are similar on the Holland artistic scale, but differ on specific BISs within the artistic domain,
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Correspondence concerning this chapter should be sent to Fred H.Borgen, Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011. Electronic mail may be sent to
[email protected]
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4 Person-Environment Psychology and Well-Being W.Bruce Walsh Ohio State University
A historical review by Ekehammar (1974) suggested that the many psychologists who have made important contributions to person-environment (PE) psychology fall into two major groups: the classical interactionalists and the more contemporary, or modern, interactionalists. The classical people were predominantly theorists, whereas the more contemporary people tend to be empirically oriented and committed to data-based research. As far back as 1924, J.R.Kantor made one of the earliest contributions to PE psychology. Kantor thought that the study of psychology should focus on the PE unit. He viewed psychology as interbehavioral and emphasised the reciprocal interplay between person and environment. Implicit in Kantor’s theory was the suggestion that the person is a function of the environment and the environment is a function of the person, two perspectives that, in time, were to be relevant in other PE models. In 1935 Kurt Lewin made a profound contribution to the PE area by more explicitly suggesting that a person’s behavior is a function of the person and of the environment. Lewin’s idea that the environment is as important as the individual, and that both must be analyzed to assess and understand behavior, continues to be a theoretical base for PE psychology today. In essence, Lewin believed that behavior is a function of the whole situation and that the whole situation must take into account interactions between person and environment. About the same time, Kurt Koffka (1935), whose primary interest was in perception, suggested that psychologists must be concerned with both the physical (geographical) environment and the psychological (behavioral) environment. Koffka, much like Kantor and Lewin, make a clear distinction between the two types of environment. Koffka further thought that the
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psychological environment is a function of the interaction between the human organism and the physical environment. In 1938 Henry Murray, influenced by Koffka and Lewin, expanded on the notion of PE interaction by suggesting that behavior is a function of the individual’s personality needs and perceived environmental “presses,” or pressures. Murray viewed the environment from a somewhat objective perspective, which he labeled the “alpha press,” and from a psychological perspective, which he labeled the “beta press.” Murray thought the beta press, or how individuals tend to perceive environments in which they are interacting and responding, was the more important of the two. Thus, according to Murray, the perceived pressures in a given environment tend to stimulate certain needs and ultimate behaviors. Murray was probably the first to attempt to operationalize PE concepts in an applied and meaningful way, through use of his Thematic Apperception Test. In 1935 Tolman suggested that a person’s behavior is a function of the stimulus condition and of the person’s heredity, past training, and psychological state. He further hypothesized that these variables are fairly independent, rather than interdependent, as suggested by Kantor, Lewis, and Koffka. In 1941 Angyal introduced his notion of “biosphere,” suggesting that we must take into account how the biological, sociological, and psychological variables tend to affect the PE unit. Murphy (1947) continued the person-environment tradition by introducing a “biosocial” theory suggesting that the personality is the product of the biological organism and its social environments. Rotter’s (1954) “social learning theory” reinforced the PE connection and Brunswik (1952) and Helson (1959) both focused on the environmental or situational components of interactionalism. In summary, these theorists represented the beginnings of the PE field in psychology. They saw a need to focus on behavior as a function of not only the person, but also the actual and perceived environments. Many of the classical theorists made a concerted effort to differentiate between the physical environment and the psychological environment—the environment as it actually is and the environment as it is perceived to be. They began to develop as an important variable in human behavior the meaning of a situation to an individual. As a result of their work, behavior as a function of the whole PE context became an important theoretical model. The more contemporary formulations (Ekehammar, 1974) of the PE model cover the period of time from the 1960s to the present, tend to be less theoretically based, focus considerable attention on assessing the situation or the environment, and tend to be more empirical in nature. Sells (1963) continued the interactional emphasis by suggesting that the total variance of any response can be accounted by only in part by the individual differences of persons. Endler and Hunt (1966) followed up on Sell’s notion by focusing on the situational variance contributing to PE interactions. Within this stream of thought, Barker (1965)
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developed his theory of “behavioral settings,” based on the idea that human environments have a coercive influence on human behavior. An important happening in the early 1960’s involved John Holland’s (1959) focus on behavior as a function of the congruence between the individual’s personality style and the psychological environment. Holland suggested that individuals enter environments because of their personalities and remain in those environments because of the reinforcements obtained through the interactions in that environment. About this same time, Pace and Stern (1958; Stern, 1970) suggested that behavior was a function of the relationship between the individual (needs) and the perceived environment (presses). The foundation of the Pace and Stern work is based on the Murray need-press interaction model (1938), which is nested in Lewin’s (1935) dictum that behavior is a function of the person and the environment. In the late 1960’s, Lawrence Pervin (1968) focused on a transactional model. Pervin, also influenced by Lewin and Murray, suggested that transactionalism involved the continuous and reciprocal influence of person and environments and developed a theoretical framework to organize this perspective. The work of Moos appeared in 1973 again under the influence of Murray and Pace and Stern. Moos focused on the social climate (the personality of the environment) suggesting that environments, like people, have unique personalities. Also in 1973, Bowers suggested that a major determinant of behavior is the individual’s perception of the situation and not necessarily the environment per se. Mischel (1973) enhanced the PE field by introducing his cognitive social learning theory and Walsh (1973) reviewed five theories of PE interaction in terms of how they assess and influence the individual. Others have made important contributions to PE psychology. Endler and Magnusson’s two books Interactional Psychology and Personality (1976a) and Personality at the Crossroads (Magnusson & Endler, 1977) have made an effort to define interactional psychology and look at meaningful PE variables. Perspectives in Interactional Psychology, edited by Pervin and Lewis (1978), takes a look at theory and data in the PE field. In addition, Magnusson’s Toward a Psychology of Situations: An Interactional Per-spective (1981) focuses on the psychology of situations B the environment as it is and the environment as it is perceived. More recently, Walsh, Craik, and Price have edited two volumes (1992, 2000) focused on PE psychology. The main thrust of these books is to present models and perspectives that make some sensible predictions concerning satisfaction and psychological well-being using the PE relationship. For example, the 1992 volume presents a life domains approach (Swindle & Moos, 1992); a theory of personality types and work environments (Walsh & Holland, 1992); a transactional model (Pervin, 1992); and an interpersonal relationships model linking persons and environments (Peterson, 1992). The 2000 volume presents the following: (a) socioanalytic perspective on PE interaction (Hogan & Roberts, 2000; (b) a holistic developmental systems approach (Wapner &
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Demick, 2000); (c) theory of attractionselection-attrition (Schneider, Smith, & Goldstein, 2000); (d) social ecological model of well-being (Little, 2000); (e) evaluative image of places approach (Nasar, 2000); (f) model of matching patients and treatment programs (Timko, Moos, and Finney, 2000); and an ideographic approach to P–E psychology (Craik, 2000). These volumes present some very contemporary theoretical issues and current research in the field.
PE PSYCHOLOGY The PE interactional and transactional models assume that human behavior tends to be influenced by many determinants both in the person and in the situation. These models emphasize the effects of person-situation interactions of personality, satisfaction, and well-being and suggest that behavior involves a continuous interaction between individuals and situations. As noted by Mischel (1977), we can’t take the person out of personality; but, at the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that environments and social cultures, like people, have personalities and influence behavior and well-being. In general, the theories that have emerged over the years have implications for helping people organize and understand their behavior and their social environments. The theories help people assess themselves and their environments in order to cope more effectively and improve their well-being. Thus, this chapter focuses on the field of PE psychology as it reflects the convergency of theory and research. I consider selected theories of PE psychology that have implications for satisfaction and well-being. In the following, I define interactional psychology and well-being.
THE INTERACTIONAL PERSPECTIVE: A DEFINITION Endler (1976) defined interactional psychology as the scientific investigation of a complex interplay of situations and persons in determining behavior. Endler and Magnusson (1976b) further suggested that there are four basic elements of the person-situation interactional model. The first basic element suggests that behavior is a function of a continuous process of multidirectional interaction between the individual and the situations he or she encounters. Second, the individual is an intentional, active agent in this interactional process. Third, on the person side of the interaction, cognitive and motivational factors are essential determinants of behavior. Fourth, on the situation side, the psychological meaning of situations and cultures for the individual is an important determining factor. The interactional perspective may also be express as, B=f(P, E). Where B stands for behavior, f for function, P for person, and E for the environment or situation. Thus, in many respects the interactional
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perspective may be viewed as a synthesis of person and environment in which the interaction of the two is the main source of behavior. In attempts to assess and understand behavior, the various theories of PE psychology discussed next have in general mirrored the interactional perspective. However, as we shall see, within this perspective the theoretical frameworks have emphasized different concepts and variables.
WELL-BEING: A DEFINITION Well-being is a complex construct referring to optimal psychological functioning and experience (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Over the years, two traditions in the study of well-being have developed: the hedonic view and the eudaimonic view. The hedonic perspective focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance (Ryan & Deci). Research from this perspective has primarily assessed subjective well-being (Diener & Lucas, 1999) consisting of the components of life satisfaction, the presence of positive mood, and the absence of negative mood (Diener & Lucas; Ryan & Deci). Taken together, these three components of subjective well-being have been referred to as happiness. As noted by Shizgal (1999) and Ryan and Deci, the focus of hedonic psychology on pleasure versus pain tends to bridge with behavioral theories of reward and punishment. In addition, as noted by Ryan and Deci the goals through which well-being may be facilitated can be very individualistic and culturally specific. The eudaimonic perspective focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of doing what is worthwhile (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Stated differently, well-being is defined in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning and life activities contribute to personal growth and development (Ryan & Deci, 2001). The focus tends to be more on psychological well-being. Ryff and Singer (1998, 2000) further differentiated psychological well-being from subjective well-being. They developed a multidimensional approach to the assessment of psychological well-being that focuses on six aspects of human actualization (autonomy, personal growth, self-acceptance, life purpose, mastery, and positive relatedness). According to Ryff and Singer, these six dimensions theoretically and operationally define psychological well-being and facilitate emotional and physical health. In this chapter, I attempt to focus on the eudaimonic view that defines wellbeing in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning and doing what is worth doing. Self- realization, personal growth, and development are important dimensions of this definition. This includes evidence pertaining to psychological well-being as defined by Ryff and Singer (1998, 2000). As noted
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previously, the Ryff and Singer approach is theoretically and operationally defined in terms of six aspects of human actualization. An issue in the field of well-being that crosscuts all social sciences is that concerning cultural relativism versus universals in human nature (Ryan & Deci, 2001). What is culture general and what is culture specific? Christopher (1999) suggested that definitions of well-being are culturally rooted and that any assessment of well-being cannot be value free. One thing that is clear is that this issue will continue to be a relevant factor in future research and that we must continue to explore sources of variance in well-being attributable to environment and social cultures. In summary, the debate between hedonic and eudaimonic theorists as noted by Ryan and Deci (2001) continues to be active and unresolved. Both positions are of theoretical and practical importance. In general, the evidence indicates that well-being is probably at, this time, most effectively viewed as a multidimensional construct that includes aspects of both the hedonic and eudaimonic concepts of well-being (Ryan & Deci).
HOLLAND’S THEORY OF PERSONALITY TYPES AND MODEL ENVIRONMENTS Holland’s (1997) theory of personality types and model environments is a theory of vocational psychology, personality, and a theory of PE psychology. Holland’s theory, as viewed by Helson and Mitchell (1978), is tough, practical, and useful. The theory is operational and has collected a wide range of data that tend to be supportive in nature. In essence, the theory suggests that behavior is a function of the complementary match of congruence between the individual’s personality style and the psychological environment. Holland suggested that individuals enter environments because of their personalities and remain in those environments because of the reinforcements and satisfactions obtained through the interactions in that environment. Holland’s (1997) theory is based on the notion that behavior is a function of personality and social environment. The theory emphasizes interests and personality, because to Holland the choice of an occupation is an expression of personality; thus, interest inventories become personality inventories. The environmental component of the theory is linked to the notion that people in a particular environment tend to have similar personalities and histories of personal development. Because people in a given environment have similar personalities, Holland believed they tended to cope in similar ways. In general, Holland held that complementary PE links are reinforcing and satisfying and contribute to job stability, work quality, and psychological well-being.
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More specifically, Holland attempted to explain behavior by using a few well-defined ideas. These assumptions of his theory tend to be fairly practical, straightforward, and operational in terms of data collection procedures. The first of these assumptions is that people learn to be one or more personality types. A type is defined as a cluster of personal attributes that may be used to assess the person. Holland’s six personality types are described in the following: 1. The Realistic type likes realistic jobs such as automobile mechanic, farmer, or electrician. Realistic people have mechanical abilities and tend to be conforming, honest, materialistic, natural, persistent, practical, modest, and stable. 2. The Investigative type likes investigative jobs such as chemist, physicist, biologist, or geologist. Investigative people have mathematical and scientific ability and are described as analytical, independent, intellectual, introverted, methodological, and rational. 3. The Artistic type likes artistic jobs such as musician, writer, or actor. Artistic people have writing, music, or artistic abilities and are described as complicated, emotional, expressive, imaginative, impulsive, nonconforming, and original. 4. The Social type likes social jobs such as teacher, counseling psychologist, clinical psychologist, or speech therapist. Social people have social skills and are described as cooperative, friendly, helpful, insightful, responsible, sociable, and understanding. 5. The Enterprising type likes enterprising jobs such as salesperson, manager, or business executive. Enterprising people have leadership and verbal abilities and are described as ambitious, domineering, pleasure seeking, selfconfident, and sociable. 6. The Conventional type likes the conventional jobs such as bookkeeper, banker, or tax expert. Conventional people have clerical and arithmetic ability and are described as conforming, conscientious, orderly, persistent, practical, and self-controlled. A person’s resemblance to each of the personality types is assessed by the use of the Vocational Preference Inventory; (Holland, 1985), the Self-Directed Search; (Holland, 1994), and the Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994). All of these inventories are objective in nature and collect interval kinds of data that may be used in a variety of research settings. Much of the research on Holland’s theory has used one of these instruments in a field research setting. A second idea used by Holland to explain behavior is that environments in which people live and work may be characterized by their resemblance to one or more model environments. Holland suggested six model environments corresponding to the six personality types and believed that people tend to move toward environments congruent with their personality types: Realistic types tend
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to move toward Realistic environments, Enterprising types tend to move toward Enterprising environments, and so forth. To assess environments Holland and Astin (1961) developed the Environmental Assessment Technique. This assessment technique simply makes a count or a census of the number of different personality types existing or interacting in a given environment. The personality type occurring most frequently in a given environment is thought to be dominant in the environment and to have a psychological influence in that specific environment. In sum, Holland defined the environment psychologically according to the people who were actually interacting in it. Or, as he would say, people define the environment. Thus, although the environment is determined by a count, the influence is thought to be psychological in nature. A third idea used by Holland is that PE congruence tends to be associated with satisfaction, productivity, personal stability, vocational stability, and wellbeing. The thought is that, for example, a Realistic type in a Realistic environment would tend to be more productive, more stable, more vocationally satisfied, and psychologically healthier. Complementary PE links are reinforcing and satisfying. Uncomplimentary or incongruent PE links are punishing and contribute to change. This is not to say that congruence is good and incongruence is bad, but suggests that a state of incongruence may be part of the learning and development process. Thus, there would seem to be periods of incongruence in an individual’s life span that need to be worked through to pursue personal and vocational goals and well-being. Based on his six PE types, Holland further suggested that the relations among types and environments, and between types and environments tend to be hexagonal in nature (see Fig. 4.1). Types and environments that are in closest proximity in the hexagon figure are more psychologically related. Types and environments that are further removed from one another are more psychologically different. For example, an Artistic person in an Artistic environment is in a more congruent situation than an Artistic person in a Social environment. An Artistic person in a Conventional environment is in the most incongruent situation possible. In this way the hexagonal model may be used to obtain and estimate different degrees or levels of PE congruence. The hexagonal model for the six personality types and environments has also been used to identify individuals in vocational or personal conflicts, to compare different tests and inventories, to organize occupational environments, and to guide the layout of the SII.
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FIG. 4.1. A hexagonal model for interpreting inter- and intraclass relationships. (Correlations are between summary scale scores for the females [n=1,600] in the 1994 normative sample. Reproduced by special permission from the Publisher, the Self-directed Search Technical Manual by John L. Holland, Ph.D., Copyright 1985, 1987, 1994, by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission of PAR, Inc.
The previous assumptions, as noted by Holland (1997), are extended by several secondary assumptions that may be applied to both persons and environments. The secondary assumptions include consistency, differentiation, and identity. Consistency is the degree of relatedness between personality types or between environmental models, as we noted previously. Some pairs of types and environments are more closely related than others. Differentiation refers to the degree to which a person or an environment is well defined. For example, a person closely resembling a single type is clearly differential (well defined). Identity is primarily concerned with estimating the clarity and stability of a person’s vocational identity. High identity would suggest a limited set of consistent and explicit goals. In general, research testing the theory reported in Holland (1997) and Walsh and Holland (1992) clearly indicated that individuals tend to choose and enter environments consistent with their personality types. For example, Enterprising types tend to enter and remain in Enterprising kinds of environments. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that congruent PE interactions are conductive to personal and vocational stability and satisfaction, and to a lesser extent, actual achievement. More specifically, the pattern of findings (Spokane, 1985; Spokane, Meir, & Catalano, 2000) suggests to some extent that PE congruence is related to measures of job satisfaction and stability, job
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involvement, work quality, productivity, and well-being; but not necessarily to measures of decision making, sociability, and problem-solving ability. In addition, meaningful data about adolescents and adults imply that PE congruence and job satisfaction may increase with age. Thus, it seems that people in congruent work situations will probably change little because their expression of interests, abilities, and personality is rewarded. Persons in incongruent work environments will probably change the most because they tend to be ignored and punished (Holland & Gottfredson, 1976). This work, then, indicates that students and workers who tend to be functioning in environments consistent with their personal characteristics probably are psychologically healthier and more satisfied when compared to people in incongruent situations. In summary, in Holland’s (1997) theory behavior is viewed as a function of PE interactions, and from this perspective PE congruence becomes a very important concept. Thus, Holland suggested, and the data tend to support, the notion that people in environments congruent with their personality types tend to be psychologically healthier, more satisfied, and more productive than are people in incongruent environments. In the context of the Ryff and Singer (1998, 2000) multidimensional approach, PE congruence tends to facilitate the dimensions of personal growth, self-acceptance, and life purpose.
MOOS’S SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL APPROACH Moos’s work (1976, 1979, 1984, 1987a) was probably most profoundly influenced by Murray (1938) and Pace and Stern (1958), who were clearly very interested in the beta press, or how environmental perceptions tend to influence behavior. However, like many other theorists, Kantor, Lewin, and Koffka also influenced the Moos approach. Kantor as early as 1924 emphasized the reciprocal interplay between man and environment. Lewin suggested that behavior was a function of the person and the environment. In addition Koffka (1935) placed his emphasis on perception and the psychological environment. The Moos social ecological perspective is based on the general principle that the way one perceives the environment tends to influence the way one will behave in that environment. Thus, Moos focused on the social climate (the personality of the environment) by suggesting that environments, like people, have unique personalities. Just as some people are more supportive and nurturant than others, so are some environments more supportive and nurturant than others. According to Moos, we should be able to describe and characterize an environment just as we describe an individual’s personality. The Moos approach has been unveiled in two stages, by two books: The Human Context (1976) and Evaluating Educational Environments (1979). The second stage has been elaborated in two publications (Moos, 1984, 1987b).
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The first stage of the Moos perspective has been based on two assumptions. The first is that social climate may be inferred from behavioral perceptions. Thus, Moos described environments as perceived by the the people in them. This notion is similar to the Murray beta press and the follow-up work done by Stern focusing on environmental perceptions. The second assumption made by Moos is that the way we perceive surroundings influences the way we behave in that environment; stated more simply, our perceptions of the environment influence our behavior. How the environment is perceived exerts a directional influence on behavior. Thus, according to Moos, the perceived social climate tends to shape behavior and people. Or, stated differently, the perceived social climate in which we live and work tends to have a significant impact on attitudes, behavior, and physical and psychological well-being. The theoretical assumptions stated in the second stage of the Moos approach tend to be more specific than those stated in the first stage. The first assumption is that one can distinguish different dimensions of social environments. Moos was able to do this conceptually and empirically. The second assumption indicates that these dimensions or social environments have distinct influences on people. Again, the data tend to support this assumption. The third assumption is that the social influences tend to differ from one person to another. Based on these assumptions, Moos then developed a conceptual framework suggesting theoretically that people and environments reciprocally influence each other To operationalize the social climate concept, Moos and a number of his colleagues have developed a variety of inventories (Moos, 1994a). The socialenvironment inventories have been developed using primarily a rational approach that simply asks people individually about the patterns of behavior in certain environments. The basic logic behind this approach is that the consensus of individuals characterizing their environment constitutes a measure of environment or social climate. The inventories include the following: (a) the Ward Atmosphere Scale (Moos, 1996a), (b) the Community-Oriented Program Environment Scale (Moos, 1996a), (c) the Sheltered Care Environment Scale (Moos & Lemke, 1992), (d) the Correctional Institutions Environment Scale (Moos, 1987b), (e) the Military Environment Inventory (Moos, 1986), (f) the University Residence Environment Scale (Moos, 1988), (g) the Classroom Environment Scale (Moos & Trickett, 1987), (h) the Group Environment Scale (Moos, 1994b), (i) the Work Environment Scale (Moos, 1994), and (j) the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1994). More recently Moos and his colleagues have developed the Multiphasic Environmental Assessment Procedure (Moos & Lemke) to assess, measure, and describe sheltered care settings. An important finding of the Moos work (1976, 1979, 1984, 1987a) is that very different social environments may be described by some common sets of dimensions associated with three somewhat global categories. In other words, different social climates may be characterized by common or similar kinds of
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dimensions. These broad categories are the relationship dimensions, personal growth or goal oriented dimensions, and system maintenance and change dimensions. In general, the relationship dimensions assess the degree to which people are involved in the setting, support and help one another, and express themselves freely and openly. The personal growth dimensions assess basic goals of the setting and the areas in which personal development and selfenhancement tend to occur. The system maintenance dimensions measure the degree to which the environment is orderly and clear in its expectations, maintains control, and responds to change. In terms of the research, the findings clearly have implications for PE psychology and well-being. The most profound and consistent finding about the impact of social climates has to do with the human-relationship dimensions. The evidence indicates from a wide range of research (Moos, 1974, 1984, 1987a) that the relationship dimensions appear to have a positive effect across different kinds of environments. For example, evidence indicates that the quality of personal interaction with supervisors in work environments is associated with job satisfaction and performance. Workers who perceived their work environments as supportive were rated more favorably by their supervisors on dimensions of competence, friendliness, and conscientiousness. In educational settings, students reported greater satisfaction, showed more interest in their course material, and engaged in more course-related activities in classes perceived to be high on human-relationship dimensions (Moos, 1976, 1987a). In general, the evidence indicates that people tend to be more satisfied and comfortable, less depressed and irritable, and more likely to report beneficial effects on their self-esteem in environments that they perceive to strongly emphasize the human-relationship dimensions. In essence, how we as individuals tend to perceive our social environments has important effects on our satisfaction, personal growth, and well-being. The clearest and most profound research finding across a number of studies and a number of different social environments is that satisfying human relationships facilitate personal growth and well-being. In the main, people tend to be more satisfied and more productive in environments that are perceived to be relationship oriented. Increasingly, other sources of evidence tend to document the Moos findings. For example, Ryan and Deci (2001) noted the basic importance of warm, trusting, and supportive interpersonal relationships for well-being. Findings indicate (Myers, 1999; Reis, Sheldon, Gable, Roscoe, & Ryan, 2000) that positive relations with others (relatedness) tend to be highly associated with well-being. DeNeve and Cooper (1998) conducted a meta-analysis of 137 personality traits as correlates of subjective well-being. These authors (DeNeve, 1999; DeNeve & Cooper) found that personality traits that facilitate the fostering of relationships are important for well-being. More specifically, they note that affiliation, trust, and sociability are relationship enhancing traits that
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facilitate well-being. Also, recall that Ryff and Singer (1998,2000) investigated satisfaction and well-being in the context of a life span theory of human flourishing. They describe well-being as the “striving for perfection that represents the realization of ones true potential” and suggest that positive relatedness is a key dimension of psychological well-being. Thus, for Ryff and Singer (2000) positive relations with others is a key element in human flourishing and in psychological well-being. More recently, Swindle and Moos (1992) and Timko et al. (2000) have generalized their PE model to life domains and treatment programs. The life domains model (Swindle & Moos) is primarily concerned with how our perceptions of environments (life domains, such as work or family) tend to influence our personal agendas (goals) and subsequent coping responses and well-being. In terms of treatment programs, Timko et al. (2000) present a model of PE congruence for clients in residential treatment facilities. The model matches the client’s level of functioning (in the cognitive, psychological, and social domains) with the treatment program’s levels of support, performance demands, and structure. In general, the evidence indicates that a good match of the client’s level of functioning with the treatment program (environmental demands) facilitates adaptive behavior and improved well-being. Once again, a significant finding emerging is that treatment programs offering a supportive environment tend to benefit most patients, even those who are quite impaired. Again, relatedness emerges as a key dimension of well-being and adaptive behavior.
PERVIN’S PE THEORY Pervin developed the first stage of his PE theory in about 1968 and called it the “transactional approach.” Pervin was interested in understanding psychological well-being from a transactional viewpoint. In operational terms, the transactional approach defined the individual and the environment according to the individual’s self-reported perceptions. The approach attempted to focus on the reciprocal relationships that occur between the individual and the environment. In 1977 Pervin developed the second stage of his theory, which he labeled the “ideographic approach to person-environment psychology” (Pervin, 1977). The ideographic approach used a free-response technique to analyze person and situation variables. In this work Pervin explored individual stability and variability as a function of situational characteristics and the nature of these characteristics. The transactional stage of Pervin’s theory was clearly influenced by Lewin and Murray. Lewin (1935) planted the transactional seed by suggesting that behavior was a function of the whole situation and that the whole situation must
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take into account the person and the environment. Pervin drew much from Murray’s (1938) notion of press in the second, “ideographic” stage of his theory. The theoretical rationale behind Pervin’s transactional approach (1968) was that human behavior can best be understood in terms of the transactions (reciprocal relationships) between the individual and the environ-ment. To Pervin, for each individual there are environments that tend to match or to fit the individual’s personality characteristics. Pervin thought that a match between individual and environment would probably contribute to a higher degree of performance and satisfaction. Thus, he hypothesized that individuals tend to show higher performance, more satisfaction, and reduced dissonance in environments that are congruent with their personality characteristics. The limited research conducted on this first stage of Pervin’s theory suggests only partial support for the transactional approach, and most of the work has focused on the congruence satisfaction hypothesis. In general, the results of the initial study (Pervin, 1967a; Pervin & Rubin, 1967) indicated a strong association between perceived self-environment discrepancy and dissatisfaction with the college environment for nonacademic reasons. This finding was subsequently replicated at more than 20 institutions (Pervin, 1967b; Pervin, 1992). It is relevant to note that it was the individual-environment relationship that was important, rather than the self perception or environment perception alone (Pervin, 1992). Stated differently, discrepancy scores were better predictors of dissatisfaction than were individual scale ratings for self or college. As noted by Pervin, the key was the interaction between self and college perception, rather than self-perception or college perception alone. Additional research by Pervin and Smith (1968) attempted to test the individual—environment congruence and satisfaction hypothesis in other environments—in this case, eating clubs (social organizations). The sample included 169 Princeton upperclassmen obtained from four eating clubs. Once again, individuals who perceived large differences between themselves and their social environment were dissatisfied with their club membership (Pervin, 1992). The previous research offered strong support for a self-environment similarity (PE congruence) analysis, but there was no explanation for why similarity was important. This led to an effort by Pervin to conceptualize ongoing individual-environment interactions in terms of perceptions of self, ideal-self, and environment (Pervin, 1992). Pervin hypothesized that people in environments with small discrepancies between perceived self and perceived ideal-self would tend to be psychologically healthier, more open to personal growth, better choosers, and probably have more self-esteem. The research (Pervin, 1967a) undertaken to explore these issues involved 365 Princeton undergraduates. Each student rated the concepts of college, self, and ideal-self on semantic differential scales and then responded to questions exploring satisfaction with the college environment. These questions focused on academic satisfaction, nonacademic satisfaction, kinds of times enjoyed in college,
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frequency of thoughts about dropping out, and whether or not the student felt out of place at college. Pervin found that certain patterns of relationships seemed to be straightforward and interpretable, whereas other patterns were more complex and difficult to understand. For example, a pattern of self-college-ideal-selfratings where there were small differences in the ratings seemed to be a pattern strongly associated with satisfaction with the environment. In this example, the individual is basically satisfied with the self and views the college environment as facilitating movement toward the ideal-self. Another clear example, considered the dissatisfaction reported by an individual who perceives a small discrepancy between the self and the ideal-self, but views the college environment as very different from either. Other examples become more complex. Suppose the ratings followed a self-idea self-college pattern. How is this to be interpreted? In summary, Pervin concluded that self-environment similarity did contribute to psychological well-being, but that the transactions are complex and need to take into account direction and distance when considering self, ideal-self, and environment perceptions. Pervin developed in the second stage of his theory of P–E psychology a conceptual scheme to explore questions concerned with why people remain stable in their behavior or vary their behavior according to situational characteristics. Consistent with the first stage of his theory, the second stage suggests that perceiving individuals are the prime creator of their world of episodes and as such the most important variable in social episode perception. With this in mind, Pervin developed a model for any one instance of a personsituation interaction. The model suggests that the basic considerations of a person-situation process are an objectively defined situation, a perceived situation, an affective or emotional response and evaluation of the potential consequences of various responses, and a behavioral response. To operationalize this model, Pervin used a free-response ideographic descriptive approach to the analysis of person-situation variables. He studied an individual’s perception of life situations and perceived pattern of behavior in relation to those situations. The subjects in the study (Pervin, 1976, 1977) were four Rutgers University undergraduates (two male and two female). The students were told that the purpose of the study was to explore their current life situations, how they perceived these situations, and how they tended to respond in these different situations. Findings showed four affective dimensions to be the most salient in the ratings of situations: friendly-unfriendly, calm–tense, interesting-dull, and freeconstrained (Pervin, 1976). An applied implication is that people in situations perceived to be more friendly, calm, interesting, and free may tend to report being more happy, satisfied, and productive. This tends to be consistent with some of the work of Moos and his colleagues (Moos, 1976; Swindle & Moos, 1992; Timko, Moos, & Finney, 2000), who suggested that people tend to be
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more satisfied and comfortable in environments that they perceive to be relationship oriented. More recently, Pervin (1992) has explored the PE controversy using the concept of goals. Based on his insight that people seem to encounter situations in terms of goals, he developed a model based on the goal concept. First, he suggested that behavior is motivated, and the concept of goals is suggested as a useful motivational concept. Second, he suggested that goals are implemented through plans that have cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Third, he noted that goals are organized in a hierarchical structure, but function dynamically meaning that they can move higher or lower in the hierarchy. In this context, goals are stored and maybe activated by internal or external stimuli. Goal directed activities tend to be terminated when the goal is achieved to a satisfactory extent, when achievement seems unrealistic, or through difficulty in system functioning. Finally, according to Pervin, psychopathology can be understood in terms of the absence of goals, goal conflict, or problems in goal implementation. In this context, Pervin (1992) developed a rationale for the analysis of individual-environment interaction in terms of individual goals and environmental affordances (Baron & Boudreau, 1987; Gibson, 1979). Goal concepts are basic organizing categories that provide a more dynamic and differentiated perspective on PE interactions. It is more dynamic in the sense that individuals are viewed as selecting, evoking, and manipulating environments in terms of their goals, as well as adapting to the opportunities presented by situations (Buss, 1987; Pervin, 1992). Another important aspect of a goal conceptualization is that it recognizes that most PE transactions involve the interplay among multiple goals and multiple paths for goal enactment (Pervin). Congruence rarely involves a relationship between a single personality characteristic and a single dimension of the environment. More typically, the PE interaction involves relationships between multiple personal goals and multiple environmental opportunities for goal attainment. On the individual side, we have goals and routes (plans) through which these goals may be achieved. On the environmental side, we have affordances (functional utilities or action possibilities offered by the physical or social environment). These action possibilities may or may not be congruent with the individual’s goals and plans. According to Pervin, it is important to note that multiple goals may be involved with multiple affordances, and the environment may provide action possibilities congruent with some plans but not with others. In sum, Pervin suggested that we need to think about congruence in a more multidetermined and multivariate context. In general, research tends to document the relationship between goals, goal progress and well-being and is further discussed in the section on goals and psychological well-being.
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BARKER’S BEHAVIOR SETTING THEORY Barker’s (1965, 1968) work was probably most profoundly influenced by Brunswik’s (1952, 1956) thinking. Brunswik proposed that it might very well be meaningful to sample situations rather than individuals. In fact, he suggested that the sampling of situations and problems may in the end be more important than proper sampling of subjects (Brunswik, 1956). Brunswik defined the situation in objective terms independently of the responses of the person acting in the situation. Barker’s (1965, 1968) approach to the analysis of situations was to primarily use social physical characteristics and to describe the situation in terms of socalled behavior settings. Barker (1968) believed that behavior settings (a stable pattern of activities associated with the surrounding environment) tend to shape the behavior of people who inhabit them. To Barker, behavior settings actually link actions and environments by structuring behavioral rules for specific environments or situations. The basic assumption is that people will tend to be influenced by the imposed behavioral rules of a setting, particularly if they obtain certain satisfaction from the setting. The thought is that to understand behavior, it is important to know the specific environment in which people are interacting or working. Thus, to Barker the ecological psychologist seeks to understand human behavior and environments by unobtrusively observing events that he or she has not constrained in any significant way (Barker). The primary means of assessment used by Barker and his associates over the years has been the observation of people in real life. The assessment task involved observing the behavior of people in ongoing real-life situations or environments. To Barker, observational assessment of people in simulated or laboratory settings tends to disturb the environment and thus distort people’s behavior. In general, the research to date has mainly focused on the differences between small settings and large settings. Settings in small organizations are assumed to be underpersoned and those in large organizations are assumed to be relatively overpersoned (there are more persons than can be accepted given the capacity of the setting). Small settings (underpersoned) have fewer people but the same standing patterns of behavior as the large overpersoned settings. Therefore, people in small, underpersoned settings are involved in more actions, stronger actions, and more varied actions to maintain the behavior setting. The people tend to be busier, more vigorous, more versatile, and more involved in the setting. Research (Barker, 1968; Walsh, 1973) tends to support this notion. Wicker (1979) suggested some amendments to Barker’s theory. He proposed that the level of manning be regarded as a continuum having three critical regions: undermanning (underpersoned), “adequate manning” (or optimal), and “overmanning” (overpersoned). The conceptual separation of manning was a distinction not clearly made previously by Barker. Wicker further suggested that
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manning should be calculated separately for people who have responsible positions in a setting (workers or staff) and those who are members, clients, or onlookers. I find that this theory and some of the research has meaning for a broad range of environments and for PE psychology and well-being. Research findings (Barker, 1968; Walsh, 1973; Wicker, 1992) indicate, for example, that people working or interacting in small settings (underpersoned) in comparison with people working in large settings (overpersoned) are absent less often, report more satisfaction, are more productive, and evidence less turnover. In addition, people in small settings reported more group cohesiveness, greater frequency of social interaction, and easier communication than did the people in large settings. Other findings show that the smaller the work setting, the higher the morale. In small settings work activity is reported by employees as being more meaningful, and workers perceive themselves as important to the work setting. Thus, the evidence suggests, in general, that work settings do influence worker attitudes, behavior, and well-being. People in small settings tend to be more productive, involved, and satisfied than do people in large settings. The smaller behavior settings tend to facilitate self-acceptance, life purpose, and relatedness. In summary, the evidence suggests that people tend to enter and remain in behavior settings that they view (perceive) to be satisfying and congruent. In general, people want these behavior settings to endure. In an attempt to explain the interactive behaviors of setting occupants, Wicker (1992) and Wicker and August (2000) expanded the theoretical model of ecological psychology by introducing the concepts of cause maps and major life pursuits. In this context, according to Wicker, the person may be analyzed in terms of major life goals. The pursuit of a major life goal is a person-initiated sense-making process that extends over time and place operationalized through cause maps. Cause maps (cognitive structures) lead to sense-making cycles (attending, interpreting, enacting), which reduce uncertainty about environmental events. Thus, according to Wicker, behavior settings link people and environments not only according to behavioral rules, but also according to individual pursuits or goals. To learn about major life pursuits, cause maps, and sense-making cycles, Wicker and his associates have used the interview technique and naturalistic observation. This ideographic definition of the person has proved to be informative about people’s actions, interpretations of environmental events, and well-being. Additional research documenting the relationship between goals (life pursuits) and well-being is discussed next.
GOALS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING A number of PE theories by and large focus on individual motivation and the pursuit of some goal. Most often the environment primarily becomes a task
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environment where individual goals or aspirations are pursued. The person is viewed as being primarily oriented to individual, purposeful, rational action. The models of Craik (2000), and Hogan and Roberts (2000), Little (2000), Pervin (1992), Wicker (1992), Wicker and August (2000) tend to be consistent with this perspective. These models are discussed next. (The models of Pervin (1992), Wicker (1992), and Wicker and August (2000) were discussed earlier in this chapter.) Little’s (2000) social ecological perspective demonstrates the importance of completing personal projects in explaining and predicting human well-being and adaption. More specifically, traits (defined by the 5 factor personality model) and personal contexts facilitate the pursuit of personal projects and a sense of adaption and well-being. To the extent that people are engaged in personal projects that are meaningful, well structured, supported by others, efficacious, and not too stressful, their well-being is enhanced and the PE process is rewarding. Craik (2000) suggested that understanding individual-environment transactions involves the interplay among traits, goals, and behavior settings. On the person side are goals and personality traits. The environment is defined in terms of behavior settings that are implicated in the actions of people as they pursue major life goals. Behavior settings link people and environments according to behavioral rules and individual pursuits. Personality traits may be viewed as facilitating or affording the pursuit of life goals in a behavior setting context. According to Craik, traits, goals, and behavior settings may be analyzed in terms of the on-going PE process, Hogen and Roberts (2000) suggested that people choose activities and interactions that are consistent with their identities and avoid interactions that are inconsistent with their identities or their motives, goals, and values. These authors noted that people’s past choices of situations tend to predict their future involvement in various environments. Substantial evidence indicates that preferences for environments effectively predict occupational membership, occupational tenure, and occupational change. These preferences tend to be stable over time because people tend to choose environments depending on their motives and goals. In general, a large body of research documents the relationship between goals, goal progress, and well-being. For example, evidence indicates that feeling confident with respect to valued goals is associated with enhanced satisfaction, being happy on the job, and well-being (Carver & Scheier, 1999; McGregor & Little, 1998; Ryan & Deci, 2001). In addition, the evidence indicates that goal progress is associated with enhanced well-being and satisfaction, particularly with goals that are evaluated as important (Brunstein, 1993; Cantor & Sanderson, 1999; Ryan & Deci). However, the relationship of goals and subjective well-being and satisfaction is more complex than simply
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assuming a purposeful behavior (goal attainment) contributes to increased subjective well-being (Robbing & Kliewer, 2000). Some issues include the level of challenge presented by one’s goals, the approach or avoidance motivational systems of goal activities, the environmental context of goal activities, and the relative autonomy of personal goals. For example, when life goals are not challenging (either too easy or too difficult) positive affect is lower (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; Ryan & Deci, 2001). Furthermore, the expectation of not succeeding has also been associated with high negative affect (Emmons, 1986). In regard to the motivational system, Elliott and Sheldon (1997) found that the pursuit of avoidance goals tended to be associated with poorer goal progress and with lower satisfaction and well-being. Carver and Scheier (1999) presented evidence connecting approach goals to positive well-being and avoidance goals to negative well-being outcomes. In addition, Brunstein, Schultheiss, and Grässmann (1998) have shown that progress toward need congruent goals is positively related to well-being, whereas commitment to incongruent goals was found to be negatively related to reports of well-being. Diener (2000) further noted that the environmental context within which one pursues goal attainment facilitates the processes by which goals influence wellbeing. His work with Fujita (1995) found that having re-sources (e.g., money, physical attractiveness, or social skills) in areas related to ones goals is a more accurate predictor of satisfaction and well-being than having fewer resources related to important goals. Other evidence suggests that community participation and affiliation tend to be more related to well-being than financial goals (Kasser & Ryan, 1993, 1996). Robbins and Kliewer (2000) further suggested that culture may influence the type of goals or behaviors that are valued, the resources available to obtain these goals, and the context in which well-being is understood. Another issue concerns the relative autonomy of personal goals (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Evidence (Ryan & Deci, 2000; Sheldon & Elliott, 1999; Sheldon & Kasser, 1998) indicates that self-endorsed goals and self-concordant goals (those fulfilling basic needs aligned with the self) tend to enhance well-being. According to these authors, individuals who attain more self-endorsed and selfconcordant goals report more need satisfying experiences and well-being. Goals that were poorly integrated with the self, even when achieved, were associated with less psychological well-being. In summary, the previous evidence tends to be consistent with the theoretical frameworks of Craik (2000), Hogan and Roberts (2000), Little (2000), Pervin (1992), Wicker (1992), Wicker and August (2000). All of these models tend to suggest, to some extent, that people pursuing personal goals or projects that are meaningful (self-endorsed or self-concordant) tend to report more psychological well-being and a PE process that is, for the most part, rewarding. In general, these theorists suggest that progress toward intrinsic goals enhances
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psychological well-being. Stated differently, as suggested by Robbins and Kliewer (2000), personal goals (i.e., life tasks, life pursuits, personal projects, & personal strivings) tend to serve as central organizers of affect, cognition and behavior,
IMPLICATIONS The theoretical, research, and applied implications of the theories are numerous and varied. A few of the most meaningful implications for psychological wellbeing are discussed next. I will attempt to integrate this discussion with the Ryff and Singer (1998, 2000) six aspects of human actualization (autonomy, personal growth, self-acceptance, life purpose, mastery, & positive relatedness). Ryff and Singer suggested that these dimensions theoretically and operationally define psychological well-being and tend to facilitate emotional and physical health. Research on Holland’s theory (1997) indicated that individuals tend to choose and enter college major and occupational environments consistent with their personality types. Furthermore, evidence suggests that to some extent PE congruence is related to measures of job satisfaction and stability, job involvement, work quality, productivity and well-being. This work implies that people in environments congruent with their personality types tend to be psychologically healthier, most satisfied, and more productive than are people in incongruent environments. In the context of the Ryff and Singer dimensions, PE congruence tends to facilitate the dimensions of personal growth, selfacceptance, and life purpose. Moos and his colleagues (1984, 1987a) found that how we as individuals tend to perceive our social environments, and treatment environments, has important effects on our satisfaction, personal growth, and well-being. A significant research finding across a number of studies is that satisfying human relationships facilitate personal growth and well-being. Stated differently, people tend to be more satisfied and more productive in environments that are perceived to be relationship oriented. As noted previously, increasingly other sources of evidence tend to document the Moos findings. Ryan and Deci (2001) noted the basic importance of warm, trusting, and supportive interpersonal relationships for well-being. Ryff and Singer viewed positive relations with others (relatedness) as a key element in human flourishing and in psychological well-being. The work of Pervin (1992) focused on understanding psychological wellbeing from a transactional view point. The research on this model suggests that individuals interacting in perceived environments relatively consistent with their reported self-concepts seem to be happier and more satisfied. Pervin concluded that self-environment similarity does contribute to psychological well-being, but that the transactions are complex. In addition, in a second stage of his theory,
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Pervin found that people in situations perceived to be friendly, calm, interesting, and free tended to report being more satisfied, happy, and productive. This finding is consistent with the work of Moos (1976, 1979, 1984) and the work of Ryff and Singer, (1998, 2000) suggesting that positive relations with others (relatedness) is a key element in psychological well-being. Finally, in a third stage of his theory, Pervin explored PE psychology using the concept of goals. He reasoned that behavior is motivated and suggested the concept of goals as the motivating force. As noted previously, research tends to document the relationship between goals, goal progress, and well-being. Individuals pursuing goals or projects that are meaningful and self-concordant tend to report more psychological well-being and a PE process that is for the most part rewarding. It would also appear that the goal concept is consistent with the Ryff and Singer dimension of life purpose. Barker’s (1965, 1968) approach stressed the significance of the environment. He suggested that behavior settings tend to shape the behavior of people who inhabit them. Thus, behavior settings actually link actions and environments by structuring behavioral rules for the specific environments or situations. The basic idea is that people will tend to be influenced by the behavioral rules of the setting, particularly if they obtain certain satisfaction from the setting. Evidence indicates that individuals in underpersoned settings in comparison with people in overpersoned settings report more group cohesiveness, greater frequency of social interaction, easier communication, higher morale, more involvement, more satisfaction, and more productivity. In the Ryff and Singer context, the smaller behavior settings tend to facilitate self acceptance, life purpose, and positive relatedness. The theories of Craik (2000), and Hogan and Roberts (2000), Little (2000), Pervin (1992), Wicker (1992), Wicker and August (2000), for the most part, focus on individual motivation and the pursuit of some goal or project. Frequently, the environment primarily becomes a task environment where individual goals or aspirations are pursued. For all of these models, the evidence suggests that to some extent people pursuing personal goals or projects that are meaningful tend to report more psychological well-being and a PE process that is for the most part rewarding. In general, the evidence documents the relationship between goals, goal progress, and well-being. Personal goals such as life tasks, life pursuits, personal projects, and personal strivings tend to facilitate well-being. Or as Ryff and Singer would say, life purpose tends to facilitate well-being.
SUMMARY This chapter considers selected theories of PE psychology that have implications for individual satisfaction and well-being. Interactional psychology was defined
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as the scientific investigation of a complex interplay of situations and persons in determining behavior. I focused on the eudaemonic view of well-being suggesting that self- realization, personal growth, and development are important dimensions of this perspective. This included the dimensions suggested by Ryff and Singer (1998, 2000) used to define and operationalize psychological well-being. However, it is important to keep in mind, as noted by Ryan and Deci (2001), that well-being is probably most effectively viewed as a multidimensional construct that includes aspects of both the hedonic and eudaemonic concepts of well-being. Despite limitations, at least it seems, the previous theories and models represent a cluster of attitudes—implicit if not explicit—concerning the relationship between the individual, the environment, and psychological wellbeing. Each theory does have it assumptions, even though at times they are not clearly stated. Each theory has stimulated some meaningful research that has implications for satisfaction and well-being. Many of the investigations have procedural difficulties, but the fact remains that, to a varying degree, the effectiveness of each theory has been empirically examined. In any event, these approaches hopefully will continue to lay the ground work for more sophisticated theories, research, and practice.
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5 Optimal Human Functioning From Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Cultural Competence as an Organizing Framework Frederick T.L.Leong Ohio State University
Paul T.P.Wong Trinity Western University
The basic premise of this chapter is that there are many ways to be human, and that the cultural competence model is a useful theoretical framework for analyzing and understanding cross-cultural differences in optimal human functioning. Beginning with several important definitional issues, we move on to propose a contingency model of cultural competence to analyze and understand optimal human functioning from a cross-cultural perspective. As part of this contingency model, we advocate using Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s (1961) value orientations as one important dimension within this model. We also expand Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s model by adding the additional dimensions of religious and existential orientations to the contingency model of cultural competence. Finally, we discuss the counseling implications of this contingency model.
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CULTURAL COMPETENCE MODEL In the last few years, with the leadership of Martin Seligman, an increased amount of attention has been paid to positive psychology. Yet, different scholars have argued that although it has not been mainstream, there has been considerable attention paid to the healthy, as opposed to the pathological side, of the human experience by psychologists in the last 5 decades. One stream of this early research and theoretical work is under the rubric of the competence model. Dating back to Robert White’s (1959) competence model, there have been various attempts to promote the competence model as a major organizing framework for psychology. For example, as part of the Vermont Conference on Primary Prevention of Psychopathology in the late 1970s, two of the four volumes that resulted from those conferences focused on competence: (a) Social Competence in Children by Kent and Rolf (1979), and (b) Competence and Coping during Adulthood by Bond and Rosen (1980), Indeed, George Albee’s chapter in the latter volume was entitled, “A Competency Model must replace the Defect Model,” which is the underlying message in the positive psychology movement being spearheaded by Martin Seligman. A decade later, Sternberg and Kolligian (1990) continued to explore the concept of competence and it’s relevance for psychology in their volume entitled, Competence Considered. According to White (1959), competence refers to “an organism’s capacity to interact effectively with its environment” (p. 297). Based on his review of the literature representing different areas of psychology, he went on to propose that human beings have an intrinsic motivation toward competence, which he labelled as effectance motivation: It is maintained that competence cannot be fully acquired simply through behavior instigated by drives. It receives substantial contributions from activities which, though playful and exploratory in character, at the same time show direction, selectivity, and persistence in interacting with the environment. Such activities in the ultimate service of competence must therefore be conceived as motivated in their own right. It is proposed to designate this motivation by the term effectance, and to characterize the experience produced as a feeling of efficacy. (White, p. 329) If we accept White’s (1959) proposition that human beings are motivated toward competence, in addition to the usual motives of thirst, hunger, and sex, then the competence model can serve as a useful theoretical framework for us to examine optimal human functioning from a cross-cultural perspective. According to White’s definition of competence, every human being possesses an intrinsic motivation to strive toward competence. To strive toward competence to
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experience that sense of efficacy is to seek to function optimally in one’s environment. However, most of the scholars and researchers who have examined or adopted this competence model has tended to ignore the second half of White’s definition, namely “interact effectively with its environment.” These scholars have tended to focus primarily on effectiveness in a decontextualized fashion with the assumption that the environment plays a limited role. Yet, research has shown that the social and psychological environments experienced by human beings vary across cultures (see Berry, Segall, & Kagitcibasi, 1997). These scholars and researchers conceptualised competence as a unitary or acultural phenomenon instead of recognizing that competence is a complex and multidimensional construct. To be sure, there are likely universal elements of competence and, yet, a great deal of competence is cultural competence because it cannot exist in a vacuum and, indeed, has to be understood in relation to the environment and much of our environments consist of cultural components. Leong (1996) argued for a multidimensional conceptualisation of human experience as opposed to the unidimensional orientation of either the universalist or the group (the cultural is only 1 of these) approach. Leong proposed a multidimensional and integrative model of cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy that seeks to integrate the universal and cultural dimensions. In that model, using Kluckhohn and Murray’s (1950) tripartite framework, Leong (1996) proposed that cross-cultural counselors and therapists need to attend to all three major dimensions of human personality and identity, namely the Universal, the Group, and the Individual dimensions. The Universal dimension is based on the knowledge-base generated by mainstream psychology and the universal laws of human behavior that have been identified (e.g., the universal “fight or flight” response in humans to physical threat). The Group dimension has been the domain of both cross-cultural psychology, as well as ethnic minority psychology and the study of gender differences. The third, dimension concerns unique Individual differences and characteristics. The Individual dimension is more often covered by behavioral and existential theories where individual learning histories and personal phenomenology are proposed as critical elements in the understanding of human behavior. Leong’s (1996) integrative model proposes that all three dimensions are equally important in understanding human experiences and should be attended to by the counselor in an integrative fashion. Following Leong’s (1996) argument, competence can be viewed as consisting of different components. There is a universal component, as well as a cultural component. The former is part of what psychologists seek to identify as “universal laws of behavior.” The latter comes from both the environment, which varies across cultures, and the individual who has been socialized into a particular culture. Therefore, a large part of competence is by definition cultural competence. Granted that there may be competencies that generalize across all
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cultures (e.g., general intelligence comes closest) and yet one is never j ust a competent human being, but rather a competent person in China or a competent person in the United States. If research from cross-cultural psychology has shown us anything, it has demonstrated that competence, like other psychological constructs, vary across cultures in its definition, nature, antecedents-consequences, and correlates. Positive psychology, or optimal human functioning, has been examined from the numerous perspectives using various psychological constructs including subjective well-being, optimism, emotional intelligence, wisdom, and creativity (see special issue of American Psychologist, 2000, Vol. 55, which was devoted to this topic). For our purposes, we propose that cultural competence serves as a valuable organizational framework for analyzing and understanding optimal human functioning across cultures. Relying on White’s (1959) definition, a person is viewed as culturally competent if he or she is able to interact effectively with his or her environment. This includes both the physical and social environments. Such a culturally competent person would exhibit emotional intelligence, wisdom, creativity, optimism, and subjective well-being appropriate to his or her cultural environment. Until cross-cultural research has found that these psychological constructs (e.g., emotional intelligence & wisdom) to be universal, then it may be safer to proceed with Leong’s (1996) argument that these constructs probably consist of both universal and cultural components that interact in a complex fashion. Cultural Competence Versus Cross-Cultural Competence Before proceeding further with our argument that a cultural competence perspective will help us improve our understanding of cross-cultural differences in optimal functioning, it is important to clarify a few definitional issues. It is important to clearly define the constructs under consideration and to differentiate similar, but not identical, concepts. Our first definition problem has to do with the concept of cultural competence versus cross-cultural competence. Most White-European American counselors and psychotherapists have always been a culturally competent psychologists. To be culturally competent is to be able to adapt and function effectively in one’s culture. In the same way, African-American counselors and psychotherapists are also culturally competent psychologists with reference with their African-American cultural heritage. So, the problem is not with cultural competence but with limited cross-cultural competence; that is, the knowledge and skills to relate and communicate effectively with someone from another culture different from your own. White-European American psychology has been based primarily on a Eurocentric paradigm. This characteristic is not a flaw in and of itself any more that an Afrocentric psychology or an Asian-centered psychology is inherently
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flawed. No, the first major flaw in White-American psychology is not that it is Eurocentric, rather it is that it does not often realize nor acknowledge that it is Eurocentric. The second major flaw is that American psychology operates on the assumption that it’s theories, scientific data, and formulations are universal when in reality it is quite Eurocentric. In other words, White American psychology not only believes that it’s culture-specific theories and data are universal, it actively intervenes in the lives and societies of those who are culturally different with these mistaken or at best untested theories and models. In essence, White American psychology is a culturally competent psychology on a within-culture level, namely, it’s theories and interventions are quite effective and appropriate for White European Americans. However, it is not a culturally competent psychology when it comes to an across-culture dimension. Hence, as pointed out by Pedersen and Marsella (1982), White American psychology, as it currently exists, violates it own ethical codes whenever it crosses cultural boundaries without the requisite training and competencies in cross-cultural psychology, and although cultural competence is concerned with how White American psychotherapists can function with White American clients or African American psychotherapists can function with African American clients, cross-cultural competence is concerned with how and whether White American psychotherapists can function effectively with White American clients or vice versa. In other words, what we need to research and measure is not cultural competence but cross-cultural competence when we seek to increase our understanding of counselling with culturally different clients (Sue & Sue, 1999). Multicultural Counseling Versus Crass-Cultural Counseling Counseling psychologists has been at the forefront of conceptualising and measuring cross-cultural counseling competencies for the last 2 decades (see Pope-Davis & Coleman, 1997; Sue et al., 1982). However, this pro-gram of research has focused primarily on counseling competencies and not psychosocial competencies that we are presently discussing. Yet, within the counseling arena, there is another definitional issue that needs clarification, namely the confusing usage of the terms, multicultural and cross-cultural, when referring to the counseling situation. There has been a tendency in the field to use the terms, multicultural counseling, and cross-cultural counseling interchangeably. As I have pointed out (Leong, 1994), these are different concepts and the latter term is more appropriate for two different reasons. The first reason has to do with the concept of multicultural which refers to many cultures. Owing to the, multiculturalism movement in the United States, many psychologists and counselors had begun using the term, multicultural counseling, inappropriately to refer to what they do when they work with culturally different clients. They have confused multiculturalism as a social movement with what they do. The
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more appropriate term is cross-cultural counseling because it accurately describes what they do—a counselor from one particular culture is counseling a client from a different culture. Multicultural counseling, on the other hand, means counseling with many different cultures and this is rarely what counselors and therapists are doing unless they happened to be conducting group psychotherapy with a culturally heterogeneous group of clients (i.e., counseling with many different cultures). Another exception would be a White European therapist conducting couples therapy with a Hispanic American man married to an African American woman and her cotherapist is an Asian American. Such instances are relatively rare. A White European American counselor seeing an African American client on Monday and a Mexican American client on Wednesday is not conducting “multicultural counseling; rather, she is conducting cross-cultural counseling each time she see a client from a cultural background different from hers. Similarly, a therapist who uses a cognitive-behavioral approach with one client on Monday and a humanistic approach with a different client on Wednesday cannot really claim that he is using a multidimensional eclectic approach to therapy with his clients. A second, and more important, reason why we should not use the term multicultural counseling in place of cross-cultural counseling is the nature and extent of our knowledge-base. The majority of the studies that have examined the role of culture and it’s potential influence on counseling and psychotherapy have been bicultural; that is, it has examined and compared only two cultures. Early research in cross-cultural psychology was heavily influenced by anthropology which tended to study one culture at a time in significant depth. Using this monocultural approach, namely the study of one culture at a time, psychologists would, for example, investigate the nature and existence of schizophrenia in different countries around the world. Cross-cultural psychologists now recognize the extreme limitations of such an approach. This approach not only did not provide for direct comparisons between cultures, which is the primary focus of cross-cultural psychology, but it also provided inferences and conclusions based on implicit and biased assumptions of the investigators who tended to be from the West. This problem, in turn, gave rise to the second approach in cross-cultural psychology, namely bicultural studies. These studies usually involve directly collecting data from two countries and comparing the results (e.g., schizophrenia in Britain & the U.S.). The limitations of this approach is that later studies could not be easily compared to earlier studies since different instruments, sampling procedures, and designs may have been used even though the same topic was studied in many different bicultural studies. The ideal approach in cross-cultural psychology was of course, the multicultural study, where three or more cultures were studied using the same design, instruments, and procedures. The more cultures that were included the
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better. However, these studies tend to be very expensive to undertake and there are only a handful of them in the cross-cultural psychological literature. The implications of this methodological dilemma (i.e., multicultural studies are best but too expensive for most investigators to undertake) is that much of the knowledge-base on which cross-cultural psychology in general and crosscultural counseling in particular is discussed and debated is derived mainly from bicultural and not multicultural studies. This predominance of bicultural studies (only two cultural groups) is also true for racial and ethnic minority psychology. Cultural diversity in the United States is usually represented by five major cultural groups. These groups include White European Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and American Indians. There are actually very few psychological studies of all five groups together using the same design, instruments, and procedures. In fact, most of the studies use the bicultural approach where only two groups are compared. Even worse, the typical comparison group is between White European Americans and African Americans or between White European Americans and Hispanic Americans. There are actually very few studies comparing African Americans with Hispanic Americans and comparing Hispanic Americans with Asian Americans. In summary, we do not have a knowledge-base to guide multicultural counseling since there are very few multicultural studies. What we have, and therefore what we should limit ourselves to, at present is cross-cultural counselling where the cultural background of the client and counselor are clearly specified. Definitions of Optimal Functioning and Cultural Competence The third and final definitional problem concerns whose definition of optimal functioning and cultural competence should we use? In cross-cultural psychology, an important distinction is made between the etic (universalist) versus the emic (culture-specific) approach to studying cultures. The former approach, also referred to as the top-down approach, involves the researchers bringing in their own conceptual schemes and research instruments with which to evaluate the members of the target culture on some psychological dimension. The latter approach, also referred to as the bottom-up approach involves the researcher seeking to discover the underlying structure and meaning of different behaviors from the perspectives of the members of the target culture. This etic– emic distinction illustrates an important issue in cross-cultural psychology, namely when we interact with or study other cultures, it is essential that we keep in mind that the two cultures may have significantly different values, norms, beliefs, and expectancies. To mindlessly impose our culture’s values, norms, beliefs, and expectancies in how we study and interpret the meaning of the behaviors of members from a different culture is not only ethnocentric but would result in bad science.
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Anthropologists and cross-cultural psychologists have long argued for the cultural relativity position in our definitions of normality and abnormality. This should not be any different for our definitions of optimal functioning and cultural competence. Over 60 years ago, Ackerknecht (1942; cited in Marsella, 1979) had already proposed that we divide our classification of normal behavior into four categories: (a) autopathological—behavior which is abnormal in the culture in which is found and normal in other cultures, (b) autonormal—behavior which is normal in the culture in which is found and abnormal in other cultures, (c) heteropathological—behavior which is abnormal in all cultures, and (d) heteronormal—behavior which is normal in all cultures. (Marsella, p. 242) An example would be marital arrangements. In the United States, polygamy or marriage to more than one partner at the same time is generally considered abnormal, whereas in many Islamic societies, polygamy is accepted and even encouraged if it results in spreading the Islamic faith. However, this pattern applies to only an Islamic man taking several women as wives and not vice versa. Given the cultural relativity in definitions of normality and assuming that the same relativity applies to optimal functioning and competence, it is essential that counseling psychologists approach their work with culturally different clients with a relativistic viewpoint. There is likely to be systematic cultural variations in what is considered optimal functioning and psychosocial competence across different cultures. These cultural variations need to be taken into account if we are to provide effective and culturally relevant counseling services to these clients. To accommodate these cultural variations, we will propose a contingency model of cultural competence.
A CONTINGENCY MODEL OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE Based on the issues we have raised earlier, we will next review various theoretical approaches to positive psychology and optimal functioning, and then develop our contingency model of cultural competence. One prototype of optimal functioning can be found in sport psychology. Athletes are considered to be function as their optimal level, when their every muscle is finely tuned like the engine of a racing car and their mental state is superbly conditioned, resulting in a perfectly executed performance. In short, optimal functioning is evidenced in performance that is one’s personal best. A team is performing at the optimal level, when there is synergy and good chemistry, when team members put all their energies and talents together to accomplish the impossible
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task of defeating a much stronger rival team, or break a new world record in a relay event. However, optimal functioning cannot be based on performance only. Even common sense dictates that it is unrealistic to expect people to perform at their highest level at all times and in all situations. Thus, a performance-based and achievement-oriented conception of optimal functioning does not have wide applications. We propose that optimal functioning can be found in different spheres of human life, ranging from phenomenological experiences to group processes. A broader conception of optimal functioning is necessary to place it in a crosscultural perspective. Even within White American psychology, there have been different conceptions of optimal functioning. For humanistic psychologists like Maslow (1968), optimal functioning has been associated with self-actualization, a term used to characterized individuals who have finally reached the state of having fulfilled all their potentials, and have finally put everything together. The humanistic orientation emphasizes personality development and meaningful fulfillment rather than performance, because when individuals reach maturity and achieve self-actualization, many of their cognitive and physiological functioning would be on the decline. According to Bugental (1964), one of the basic postulates of humanistic psychology is that human beings are intentional, goal-oriented, and they are motivated to seek meaning and value. As mentioned earlier, another influential approach is White’s (1959) competence model. According to White, competence refers to “an organism’s capacity to interact effectively with its environment” (p.297). His model reflects the Zeitgeist of his day, and focuses on competence in behavioral interactions with the environment. In cross-cultural psychology, a much broader conception of competence is needed, because competence, properly understood, should encompass competence in personal development and spiritual enlightenment, competence in artistic endeavors, and competence in maintaining interpersonal relationships and group harmony. In recent years, Martin Seligman has championed positive psychology by challenging psychology to shift its focus from negative to positive aspects of human experiences. Positive psychology is defined as a “science of positive subjective experiences, positive traits, and positive institutions” and it focuses on such topics as “hope, wisdom, creativity…courage, spirituality” (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) The previous definition seems to be broad enough. However, the current research on positive psychology consists of primarily quantitative studies of cognitive and affective variables within a particular experimental paradigm. It has not paid much attention to topics of humanistic concerns; such as meaning, values, courage, and spirituality.
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Greening (2001) criticized Seligman for failing to recognize the contributions of humanistic psychology, but expressed the hope that the two groups can join forces to promote positive change and “increase our knowledge of positive and fully human ways of living” (p. 5). Rich (2001) questioned the limitations of quantitative research: How should psychologists approach the study of optimal experience? Will traditional quantitative methods suffice? Can we understand creativity via ANOVAs, happiness with regression, or the good life through structural equation modeling? Or are there topics that positive psychology cannot comprehend without the use of qualitative methods such as interviews, observations, and intense fieldwork? (p. 9) The previous brief review indicates that even within White American psychology, there is little agreement regarding what constitutes optimal functioning or positive psychology. Therefore, the task would be even more complex and challenging, if we want to develop a model of optimal ways of living from a cross-cultural perspective. We have chosen the cultural competence model as an organizational framework for two reasons. First, the concept of competence is expandable, as demonstrated by the literature. There is now a consensus that competence is a multidimensional construct. There are not only multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983), but also multiple types of competence, ranging from immune competence to mental hardiness. Second, the concept of competence is relevant to all cultures, even though there are cultural differences in terms of what kind of competence is most valued. Therefore, the cultural competence model allows us to examine optimal functioning from a cross-cultural perspective. Our conceptual framework maybe more accurately called a contingency model of cultural competence, because it posits that optimal functioning or competence is contingent on not only its cultural context, but also on the particular perspective and domain we are interested in. In other words, to have a meaningful dialogue about the optimal level of competence in a given culture, we need to specify the perspective and domain for that competence. For example, we can evaluate any type of competence from either an individual perspective or a group perspective. From an individual perspective, a basketball player may be functioning at his optimal level by scoring his personal best; however, from a group perspective, he may have performed poorly by not passing balls when necessary, and by not doing his part in defensive play, causing the team to lose a crucial game. Similarly, a worker may be a superb salesperson, but by stepping on his fellow workers, and by showing total disregard for team spirit and group goals, he is hurting the morale of the company.
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Our model postulates that if the perspective is congruent with cultural values, then it increases the likelihood of positive outcomes. However, if the perspective is incongruent with cultural values, then it decreases the likelihood of positive outcomes. For example, the self-centered worker is more likely to do well in an individualist society than in a collectivist culture. Another important perspective for competence is either short-term or longterm. Life is often a marathon rather than a 100-meter sprint. A person may be functioning optimally in a short-run, but does not have the staying power to go the distance. For a company that values short-term gains, a “sprinter” as CEO is likely to shine as a genuine. However, for a company with a long-term strategy for sustainable growth, a sprinter may not be the right choice. He may show record profits for a couple of years through risky acquisitions, but would eventually run the company to the ground through bad deals and a crushing debt load. Similarly, on an individual basis, a person may be functioning at his maximum level for only few years and becomes burnt out through overwork; consequently, his performance declines steadily for his remaining working years. Another person may be functioning at less than her maximum level, but she is able to remain productive throughout her long career. In terms of life-time productivity, the second person is clearly functioning a higher level than the first person. The previous examples indicate the necessity of specifying the perspective and the principle of congruence whenever we discuss optimal functioning. In an earlier article, Wong (1993) made a similar point on the need for congruence between coping and stressor in a particular cultural context. His congruence model posits that coping is effective to the point that it is congruent not only with the nature of the stressor, but also with cultural competence. In this chapter, we make the case that optimal functioning is more likely when the perspective is congruent with cultural values. When counselors work with culturally different clients, they need to be sensitive to the cultural values, norms, and beliefs of their clients to enhance congruence between intervention and clients’ cultural competence. Another important consideration in any discussion of optimal functioning is domain. A simple example would be that of a football star, who functions well in a sports arena, but may not do well in the hall of examination. The difference has to do with the domain in which he is measured. To carry this logic further, a person who scores well in performance measures, may not do well in terms of any health indicators or relationship measures. Similarly, one person who functions well in times of prosperity may do very poorly in coping with trauma and adversity. Domain is important, because it specifies the area in which one is functioning well and determines the appropriate dependent variables to measure optimal functioning. For example, if the domain of interest is individual performance in
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sales, than the person with highest volume of sales would the optimal performer. However, if the domain of interest is health in terms of various physiological functioning, he may be doing very poorly because he has been working under too much stress. In sum, the contingency model of cultural competence takes into account not only cultural differences, but also perspectives and domains. Such a model will not only facilitate communications between researchers, but also has the heuristic value of guiding future research of optimal functioning from a crosscultural perspective. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s (1961) Value Orientations Among the various cultural variables that have been systematically studied by psychologists, value orientations has had both the strongest theoretical foundation, as well as the most empirical research underlying it. Therefore, in our contingency model we propose that cultural variations in value orientations is an important contingency for the counselor to attend to when working with culturally different clients. Culture influences almost every aspect of our existence. It not only shapes our values and beliefs, but also influences our language, eating habits, and social interactions. Culture is manifested in normative and shared behavioral patterns and created products of the human minds in a given society. In short, culture prescribes ways for behaving and designs for living. Given the pervasive impact of culture, concept of optimal function clearly varies from culture to culture. For example, traditional Eastern cultures, such as Confucianism, tend to emphasize personal development and social harmony rather than individual performance. Hinduism emphasizes personal enlightenment rather than material success. In this section, we depend on Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s (1961) value orientations as a framework to discuss cultural differences in optimal functioning. There has been a long and venerable tradition of emphasizing values in studying cultural difference (Hofstede, 1984, 1994; Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck, 1961; Rokeach, 1973; Schein, 1997; Triandis, 1995). In most of these studies, values refer to attributes of national cultures rather than individual preferences. For example, Hofstede conceptualizes culture as a set of shared mental programs. Even with his cognitive orientation, his focus in on national cultures. His Values Survey Module measures four value dimensions: (a) Uncertainty Avoidance Index, (b) Individualism, (c) Power Distance Index, and (d) Masculinity Index. Time Orientation was added later as the fifth value dimension of national cultures. Triandis (1995) identified the vertical and horizontal dimensions of individualism and collectivism. The vertical dimension represents hierarchy, whereas the horizontal dimension indicates the similarities of status among
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individuals within a social group. According to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961), cultural values can be inferred from how people in every society answer five crucial human questions: (a) What is the basis nature of people? (b) What is the proper relationship to nature? (c) What is the proper focus in terms of the temporal dimension of life? (d) What is the proper mode of human activity? (e) What is the proper way of relating to one another? Within each culture, responses to these questions naturally vary from person to person. However, there is a still a preferred dominant response in each society. For each question, the dominant responses can be classified into three categories. For example, there are three types of responses to the first question of human nature: evil, good, both-good-and-evil. We chose Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck’s model for two main reasons. First, it has been very influential in the counseling literature (Carter, 1991), Second, it addresses basic assumptions and existential beliefs present in almost very culture. According to Zavalloni (1980), “The existential or general beliefs were seen as influencing concrete choices in everyday life” (p. 84). Therefore, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s five dimensions lend themselves readily to crosscultural studies of positive psychology. Human Nature Orientation There are three types of responses: Evil, Good-and-Evil, and Good. However, within each category, there are subdivisions of mutuality and immutability. To believe that human nature is evil is to believe that people are basically bad, and they need to be controlled. Some believe that evil is mutable. For example, those from the Reformed tradition and Puritan ancestors believe that human nature is depraved and Evil, but at the same time, they also believe that human nature can be improved through spiritual redemption and sanctification. Therefore, for this evangelical subculture, optimal functioning depends on spiritual transformation. Others believe that people are born Good and that most people are basically good at heart. However, good can also be mutable. According to Confucius teaching, even though human nature is basically Good, it can turn bad without proper education and intentional personal development. Therefore, optimal functioning depends on virtuous behaviors, rather than excellent performance. However, most people in both American and China believe that people are both good and evil at birth, and that they are capable of both under certain conditions. There are both good and bad people in the world. According to this view, optimal functioning will be contingent on favorable circumstances. Man-Nature Orientation The three dominant responses are Subjugation-to-Nature, Harmony-WithNature, and Master-over-Nature. Subjugation-to-Nature represents the be-lief that
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people cannot change nature and life is determined by forces beyond one’s control. This is the preferred response alternative in primitive or poor societies, where feel powerless to protect themselves from the ravages of nature, such as flooding, drought, and hurricanes. In such circumstances, it seems adaptive to adopt a fatalistic attitude toward harsh realities. Harmony with nature stresses oneness between people and nature in that one is simply an extension of the other. Taoism certainly favors this orientation. North American Indians also believe in the unity between human beings, nature, and the spirit. Cultures that endorse this orientation would have difficulty accept a positive psychology that glorifies human achievements at the expense of nature. Mastery-Over-Nature orientation is the preferred orientation in North America and Western Europe. This position emphasizes overcoming obstacles and dominating nature through human efforts and scientific innovations. The positive psychology of optimal performance in Western societies is predicated on the technology of control and mastery. Time Orientation The temporal focus of human life can be logically broken down to past, present, and Future. Clearly, every society and every individual must deal with all three aspects of the temporal dimensions; however, they may differ in terms of their preferences. Past orientation refers to an emphasis on traditional customs and learning from the past. It is associated with traditionalism and conservatism. Traditional Chinese culture has a past orientation, because of its emphasis on ancestor worship, respect for traditions and the elders; it also values classical writings by Confucius and other sages as the foundation for personal and society development. Positive psychology from this perspective would mean how to benefit from traditions and the wisdoms from the past in coping with current difficulties. Americans tend to favor the future orientation. They want to set goals and plan for the future. They are willing to sacrifice today for a better tomorrow, constantly striving to be better, faster and bigger. They value progress and change. Therefore, optimal functioning for Americans has to involve the maximum likelihood of improvement. The present orientation emphasizes the here and now as most important. Don’t worry about tomorrow, and don’t think about the past, just enjoy the present. The focus is on immediate gratification and present concerns. An emphasis on the present may optimize enjoyment of the moment and the flow experience. For sports competition, focusing on the present perfor-mance, without thinking about past mistakes or worrying about winning or losing, would increase the likelihood of optimal functioning. In a different domain, the
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present orientation may be detrimental For example, drug addicts are only interested in getting high now without thinking about the consequences. Thus, to optimize effectiveness of rehabilitation treatment, we need to shift the focus from a present to a future orientation. Activity Orientation This has to do with the preferred mode of self-expression or the preferred modality of activity. The Being orientation focuses on the release and indulgence of one’s desires without giving much thought to self-control or future development. The emphasis is on a spontaneous expression of one’s emotions, impulses and personality. Fiesta activities in Mexico are examples of this orientation. Being may be related to the present orientation. It enhances enjoyment of the present moments, facilitates creative freedoms in the arts, and encourages spontaneous, authentic self-expressions. According to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961), The Being in Becoming shares with the Being one a great concern with what the human being is rather than what he can accomplish, but here the similarity ends. The main purpose of Being in Becoming is personal development. The idea of development, so little stressed in the Being orientation, is paramount in the Being-in Becoming one, (p. 16) In other words, the primary goal of self-expression is aimed at the development and integration of the personality through self-control. This is very similar to the emphasis of Confucius teaching, which emphasizes the integration and development of all aspects of individuals, so that they can contribute optimally to society. The Doing orientation is prominent in American society. What you can accomplish through hard word is valued more than what you are as a person. It focuses on “the kind of activity which results in accomplishments that are measurable by standards conceived to be external to the acting individual” (p. 17). It is illustrated by such expressions as “Let’s do it” or “Lets get it done.” This orientation is most likely to yield optimal results in situations, which require performance according to some objective standard. However, it situations totally beyond one’s control, an instrumental orientation may not be adaptive (Wong, 1993). Relational Orientation This is concerned with the common human problem of how to relate to each other as human beings. This orientation is again subdivided into three alternatives: the Lineal, the Collateral, and the Individualistic. The
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Individualistic orientation values individual autonomy and personal agenda more than group needs. When employees have this orientation, they are primarily interested in pursuing their personal goals; they will cooperate with others only when in so doing advances their personal interests. This kind of attitude will likely get the employees into trouble when they work in a culture than values cooperation and teamwork. Collaterality emphasizes individuals as part of a social group. The prototype of collaterality is biologically related siblings relationships. A Collateral orientation places the welfare of the group above that of the individual. For example, for a traditional Chinese the family always comes first before the individual. Thus, parents and sometime older siblings are expected to sacrifice self-interests for the sake of the younger children and the welfare of the entire family. Lineality emphasizes that individuals are biologically and culturally related to each other though time. There is, in other words, always a Lineal principle in relationships which is derived both from the biological givens of age and generational differences and form the fact of cultural continuity, (p. 18) When the Lineal principle is dominant, the continuity of group goals through time and succession of leadership positions become more important individual performance. A Lineally oriented group tends to hierarchical, because it favors a clear and continuous line of authority. Its emphasis on cultural continuity makes it resistant to change. Examples of Lineality include the aristocracy of England and the caste system in India. Clearly, some of the value orientations tend to hang together. For example, Mastery-Over-Nature, Future-orientation, Doing and Individualistic preference tend to go together and are common in North America. On the basis these values, Americans are free to compete and pursue their dreams of success, which is usually measured by material acquisitions. There is a strong sense of optimism in future success because of the abundant opportunities in a democratic, affluent society. The current form of Positive Psychology or optimal functioning may be considered a logical, natural product of two decades of peace and prosperity in America. However, a different form of positive psychology and optimal function may be needed for cultures with very different value orientations The underlying assumptions of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s valueorientations incorporate normative cognitive (thoughts about life), conative (inclinations toward a particular course of action), and affective (feelings about what is desirable or preferable) elements. They also include existential assumptions about human nature and the nature of the universe. Thus, value-
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orientations reflect the both normative and existential assumptions of each culture; in other words, they reflect different worldviews. The Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck model may be criticized for including only a very limited set of cultural characteristics (Carter, 1991). For example, cultural anthropology has found people in every culture seek answers regarding spiritualexistential questions. Therefore, we propose that cultural value-orientations need to include two foundational questions regarding religion and the meaning of human existence. Religious Orientation This is concerned with questions such as, Where is God? What is God like? How can I know Him? What does God want from me? There are three basic types of answers: atheistic, agnostic, and theistic. A predominantly secularhumanistic culture or a strongly communistic society would prefer an atheistic position. From this standpoint, the good life or optimistic functioning completely depends on human efforts, and there is no need to evoke God’s name, whatever the situation. A highly educated and technologically advanced nation may also favor the agnostic alternative. According to this position, the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved; therefore, we should not take God-concept seriously, nor should we rely on faith in God in our quest for optimal functioning, even in extreme situations. The theistic alternative assumes that God exists, although conceptions of God differ. These may range Hindu belief in pantheism, the Christian belief in one God and some aboriginal people’s belief in the presence of a divine spirit in nature. There are also cultural differences in beliefs regarding God’s role in human lives. In America, according to Gallop polls, it is not uncommon for people believe that God exists and he answers prayers when we need Him. However, some Muslin countries, such as Iran and Afghanistan, take religion much more seriously than in the West, and it dominates every aspect of their society. Progress and performance are likely to be hindered, when education, economy, and all government poli-cies are subject to the dictates of religious authorities, as in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. In North America, where individuals are free to pursue comfort and happiness either in organized religions or in personalized spirituality, most of the studies indicate that religious beliefs and practices are positively correlated with various social and health indicator (e.g., Koenig, 2001; Matthews, 1998). Furthermore, the so-called Protestant work ethics has encouraged individual productivity and capitalism (Weber, 2001), Therefore, in North America, religious faith and self-reliance seem to work in concert in promoting high performance.
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For Eastern Indians, the situation is again rather different. Individuals are socialized with an emphasis on collectivist values, because of their caste system and their religious beliefs (Saraswathi & Pai, 1997). Personal identify is derived from one’s lineage, caste and community. There is also an emphasis on the interdependence between individuals and nature or cosmos. Hinduism, the indigenous religions of India, prescribes a way of life based on varna and ashrama (Kanitkar & Cole, 1995). Varna has to do with one’s caste or social category. Asharam refers to the ideal life course, a pattern of four stages: student, householder, hermit, and the renouncer of the world. The basic concepts of Hinduism are Dharma and Karma. Dharma refers to the moral code, a disciplined, dutiful way of life (Gupta, 1991). Thus, the ideal life, the most positive way of life, is “the orderly fulfillment of an inherent nature and destiny” (p. 167). Dharma requires one to fulfill one’s duty to one’s family, community, and nation, and to be in harmony with comic order. Dharma is the path leading to personal liberation. Karma refers to the law of cause and effect in this life and beyond. One’s behavior in previous lives is believed to be responsible for the present position one is born into. The totality of one’s behavior, both good and bad, in this life affects one’s next life. The ultimate goal is to be freed from the cycle of reincarnation and to reach God. Self-knowledge, dutiful, selfless services to humankind and religious service without thoughts of reward will contribute to the optimal functioning of reaching God. “Hinduism is a mystical religion, leading the devotee to personally experience the Truth within, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness where man and God are one (Suramuniyaswami, 1993, p. 528). Given the importance of Hindu religious values and beliefs for many Indians, positive psychology in counseling needs to facilitate their quest for inner serenity and personal liberation through moral and religious duties. To use a reward system that is based on individual performance without taking into account of the importance of Varna or Dharma can be counterpro-ductive (Sinha, 1990; Wong, in press.). The previous examples indicate that the dimension of religious is no less important than the five value-orientations identified by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck with respect to cultural differences in optimal functioning. Existential Orientation This is concerned with the assumptions regarding the nature and purpose of human existence. This human quest for meaning seems universal, and it is one of the oldest, most persistent philosophical concerns. We are all familiar with questions such as: What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? What is life all about? Therefore, existential orientation should be considered as one of the fundamental cultural value-orientations.
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There are again three basic types of responses to this existential question; (a) There is no meaning in life; (b) There is no inherent meaning in life, but one can create meaning through one’s own effort; (c) There is inherent and ultimate meaning to be discovered. For nations, as well as individuals that deny the possibility of meaning, hedonism or nihilism is likely to be the result. If there is no God and no meaning, then anything goes. Consequently, one’s approach to life is likely to be: “Let’s eat and drink and have fun, because tomorrow we die.” A meaningless existence is self-handicapping and self-destructive. Generally, lack of meaning has found to be related to substance abuse and suicide ideation (Harlow, Newcomb & Bentler, 1986). Meaninglessness is also linked to psychopathology (Yalom, 1980). For those who believe that they can create meaning in this life through achievements and contributing to society, they are likely to live a very productive life (Baumeister, 1991; Reker & Chamberlain, 2000; Wong & Fry, 1998). However, if they can no long function because of health problems or lack of opportunities, their capacity to hope and persist would likely be diminished. The third alternative seems to be more adaptive in adverse and disastrous circumstances beyond one’s control. To affirm that meaning can be discovered even in the worst possible situations in has enabled Viktor Frankl and many others to endure horrible suffering and loss with dignity and optimism (Frankl, 1963; Reker, Peacock, & Wong, 1987; Wong, 2001, 2002). Often, belief in ultimate meaning is associated with the religious faith in God and in an afterlife. Research has shown that affirmation in faith and meaning enables people to adjust to the traumas and tragedies (Wong, 2001; Wong & McDonald, 2001; Wong, McDonald, Klaassen, in press). This is consistent with our contingency model. In other words, what contributes to optimal functioning is contingent on the domain or circumstances under consideration and the congruency between value-orientations with the circumstances. The existential orientation is probably the most important one among the previous seven value-orientations because questions about meaning of existence have to do with the basic assumptions about life and go to the very heart of what each culture cherishes as ideals and values important for the society. According to Brislin (1990), “culture refers to widely shared ideals, values, formation and uses of categories, assumptions about life, and goal-directed activities that become unconsciously or subconsciously accepted as right and correct by people who identify themselves as members of a society” (p. 11). Therefore, positive psychology from a cross-cultural perspective needs to understand what each culture values as necessary for the good life. Given the importance of the existential dimension in value-orientations, meaning-centered counseling (Wong, 1998) would be sensitive to the sources of meaning in different countries. We will now examine the traditional Chinese cultural to
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illustrate the relevance of our contingency model primarily with respective to the existential and religious orientations. As the world’s most populous nation, and the world’s oldest continuous civilization, the Chinese are a very resilient people, and they offer a helpful object lesson on optimal functioning. However, as a people, they are also heterogeneous and complex, and it is difficulty to pigeonhole them into categories, because of their holistic and integrative approach toward life and life’s many pressing problems. For example, there are individualistic in terms of personal development, collateral in terms of caring for the family, and lineal in terms of respect for traditions. Similarly, they are highly internal in terms of personal responsibility, but external in terms of depending on collective efforts in the family in coping with certain problems. In fact, their achievements, competences, and resilience are largely attribute to their flexible and holistic approach toward life’s demands (Bond, 1986; Wong & Ujmoto, 1998). They resort to culturally appropriate resources and coping strategies, contingent on the domain and the nature of the problem. In other words, their optimal functioning is based on the congruency-resource model of effective coping (Wong, 1993) and the current contingency model of cultural competence. Despite of the heterogeneity and complexity of the Chinese people, there are certain core traditional values, which tend to influence the Chinese people (Bond & Hwang, 1986). Central to this set of core values is Confucianism, a system of moral and social philosophy, which emphasizes the doctrine of righteousness and virtues, as well as the practice of loyalty and reciprocity. The good life is a responsible and moral life. What gives life meaning is fulfilling one’s duties in maintaining social order. Education emphasizes moral discipline and personal development for the purpose of social harmony and word peace. Thus, the emphasis is both individualist and collectivist—individualist in terms of selfdiscipline and development as a means of serving others; collectivist in terms of the purpose of fulfilling one’s duties toward the family and society. This is summarized in the teaching that self-cultivation must precede family harmony, which is the preconditions for orderly society and world peace. Confucius said, Wanting to develop themselves, they also develop others; wanting to achieve things themselves, they also allow others achieve what they want. This is the direction humanity takes: to use what is close to oneself as an analogy to be extended to others. (Sommer, 1995, pp. 44) The cornerstone of Confucian teachings is filial piety—one’s moral obligation toward one’s parents and extended family members and governments. An ideal Confucian state would one that is led by a powerful head, who would maintain a father–son relationship with his officials and citizens. The so-called Asian values, as exemplified by the Singapore style of strong central government, are
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rooted in the doctrine of filial piety. Ancestor worship is also derived from filial piety, because one’s moral duties toward parents should be extended to all ancestors. From this perspective, optimal functioning should not be viewed exclusively from the perspective of the individual, it also needs to be considered from the perspective of family members, community, and society (Wong & Ujimoto, 1998). Taoism is another major source of influence in the Chinese culture. The Tao means the way of nature. Ultimate wisdom or optimal functioning can only come from understanding the way of nature. Taoism emphasizes nonaction and subjugation to nature. Instead of fighting against circumstances, one should go with the flow, if this is the most natural. The good life is one that is simply, spontaneous, and harmonious with nature, yielding continually to the changing life process. I Ching or the Doctrine of Change has this to say about the ideal life: The great man is he who is in harmony: in his attributes, with heaven and earth; in his brightness, with the sun and the moon; in his orderly procedure, with the four sessions…He may precede heaven, and heaven will not act in opposition to him; he may follow heaven, but will act only as heaven would at that time. (Liu, 1979, p. 131) Taoist teaching enables the Chinese to accept the harsh realities of life, transcend all their troubles with serenity and courage. Thus, in situations beyond human control, such as living in a country ravaged by natural disasters and wars, Taoist thinking seems very adaptive. The virtue of patience and endurance of the Chinese people, which is an important dimension of optimal functioning in extreme situations, has its origin in Taoism. Buddhism represents the third force of influence in China. The four noble truths of Buddhism are 1. Human existence is plagued with suffering. Suffering is an inevitable, because it encompasses pain, fear, frustration, pride, boredom, meaninglessness, sickness, hunger, and all sorts of things that make us unhappy and ill at ease. 2. The cause of suffering is our desires and attachments to our passions. In fact, our pursuit of happiness in and by itself causes suffering, regardless of whether we are frustrated in our pursuit or successful in getting what wanted. Clinging too much to the every changing conditions of the world inevitably leads to disillusion and suffering, 3. It is possible to be free from suffering through the realization of Nirvana, a state of everlasting peace and bliss. In this state, our passions have been calmed and transformed to the point that they no longer drive us.
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4. The path to Nirvana is through self-discipline in the eightfold path and the eventual attainment of enlightenment, The experience of personal liberation can be shared with others only through compassion and love. The positive psychology according to Buddhism (Levine, 2000) is that it liberates people from the bondage of desires, protects people from the losses and sufferings, and at the same time enables them to enjoy peace of mind and the simple pleasures of life. Buddhism appeals to the Chinese who have endured many hardships and adversities throughout history. It gives them an abiding sense of meaning and inner-peace in the midst of incomprehensive and uncontrollable evils. Mahayana Buddhism, the distinct school of Buddhism development in China, emphasis the importance of transcending self-interests and showing compassion and love to all sentient beings (Reichelt, 1990). Human beings are not the measures of all things, because they are just a small part of the universe, and their behaviors are subject to the law of karma—the total cause and effect beyond the immediate world. All three religious-philosophical systems emphasize acceptance of reality, the importance of relationships, and the need for attaining wisdom. Thus, optimal functioning from the perspective of tradition Chinese culture entails a mature, philosophical understanding of life and history. The Western psychology’s narrow focus on individual performance and individualistic interests will not be effective in counseling the Chinese who value traditional values. A contingency model of cultural competence will be more effective, because it takes into account traditional values such filial piety and the specific domains such as work or home. Such a model will take into account both the individualist and collectivist perspectives and seek a proper balance between personal optimal performance and the welfare of the family. Counseling Implications Based on the previous analysis, our contingency model of cultural competence takes into account not only cultural value orientations, but also perspectives and domains. This conceptual framework can be very helpful in counseling because it is broad enough to encompass most cultures, and specific enough to allow predictions in specific situations in different cultural contexts. For example, within the North-American cultural, our contingency model will dictate that in counseling trauma survivors, an emphasis on achieving mastery over adverse circumstances beyond their control would be less effective than an emphasis on posttraumatic growth in terms of greater appreciation of life, spiritual maturity, and the development of tragic optimism (Wong & McDonald, 2001). The relevance of the contingency model is event more evident in crosscultural counseling. For example, in counseling the Hindus, we need to
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recognize that optimal functioning and happiness may mean inner serenity, service to the community and unity with God, rather than material success. Similarly, in counseling traditional Chinese families, we need to respect the parents and consider what is good for the family as a whole. Our contingency model remains a working model. It needs to be developed conceptually and tested empirically. For example, the basic concepts of happiness, optimal functioning, and positive psychology vary from culture to culture and need to be clarified. Our focus on value-orientations represents only one of the promising alternatives. A caveat is in order. There is always the risk of stereotyping in a superficial manner, whenever we discuss cultural differences between nations. In crosscultural counseling classes, it is not uncommon to hear minority students say, “Such descriptions maybe true of most Chinese or Japanese, but I am different.” Another important reminder is that despite cultural differences, we are all very similar because we are all human beings, facing the same human condition of suffering, sickness, and death. We have already identified seven fundamental and universal values-orientations. Therefore, any cultural differences can only serve as pointers; they serve as very tentative hypotheses about people. Ultimately, we need to focus not only on the uniqueness of each individual, but also on the perspective and domain involved. Finally, given the universality of human suffering, which is more pervasive in many parts of the world outside North America, cross-cultural counseling demands a mature positive psychology (Wong, 2001), which emphasizes the integration of both negative and positive aspects of human existence, resulting in a higher order of positive experience, as illustrated by tragic optimism (Wong & McDonald, 2001). In conclusion, we propose that future development of positive psychology needs to be international and cross-cultural. Such development should not follow the discredited approach of simply translating concepts and instruments developed in America into other languages. It requires more basic research into the values, beliefs and concepts of the good life in different cultures. Harrison and Huntington (2000) documented how cultural values shape human progress in different countries. They demonstrated in a very compelling way how a nation’s cultural values and religious beliefs can facilitate and hinder a nation’s economic development. Similarly, we want to make the case that psychologists need to study and document how cultural values influence the well-being and optimal functioning of individuals in different nations. This chapter represents a small step in this direction. We hope that a great deal of theoretical and empirical activities will take place in this exciting area of crosscultural positive psychology.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT Chapter prepared for Bruce Walsh’s (Editor) Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Address correspondence to Frederick Leong, Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, 1885 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210–1222. Email:
[email protected]
REFERENCES Baumeister, R.F. (1991). Meaning of life. New York: Guildford. Berry, J.W., Segall, M.H. & Kagitcibasi, C. (Eds.). (1997). Handbook of crosscultural psychology, 3. (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Bond, L.A., & Rosen, J.C. (Eds.). (1980), Competence and coping during adulthood. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. Bond, M.H. (Ed.). (1986). The psychology of the Chinese people. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Bond, M.H., & Hwang, K.K. (1986), The social psychology of Chinese people. In M.H. Bond (Ed.), The psychology of the Chinese people, (pp. 213–266). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Brislin, R.W. (1990). Applied cross-cultural psychology: An introduction. In R.W.Brislin (Ed.), Applied cross-cultural psychology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Bugental, J.F.T. (1964). The third force in psychology, Journal of humanistic Psychology, 4 (1), 19–25. Bush, R.C. (1977). Religion in China. Niles: Argus Communications. Carter, R.T. (1991). Cultural values: A review of empirical research and implications for counseling. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 164–173. Frankl, V.E. (1963). Man’s search for meaning. New York: Washington Square. Press. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: A theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books. Greening, T. (2001). Commentary. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41(1), 4–7. Gupta, S.M. (1991). Festivals, fairs, and feasts in India. New Delhi, India: Clarion. Harlow, L.L., Newcomb, M.D., & Bentler, P.M. (1986). Depression, selfderogation, substance abuse, and suicide ideation: Lack of purpose in life as a mediational factor. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 42, 5–21.
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Harrison, L.E., & Huntington, S.P. (Eds.). (2000). Culture matters: How values shape human progress. New York: Basic BOOKS. Hofstede, G. (1984). Cultures consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Hofstede, G. (1994). Values survey modeule 1994 manual. Maastrict, The Netherlands: Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation. Kanitkar, H., & Cole, W.O. (1995). Teach yourself world faiths: Hinduism. London: Hodder Headline. Kent, M.W. and Rolf, J.E. (1979). Social Competence in Children. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. Kluckhohn, C., & Murray, H.A. (1950). Personality formation: The determinants. In C. Kluckhohn & H.A.Murray (Eds.). Personality in nature, society, and culture (pp. 35–48). New York: Alfred A, Knopf. Kluckhohn, R.R., & Strodtbeck, F.L. (1961). Variations in value orientations. Evanston, IL: Row Paterson. Koenig, H. (2001). The handbook of religion and health: A century of research reviewed. New York: Oxford University Press. Leong, F.T.L. (1994). Emergence of the cultural dimension: The role and impact of culture on counseling supervision. Counselor Education and Supervision, 34, 115–116. (Introduction to special section: Cross-cultural counseling supervision.) Leong, F.T.L. (1996). Toward an integrated model for cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy. Applied & Preventative Psychology, 5, 189–209. Levine, M. (2000). The positive psychology of Buddhism and yoga. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Liu, D. (1979). The Too and Chinese culture. New York: Schocken. Marsella, A.J. (1979). Cultural studies of mental disorders. In A.J.Marsella, R.G.Tharp, & T.J.Ciborowski’s (Eds.), Perspectives on cross-cultural psychology, (pp. 233–262). New York: Academic. Maslow, A.H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand. Matthews, D.A. (1998). The faith factor: Proof of the healing power of prayer. New York: Viking. Pedersen, P.B. & Marsella, A.J. (1982), The ethical crisis for cross-cultural counseling and therapy. Professional Psychology, 13, 492–500. Pope-Davis, D.B. & Coleman, H.L.K. (1997). Multicultural counseling competencies: assessment, education and training, and supervision. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Reichelt, K.L. (1990). Truth and tradition in Chinese Buddhism. Pasadena, CA: The Oriental Book Store. Reker, G.T., & Chamberlain, K. (Eds.). (2000). Exploring existential meaning: Optimizing human development across the life span. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Reker, G.T., Peacock, E.J., & Wong, P.T.P. (1987). Meaning and purpose in life and well-being: A lifespan perspective. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 44–49. Rich, G.J. (2001). Positive psychology: An introduction, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41(1), 8–12. Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free Press. Saraswathi, T.S., & Pai, S. (1997). Socializaiton in the Indian Contest. In H.S.Kao & D. Sinha (Eds.), Asian perspective on psychology. New Delhi, India: Sage. Schein, E.H. (1997). Organizational culture and leadership (2nd ed.). San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Seligman, M., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychology, 55, 1–14. Sinha, J.B.P. (1990). The work culture in the Indian context. New Delhi, India: Sage. Sommer, D. (1995). Chinese religion: An anthology of sources. New York: Oxford University Press. Sternberg, R.J., & Kolligian, J. (1990). Competence considered. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Sue, D.W., Bernier, J.E., Durran, A., Feinberg, L., Pedersen, P., Smith, E., & Vazquez-Nutall, E. (1982). Position paper: cross-cultural counseling competencies. The Counseling Psychologist, 10, 45–52 Sue, D.W., & Sue, D. (1999). Counseling the culturally-different: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley. Suramuniyaswami, S.S. (1993). Dancing with Siva: Hinduism s contemporary catachism. Concord, CA: Himalayan Academy. Triandis, H.C. (1995). Individualism & colectivism. Boulder CO: Westview. Weber, M. (2001). The Protestant work ethic and the spirit of capitalism (2nd Ed.). New York: Routledge. White, R.W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297–333. Wong, P.T.P. (1993). Effective management of life stress: The resourcecongruence model. Stress Medicine, 9, 51–60. Wong, P.T.P. (1998). Meaning-centered counselling. In P.T.P.Wong & P.S.Fry (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications, (pp. 395–435). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wong, P.T.P. (2001, October). Tragic optimism, realistic pessimism, and mature happiness. Paper presented as the Positive Psychology Summit, Washington, DC. Wong, P.T.P. (2002). Logotherapy. In G.Zimmer (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychotherapy. New York: Academic.
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6 Optimal Human Functioning in People of Color in the United States Derald Wing Sue and Madonna G.Constantine Teachers College, Columbia University
What is optimal human functioning? Is it related to subjective well-being (Diener, 2000), happiness, optimism (Peterson, 2000), resilience, hope (Lopez et al., 2000), ability to cope with stress (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000), or self determinism (Schwartz, 2000)? Could it be all of these? Recently, the American Psychologist, in two full issues (i.e.,“Special Issue on Happiness, Excellence, and Optimal Human Functioning,” 2000; “Positive Psychology,” 2001) explored these questions. Under the rubric of positive psychology, Sheldon and King (2001) defined it as “the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues,” and “a more open and appreciative perspective regarding human potentials, motives, and capabilities” (p. 216). Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) divided it into three domains. At the subjective level, it is measured in feelings of well-being, contentment, and satisfaction in the past; hope and optimism for the future; and flow and happiness in the present. At the individual level, it is about positive traits such as capacity for love, courage, interpersonal skill, perseverance, spirituality, and wisdom. Last, at the group level, it is about civic virtues and the institutions that move us toward better citizenship and responsibility. Although the aforementioned descriptions evoke positive reactions in many of us and are conceptually inspiring, criticisms have been leveled at Seligman
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and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) for (a) minimizing the contributions of humanistic psychologists such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers and distorting their work as self-oriented to the detriment of collective well-being (Bohart & Greening, 2001); (b) being oblivious to the valuable body of literature developed in counseling psychology on “normal human development,” human potential, the psychology of work, and healthy functioning (Sue, & Sue 2003); (c) lacking precision and being unnecessarily vague and abstract; (d) being ethnocentric in its absence of discussing non-Western psychologies and therapies (Walsh, 2001); and (e) not addressing issues of social justice from the perspective of people of color (Bacigalupe, 2001). In keeping with these latter two points, it is our position that definitions of optimal human functioning are culture-bound and limited in application to people of color because they miss a central point: Concepts of positive psychology and the “good life” are intimately tied to the values of a larger society.
IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND OPTIMAL HUMAN FUNCTIONING WHITE? The authors of the two special issues are to be commended for their positive descriptions of the human condition that sharply contrasts with the wealth of articles in psychology journals that traditionally focus on deficits, weaknesses, and pathologies. Whatever benefits discerned from these conceptually wellwritten articles were diminished, however, by their apparent culture-bound nature. On face value, for example, it was noted that in the Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) issue, all 28 authors or coauthors were White, and the same was true of the six authors in the Sheldon and King (2001) issue as well. Not a single person of color was represented in the total of 34 authors. As a result, questions have been raised as to whether their absence in the premiere journal of the field of psychology reflects a lack of qualified scholars of color, or whether it reflects the continuing bias of mainstream psychology that excludes the voices of people of color (Bacigalupe, 2001). In responding to these criticisms, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi noted such remarks to be a “vicious form of racism” because the criticisms suggested that people’s skin color determines the substance of their assertions, and they encouraged readers to look beyond the pictures of the authors and to evaluate the articles on their own merit. We agree that “a book should not be judged by its cover,” but there is considerable merit in the observation that being a person of color may determine the worldview of the researcher (e.g., Helms, 1993; Sue & Sue, 2003). Such a statement is based on (a) cultural values, assumptions and beliefs that differ from mainstream society; (b) the minority experience of being different (physically & culturally) in the United States (Carter, 1995; Guthrie, 1997;
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Jones, 1997); and (c) the deception that Whiteness is a universal identity (Sue, in press). The former deals with how different cultures and societies define optimal human functioning, and the second point relates to the sociopolitical history of persons of color in which their struggles to overcome adversity have resulted in human strengths often ignored in the literature. The point concerning “Whiteness” is more difficult to explicate but involves that fact that EuroAmerican standards serve as the default norm in determining the traits of optimal functioning. This chapter is dedicated to exploring the concept of optimal human functioning among people of color and suggesting implications for the field of applied psychology. Several major assumptions will guide our journey. First, optimal human functioning among people of color may differ from the culturebound goals of happiness, hope, subjective well-being, and self-determination posited by White EuroAmerican theorists and researchers. Second, definitions of optimal human functioning cannot be separated from the cultural context in which they arise. As a result, definitions from one culture may not be comparable to another. Third, optimal human functioning must consider a systemic perspective, in addition to focusing on the individual or self. Fourth, for people of color, overcoming adversity (e.g., racism & oppression) can provide valuable clues to optimal human functioning. Fifth, optimal human functioning may be discerned from studying cultural values of a group (e.g., group connectedness, spirituality, & multiculturalism) that seem to immunize them from stress and other forms of race-related adversities. Last, counseling psychology, in its study of human development, normal functioning, the positive qualities of the human condition, and multiculturalism is uniquely positioned to play a leadership role within the larger field of applied psychology by helping to integrate cultural diversity into psychological theory, research, and practice.
THE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF OPTIMAL HUMAN FUNCTIONING In our roles as counseling psychologists, we have generally reflected the values of the larger society in stressing that the road to mental health is associated with subjective well-being or happiness, self-determination, freedom of choice, autonomy, and the belief of personal control. Indeed, the major criterion used to judge psychological distress is subjective discomfort; the goal of various therapies generally has been to ameliorate the stressors encountered by individuals, and to help them develop inner resources to achieve better coping (Sue, Sue, & Sue, 2003). Thus, we could conclude that optimal healthy functioning is associated with happiness and the pursuit of “the happy life.” Or can we?
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Such a conclusion appears to be most applicable to individualistic cultures where freedom of choice and autonomy form the backbone of the society (Kitayama & Markus, 2000). In collectivistic cultures, however, personal happiness is much less important than issues concerning relationships with others; such as honoring parents, fulfilling social obligations, and submerging self needs for the group good (Oishi, 2000; Triandis, 2000). Ahuvia (2001) illustrated this point through a personal anecdote: Some years ago, an Indian doctoral student of mine saw the back cover of Myers’s (1993) book, which read, “We all want to be happy….” The student remarked simply, “I don’t.” I recall another conversation, this with a young Singaporean man, who confided to me that he was going to marry his fiancée because it was socially expected of him, not because he thought he would be happy in the marriage…. Similarly, I exchanged lengthy emails with a Korean student who was very explicit about choosing a career to be rich, not to be happy, so that he could bring face to his parents by buying them a new Mercedes. (p. 77) In essence, many collectivistic societies do not view the psychosocial unit of operation as residing in the individual, but in the group. Strangely enough, striving for personal happiness is oftentimes viewed by collectivistic cultures as the source of problems because it creates disharmony within the group (Zhang, 1994). Because numerous studies support the notion that persons of color tend to be more group oriented than their White counterparts (e.g., Asante, 1987; Parham, White, & Ajamu, 1998; Sutton & Broken Nose, 1996; Sue & Sue, 2003), the good life for these individuals may not be achieving personal happiness, but working for the good of the family, group, community or society. Replacing an individualistic perspective with a collectivistic one changes the frame of reference completely. For example, it implies that mental disorders are not necessarily related to subjective discomfort, and therapy may not be directed at its removal. Rather, problematic behaviors are seen as a disharmony or imbalance in people relationships, and clients are encouraged to submerge their individual desires in deference to the group (Sue & Sue, 2003). Thus, worldviews formed from the fabric of cultural values, beliefs, and assumptions affect how African Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians and LatinoHispanic Americans perceive optimal human functioning, A failure to recognize this factor may result in the cultural imposition of one group’s standards on another culturally different group. Likewise, Western psychology has failed to integrate the contributions of Asian psychologies that, unlike their EuroAmerican counterparts, focus more on enlightenment and ideal mental health rather than psychopathology (Walsh & Vaughan, 1993; Walsh, 2001). Many Asian-Buddhist psychologies believe in the existence of different planes of consciousness, experience, or existence. The
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normal state of consciousness is not necessarily viewed as optimal, but rather a psychopathology of the average, and the goal is to attain enlightenment through a higher state of consciousness that enhances perceptual sensitivity, clarity, concentration, sense of identity, and emotional, cognitive, and perceptual liberation. The belief in nonordinary states of consciousness as providing answers to optimal healthy functioning are shared by many people of color such as Puerto Ricans (Ramos-McKay, Comas-Diaz, & Rivera, 1988) and American Indians (Lee & Armstrong, 1995). Unfortunately, Western forms of psychology rely on sensory information defined by the physical plane of reality; as a result, to some people of color, many non-Western conceptualizations are considered supernatural, unhelpful, and outside the realm of science. In response to a call to include Asian psychologies in forming the foundations of positive psychology; for example, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2001) are explicit in their objections unless they are developed from scientific inquiry: “We are, unblushingly, scientists first. The work we seek to support and encourage must be nothing less than replicable, cumulative, and objective. Insofar as humanistic psychology and Buddhist psychology share these premises, they will find us ready allies” (pp. 89–90). We submit that the position taken by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2001) is representative of mainstream psychology and represents a major barrier to accepting the contributions made by other cultures. First, although we also believe in scientific inquiry as one method to seek answers, it is culturally biased in and of itself. Second, most Western scientists seem unaware of the voluminous research literature that indicate the benefits of meditation, yoga, and other forms of altered consciousness techniques that have proven helpful in alleviating distress and enhancing positive growth (Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Kwee, 1990; Walsh, 1995). As long as our profession continues to dismiss the contributions of other cultural groups through our failure to understand our own cultural biases, a psychology of positive human functioning will prove narrow and meaningless to three quarters of the world’s population.
THE SOCIOPOLITICAL DIMENSION OF OPTIMAL HUMAN FUNCTIONING It appears to us that optimal human functioning for people of color is highly correlated with society’s acceptance and valuing of cultural diversity and with its ability to accept and integrate the multitude of life styles that emerge from such differences (Sue, Bingham, Porche-Burke, & Vasquez, 1999). A healthy society through its institutional programs, policies, practices, and structures maximizes optimal human functioning; an unhealthy one oppresses and attempts to destroy its development. When one views the history of persons of color in the United States, it is a history filled with racism, intolerance, oppression, and
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discrimination (Lopez et al., 2002). We cannot emphasize enough the historical and continuing effects of racism on the psyche, life circumstances, and communities of color. History reminds us that we unfairly seized the land of the American Indian people and forced them onto reservations; that we uprooted Africans from their homeland and enslaved them; and that we interned Japanese Americans and took their property as well. Although many believe that the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence laid the groundwork for a healthy society, we are struck by the disparity and hypocrisy between their ideals and practice: The natural and inalienable rights of individuals valued by European and European American societies generally appear to have been intended for European Americans only. How else can European colonization and exploitation of Third World countries be explained? How else can the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands, centuries of enslavement and segregation of African Americans, immigration restrictions on persons of color through history, incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and current English-only language requirements in the United States be explained? These acts have not been perpetrated by a few racist individuals, but by no less than the governments of the North Atlantic cultures… If EuroAmerican ideals include a philosophical or moral opposition to racism, this has often not been reflected in policies and behaviors. (Barongan et al., 1997, p. 654) In their analysis of historical and current oppression of people of color, Sue and Sue (2003) described a process they term, ethnocentric monoculturalism, that they believe is both dysfunctional and unhealthy in a pluralistic society. Persons of color, they conclude, live under an umbrella of individual, institutional, and cultural forces that oftentimes demean, disad-vantage, and deny them equal access and opportunity. Ethnocentric monoculturalism is characterized by (a) belief in the superiority of one group’s cultural heritage (language, arts-crafts, traditions, etc.) over another; (b) belief in the inferiority of others (they are primitive & uncivilized); (c) the power to impose the dominant group’s standards on a less powerful group; (d) the infiltration of ethnocentric values throughout the programs, policies, practices, and institutions of the society; and (e) an invisible veil that operates outside the level of awareness for most citizens. Ethnocentric monoculturalism is analogous to a systemic cancer that stands in direct opposition to the optimal human functioning of persons of color In light of the previous analysis, we draw several major conclusions. First, research reveals that the legacy of racism and historical trauma continues to have profound negative consequences on the health of persons of color (Belcourt-Dittloff & Stewart, 2000; Clark, Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999) and that simply the threat of it (Steele, 1997; Strickland, 2000) can have
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devastating consequences on the well-being of people of color. Second, it is clear that optimal human functioning is intimately related to the healthiness of systemic forces. Thus, to focus on discovering optimal human functioning on an individual basis is to see only half the picture. Third, if indeed the forces of oppression have been so great toward people of color, one wonders how they have been able to survive and, in some cases, flourish so well. The question is an important one because it suggests that (a) different populations of color may possess cultural values that act as protective factors, assets, and resources for them (Lopez et al., 2002); and (b) the struggle to overcome oppression may have resulted in persons of color developing strengths through the adversity process (Hanna, Talley, & Guindon, 2000). Hence, it would seem important for us to explore this latter question in the hopes of discovering another dimension of optimal human functioning.
THE WHITENESS DIMENSION OF OPTIMAL HUMAN FUNCTIONING Several years ago, Sue had a memorable interaction with a White male EuroAmerican colleague. The discussion was over the comparability of Asian American and Black identity development models when he stated; Derald, why are you always talking about cultural differences? When I look at you, I don’t see you as an Asian American at all. You’re no different than me. We’re both Americans. Why can’t we simply relate to one another as human beings? After all, there is only one race in this world. It’s called the human race. Although there is some truth to these statements, they are generally predicated on several invisible and harmful assumptions. First, there is the belief that differences are divisive and that we should seek out and stress our commonalities. On a more subjective level, the people are usually uncomfortable with differences and either pretend they do not exist or deceive themselves into not seeing them. Second, color-blindness is a racially motivated defense because it allows people to appear bias free and to avoid dealing with hidden personal prejudices. Third, being color-blind allows people to use Whiteness as a default and allows these individuals to avoid seeing how their Whiteness may intrude on persons of color. Fourth, many White Americans have conveniently used color-blindness as a means of color denial or, more accurately, power denial. By not recognizing differences associated with race, culture, and ethnicity, White society is essentially allowed to define reality. Although we often associate power with economics and military might, we assert that true power comes from one party’s ability to define reality (Sue,
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2001). Robert Guthrie’s classic book, Even The Rat Was White (1976, 1997) was not only an insightful statement of the bias of White psychology, but asked such a profound question: “Who owns history?” The group that owns history (in this case, White EuroAmericans) and denies alternative realities is the group with the power to oppress. When we are told in the educational literature, for example, that Columbus discovered America, we perpetrate an ethnocentric falsehood that has damaging consequences on Native Americans who live a different reality. The irony of this process is that Whites were also damaged without their knowledge. Not only was their sense of reality compromised, but also they unwittingly became accomplices in the oppression of others (Sue, in press). What, however, does this have to do with optimal human functioning? There are several major implications to what can be called “the deception of Whiteness as a universal identity.” First, and foremost, is our contention that the invisibility of Whiteness perpetrates the use of a common standard syndrome in defining optimal human functioning. Our theories of human development, for example, all seem to equate individuation as healthy development; imply that maturity is equated with autonomy; and suggest that self-determinism and choice are goals to the good life (Sue, Ivey, & Pedersen, 1996). Many of us now realize that these White EuroAmerican standards of healthy functioning are culturally biased and that many culturally different groups value interdependence rather than independence. Thus, we must be very cautious to balance universal (etic) with culture specific (emic) findings related to optimal human functioning. It is highly possible that some groups may not perceive autonomy and freedom of choice as the sole desirable qualities of human development. Second, the invisibility of Whiteness is most visible to persons of color. Whiteness is often a form of propaganda that defines problems and their solutions, not only for the majority group, but for people of color as well (Hanna et al. 2000). It does this by mimicking the norms of fairness, justice, and equity by whiting out differences and perpetuating the belief in sameness. “Everyone should feel, think, and believe in the same thing. If you don’t, there is something wrong with you.” Historically, for example, attempts were made to convince enslaved African Americans that slavery was better than freedom, that the incarceration of Japanese Americans was for their protection, and that the placing American Indians on reservations was an attempt to “civilize them.” Attempts to “whitewash” or “brainwash” people of color are often quite successful These individuals may come to believe in their own inferiority, for example, or to experience such apprehensions related to stereotypes that they radically affect their ability to perform optimally (Steele, 1997; Strickland, 2000). We have discerned, however, something quite remarkable concerning the resiliency and powers of perception of people of color in the face of such oppression: People of color often exhibit what Sternberg (1990), labels “perspicacity.” A trait associated with wisdom, perspicacity is the seeming
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ability to see beyond the obvious or to read between the lines. With regard to race relations, this attribute has led to a saying among many persons of color: “People of color understand White folks better than they understand themselves.” This increased power of observation or insight, we assert, may be a healthy adjustment to their oppression and may represent one dimension of optimal functioning.
STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY: PEOPLE OF COLOR SURVIVING IN THE FACE OF OPPRESSION In addition to the dearth of literature that describes how conceptions of optimal human functioning or well-being may vary across different racial and ethnic groups, there is limited information about how people of color have persevered through adverse conditions related to their racial or ethnic mi-nority status. One such example of adversity facing many people of color in the United States is racism. Many previous studies have investigated the impact of racial discrimination on Black Americans in particular (Feagin, 1991; Krieger, 1990; Krieger & Sidney, 1996;Landrine & Klonoff, 1996), concluding that workplace discrimination was the most common form of oppression perceived by Blacks. In general, experiencing discrimination has been shown to lead to lower levels of mastery and higher levels of psychological distress (Broman, Mavaddat, & Hsu, 2000). The cumulative effects of racism and discrimination are associated with a sense of hopelessness by many people of color and may negatively affect their subjective well-being (Thomas & Hughes, 1986). The struggle of managing racial slights and experiencing persistent acts of discrimination can undermine the resilience of some people of color, leading to the deterioration of their ability to cope (Franklin & Boyd-Franklin, 2000). Various socioeconomic issues may also play a role in the well-being of many people of color. For example, several studies have examined the effects of poverty on the well-being of people of color. Poverty has been found to contribute to chronic anxiety and stress and limitations on the quality of life (Duran & Duran, 1995; Lupien, King, Meaney, & McEwen, 2001). Moreover, the combination of environmental stressors, unplanned events, and daily frustrations associated with living in poverty engender a low sense of personal control over the destiny of many people of color (Fryer, 1988). The relentlessness of problems such as crime, inadequate housing, environmental hazards, and illness place poor families in a constant state of stress and heighten the collective stress of some communities of color (Williams & Lawler, 2001). Despite the difficult life circumstances described previously for many people of color in the United States, such experiences may serve as a means of building character, resilience, and determination in these individuals (e.g., Constantine,
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1999; D’ Andrea, 1999). In fact, there are many people of color who have found inspiration and personal enlightenment from adverse situations related to their racial or ethnic group membership. Furthermore, despite the adversity they experience, some people of color continue to have positive conceptions of themselves and, subsequently, high levels of well-being (Utsey, Ponterotto, Reynolds, & Cancelli, 2000). For example, Crocker, Luhtanen, Blaine, and Broadnax (1994) explored the nature of collective self-esteem (i.e., the degree to which individuals evaluate their social or cultural groups positively) in Asian, Black, and White college students. They found that collective self-esteem was a significant predictor of psychological adjustment and that Black college students, in particular, seem able to separate how they privately feel about their group from how they believe others may evaluate them. This separation between public and private evaluations may represent an important survival strategy for Black Americans because of the prejudice and discrimination they face in the United States. An interdependent cultural value orientation also exists in the extended family structure of many African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans as a source of both psychological and instrumental support for dealing with adversity (e.g., Constantine, Wilton, Gainor & Lewis (2002); Mays, Caldwell, & Jackson, 1996; Utsey, Adams, & Bolden, 2000). According to Bowman (1992), extended family systems, strong spiritual beliefs, and ethnic pride serve as sources of personal empowerment for many African Americans; and these variables frequently act as cultural resources that may facilitate coping schemata and cognitive strategies and motivate adaptive responses. Such resources may greatly enable some individuals of color to adjust their outlooks and subjective interpretations of their environment in the face of adversity or hardship.
THE ROLES OF CULTURAL VALUES IN PROMOTING OPTIMAL HUMAN FUNCTIONING There are numerous cultural values that may aid people of color in dealing with adverse circumstances related to their racial or ethnic group. Because various racial and ethnic groups in the United States exhibit different value orientations than White Americans (Carter, 1991), such values are vital to consider when identifying aspects of optimal human functioning. Many variables influence the expression of cultural values, including social class, cultural or racial identity, sex, education, generational status in the United States, socioeconomic status and mobility, and acculturation (Carter; Constantine, Gloria, & Barón, in press; Thomason, 2000). Furthermore, it is important to recognize that between- and within-group differences in cultural values may exist (Carter, 1991).
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The focus on individual achievements and self-determination (Ryan & Deci, 2000) in definitions of optimal functioning resonate strongly with individualistic American cultural values. People from predominantly individualistic cultures tend to view and understand themselves in terms of having the stable traits and characteristics across social contexts. This perspective contrasts with more collectivistic values and worldviews (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), wherein individuals may subjugate their personal goals for the sake of the group or conform to social expectations. Although they may not be “happy” as defined by Western standards, their behavior may be consonant with optimal human functioning within the parameters of collectivistic cultures (Diener, 2000). In addition, the internal cognitive focus that characterizes optimal functioning in Western cultures may not be compatible with the cultural values and worldviews characterized by external loci of control found in many collectivistic cultures. Moreover, prescriptions for improved psychological functioning often assume that clients possess values that are consonant with Western individualism and neglect the variations of human experiences and mental health. A construct that is often tied to well-being in the United States is that of selfesteem. For years, the construct of self-esteem has been largely conceptualized from individualistic perspectives. However, such perspectives may offer very limited views of individuals’ self-concepts, particularly persons from more collectivistic cultures (e.g., Asians, Blacks, & Latinos). Theoretical frameworks regarding the notion of self-esteem have generally ignored the possibilities of group or collective effects on the development of self-esteem (Ethier & Deaux, 1990). Collective self-esteem may hold as much importance as personal selfesteem in many people’s lives. In addition, optimal human functioning is often discussed in terms of cognitive and emotional processes, but such foci tend to exclude conceptions of well-being as related to the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. For example, in Chinese medicine, well-being is a function of the balance between masculine and feminine energies, yin and yang, in terms of nutrition and loci of energies in the body. In addition, the construct of optimism (Peterson, 2000) may not be characteristic of well-being in Buddhist cultures, where present suffering is part of life and exists in retribution for past life transgressions. It is also important to note that Western conceptions of optimal human functioning may be erroneously applied to immigrants in this country. For example, many immigrants in the United States conceive wellbeing in terms of the interconnection of mind, body, and spirit and employ more circular etiologies in describing distress (Sue & Sue, 1999). The interconnection of mind, body, and spirit is also discussed in the literature pertaining to African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans (e.g., Clark et al., 1999; Constantine et al., 2002; Duran & Duran, 1995; Gilbert, 2002). Hence, it is vital to consider cultural value differences in how people of color in the United States may define mental
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health. For example, although American Indians vary according to tribe, level of acculturation, and other personal characteristics, the process of attaining psychological well-being for many traditional American Indians involves confession, acts of atonement, restorations into the good graces of the family and tribe, and the intersection with the spirit world (LaFromboise, Trimble, & Mohatt, 1990), Furthermore, many American Indians believe that their psychological or physical problems can be attributed to human weaknesses and the propensity to avoid the personal decline necessary to maintaining cultural values and community respect. American Indians’ well-being must also be considered in the context of the community (Garrett, 1999; Pilisuk, 2001).That is, problems of an individual within the American-Indian community become problems of the entire community. The family and friends form a network to observe the individual, understand the individual’s behavior, draw the individual out of isolation, and integrate the individual back into the social life of the group (LaFromboise, 1988). Strong social and symbolic bonds exist among the extended family network that is important to maintaining the well-being of a member within that community. In the context of community structures, religion, and spirituality have been particularly salient for many people of color through their histories in the United States, For example, the Black church, one of many manifestations of AfricanAmerican spirituality (Constantine, Lewis, Conner, & Sanchez, 2000), represents a social, psychological, political, familial, and healing institution for African Americans (McRae, Thompson, & Cooper, 1999). In addition, among many American Indian, Asian American, and Latino ethnic groups, religion and spirituality may serve vital roles in their overall well-being (e.g., Constantine et al., 2002; Garrett & Wilbur, 1999; Roland, 1991; Shimabukuro, Daniels, & D’Andrea, 1999; Tan & Dong, 2000). Thus, it is important that mental health professionals consider the roles that religion and spirituality might play for people of color with regard to addressing experiences related to cultural oppression.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIELD OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY Clients of color often possess values and worldviews that are different from those of their counselors (Sue & Sue, 1999). Without understanding these clients’ values, counselors may not be in a position to adequately assess the optimal human functioning or well-being of clients of color. Defining optimal human functioning or well-being without considering cultural issues and variables that relate to the experiences of people of color poses cause for concern. Hence, current definitions of positive psychology and optimal hu-man
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functioning must take into consideration how clients of color view themselves within cultural contexts. Applications of current mainstream conceptualizations of positive psychology and well-being may compromise the delivery of culturallycompetent mental health services. In neglecting culturally-inclusive conceptions of optimal mental health and functioning, applied psychologists risk pathologizing clients of color when encouraging the use of coping strategies that are native to White EuroAmerican communities and cultures (Sue & Sue, 1999). Because empirical research related to optimal human functioning is limited in that prior samples were largely comprised of Caucasians and individuals born in America, the applicability of such findings to people of color is limited (Sue, 1999). Efforts to include people of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds could provide salient data about experiences of well-being outside of White Americans and potentially expand the current parameters of positive psychology (Diener, 2000). For example, research on subjective well-being across racial and ethnic groups with consideration of indigenous coping strategies and racial or ethnic identity issues may inform varied conceptions of optimal human functioning. Applied psychologists must also be able to recognize the cultural assumptions that are built into conceptualizations of positive psychology and optimal human functioning that may result in characterizing the emotional lives of cultural others as “dysfunctional” It will be important to reconstruct wellbeing conceptualizations in ways that make them more useful for cross-cultural theory, research, and practice. Thus, it is important that theoreticians, researchers, and clinicians identify and examine both stated and unstated assumptions about the nature of emotion and human behavior in people of color to avoid what cultural anthropologists call “ethnocentric fallacies” (Brown, 1997). Ethnocentric fallacies may occur when mental health providers, for example, fail to recognize when clients possess different values from them and, subsequently, find fault with their coping styles or ways of being. Cultural constructions of optimal functioning that emphasize the interconnection of mind, body, and spirit can also help applied psychologists to look outside the “Western box of psychopathology” in relation to the experiences and behaviors of people of color. In addition, applied psychologists should recognize that clients of color might respond best in helping relationships if therapists were willing and able to explore the intersections between their emotional needs and cultural values.
SUMMARY Definitions of optimal human functioning are culturally bound and often do not adequately address the values, experiences, and realities of people of color. In understanding optimal human functioning and well-being among people of
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color, it is imperative to consider their sociopolitical histories, experiences of racial discrimination, and cultural values and worldviews. It is also beneficial to understand well-being from various cultural lenses because these perspectives may provide mental health providers with increased opportunities to understand individuals within their cultural contexts.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Correspondence concerning this chapter should be addressed to Derald Wing Sue, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W. 120th St., Box 36, New York, NY 10027. Email:
[email protected]
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7 Toward a Positive Psychotherapy: Focus on Human Strength Charles J.Gelso and Susan Woodhouse University of Maryland
As has been evident throughout this book, the field of counseling psychology, from its inception, has been deeply invested in concept of the psychological strengths and assets of people. Attention to strengths is nowhere more clear than in Super’s (1955) early distinction between hygeiology and psychopathology. In distinguishing counseling from clinical psychology, and in the process clarifying the difference between hygeiology and psychopathology, Super offered the admittedly oversimplified view that clinicians tend to look for what is wrong and how to treat it, whereas counseling psychologists look for what is right and how to help use it (Super, 1977). This focus on assets and strengths has been one of the key unifying themes of counseling psychology throughout its life (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). At the same time, over the years counseling psychologists have seldom addressed how this philosophical stance is to be translated into counseling treatments, and in fact have done little empirically or theoretically to advance knowledge of well functioning. Indeed, Gelso and Fassinger (1992), in their Centennial Series article on the interrelations of counseling, personality, and developmental psychology, have viewed attention to healthy aspects of human functioning as counseling psychology’s unfulfilled promise. These authors were referring to lack of theoretical or empirical efforts by counseling psychologists on the topic, one that is so close to their very identity. As indicated, we would
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also add that little has been done on how atten-tion to strengths may be implemented in our conceptualization of and therapeutic action with clients. The ways in which this may be implemented is the focus of this chapter.
IT WAS NOT ALWAYS SO: HISTORICAL ATTENTION TO THE POSITIVE Neglect of the positive in our theory, research, and practice has not been uniform throughout our history. Indeed, there was a period during which conceptions of positive mental health and human strengths were developing at a fast pace. For about a 15–20 year span, beginning in the late 1950s, scholars and practitioners sought to develop a psychology of the positive. This effort was witnessed powerfully by the work of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Mental Health (1961). Jahoda’s (1958) comment on this work is worth noting: We commonly use “mental health” as a term interchangeable with “mental illness,” in the same euphemistic way that “public health” generally refers to the prevention or control of disease by mass methods. The behavioral scientists who have joined the mental health team and are making increasingly important contributions to the mental health movement have expressed dissatisfaction with a primary focus on “sick behavior.” They argue that a new and broader perspective is needed if interest in mental health, as a positive force, is to be made conceptually clear and practically useful, (p. ix) During this time period, several conceptions of high level functioning were offered; for example, Rogers’ (1962) fully functioning person, Allport’s (1963) mature personality, Heath’s (1964) reasonable adventurer, and Maslow’s (1970) self-actualized person. Counseling psychologists paid close attention to these models and conducted empirical and theoretical work of their own (Gelso & Fassinger, 1992). For example, at an empirical level, Foreman (1966) was able to differentiate students with optimal psychological health, called “zestfuls,” from those with normal mental health. Theoretically, Blocher (1966, 1974) attempted to create a psychology of human effectiveness. He theorized five qualities that characterized effective personalities: consistency, commitment, control, competence, and creativity. During that time period, the human potential movement was in full swing. Phrases such as “make love, not war” and “rehabilitate rather than incarcerate” were often heard. No doubt, complex social-cultural-eco-nomic factors were at the root of this movement toward the positive. Such factors were also the likely culprits in the movement coming to an end. The post-Vietnam cynicism along
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with a major economic downturn ushered in a far more conservative era. Positive mental health and attention to human strengths slowly faded from much of the consciousness of psychology. The current scene, however, reflects a recapitulation of the positive. A focus on the positive is emerging throughout psychology (see the American Psychologist, 2000, Vol. 55, No. 1) and in mental-health fields outside of psychology. This movement is also evident within the area of psychological intervention. Newer therapies have emerged that focus very deliberately on the positive qualities in the client. Examples of such therapies are hope therapy (Lopez, Floyd, Ulven, & Snyder, 2000), positive psychotherapy (Peseschkian, 1990), and approaches resting on constructivist philosophy, such as narrative therapy and solution-focused therapy (see Prochaska & Norcross, 1999). Each of these approaches deserves attention from practitioners and researchers. Each may have something to offer, but at this juncture all of them lack empirical scrutiny or, in fact, theoretical analysis from scholars outside of the circles of each theory. Just as in the earlier time period noted previously, a complex network of social-cultural-economic forces likely underlies this renaissance of the positive. Ironically, the managed care phenomenon may be one such force. The view that human beings have potential to change quickly is part of the managed care orientation toward brief treatments. Another force may be that of multiculturalism in the United States. It seems to us that an inherent part of the multiculturalism movement is the view that diversity should be celebrated, and that we ought to pay close attention to the strengths and positive aspects of diverse cultures and peoples (Sue, 1999). Too often, diversity has instead been pathologized.
THE POSITIVE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY In this chapter, we seek to articulate how the positive may be usefully attended to in individual psychotherapy. We begin by examining in summary fashion how this is typically done (and not done) within the three major theory clusters that have been extensively scrutinized, both theoretically and empirically: cognitive-behavioral, humanistic-experiential, and psychoanalytic– psychodynamic (see Gelso & Fretz, 2001, for elaboration of these summaries). We then offer specific suggestions of how strengths may be usefully addressed in therapy, in terms of both conceptualization of the client and actual counseling activities. In doing so, our theoretical leanings as psychodynamically-oriented therapists will be evident. We conclude this chapter with a discussion of needed research on the positive in psychotherapy. Each theoretical orientation possesses and furthers a certain vision of psychological health and well functioning. Each also has a vision of how
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strengths are to be addressed during treatment. At times, these visions are clearly spelled out, although more often than not they are implicit and vague. The Cognitive-Behavioral Vision In virtually all therapies that are cognitive and behavioral, psychological strength and well functioning are signified by efficient and effective behavior and cognition, and by what may be called adaptive coping. On the negative side, strength is signified by the absence of symptomatic behavior, for example, social phobias. During the therapy process, strengths are attended to and developed in myriad ways. The prototypic way, however, is that of therapist support and reinforcement in response to the client. For example, when the cognitivebehavior therapist observes desired behavior or cognition, the therapist usually responds verbally in a reinforcing manner. In such an instance, this desired behavior or cognition is seen as the strength. Thus, the strength is responded to directly with reinforcement. Also, attention is given to the range of ways in which the client may reinforce him or herself. However, although there are exceptions, little systematic attention is given in cognitive-behavioral therapy theory to how the therapist is to conceptualize and work with, or build upon, existing strengths. Also, the cognitive-behavioral therapist may be just as focused on pathology as therapists of any persuasion. The mere predominance of a positive orientation in response to the client (e.g., support and positive reinforcement) says little if anything about how or whether the therapist should work with existing strengths in the client. For example, much cognitivebehavioral work currently focuses on the treatment and remediation of disorders (e.g., social phobias), and such work is usually very clearly oriented toward remediation of these disorders without any particular attention to or incorporation of clients’ strengths into the treatment. The Humanistic-Experiential Vision Within this general theoretical cluster, well functioning, or strength, is indicated by client awareness and congruence, where the latter is meant to sig-nify a symmetry between inner, organismic experience and both one’s self concept and outer expressions. Thus, the person is aware of his or her inner experiencing and is all of a piece, and the parts of the self are integrated rather than polarized. The person does not place conditions of worth on him or herself, but rather is high on self-acceptance. One’s inherent actualizing tendency, or the tendency toward actualizing one’s potentials, is not blocked, but instead is free to express itself. Emphasis on the positive is also seen in the humanist’s abiding belief in the fundamental trustworthiness of human beings, a quality that will actualize if the
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growing child’s interpersonal environment provides sufficient unconditional positive regard, empathy, and love. In therapy, attention to the positive, and to the positive potential of the individual, is perhaps best reflected in the deep nondirectiveness of the personcentered therapist (Bozarth, 1997). The therapist follows the client’s lead and trusts that if the therapist establishes conditions of empathy, positive regard, and genuineness the client has the internal potential to move in an actualizing direction. This reflects a profound trust in the inner strength of the client. The client does not need the therapist’s direction, reinforcement, or interpretations to grow. The inner actualizing tendency moves the client toward growth if only the therapist provides the proper emotional climate in the work. Despite the humanistic therapist’s obvious faith in the individual’s inner capacity for growth, and the positive ambience the therapist seeks to create, left unaddressed are the specific ways in which the therapist might foster or, especially, build on strengths. When one scrutinizes the behavior of the personcentered, gestalt, or experiential therapist, it is difficult to differentiate what activities seek to build on strengths or how this is gone about. The Psychoanalytic-Psychodynamic Vision Although there is a multiplicity of theories within this broad theory cluster that are in many ways divergent, there are also certain ties that bind the theories. As regards well functioning or psychological strength, if there is one quality that signifies these, we would offer that it is psychological insight. The emotionally healthy person possesses insight into his or her functioning, and thus is less likely to be driven by unconscious processes and defenses against anxiety. It is generally understood that there are four broad systems under the psychoanalyticpsychodynamic umbrella (Gelso & Fretz, 2001), and each has its own vision of human strength. For example, psychological health for the Freudian drive psychologist might may be viewed as minimal conflict between id, ego, and super ego; for the ego psychologist, health is reflected in a strong and flexible ego. For the object relations theorist, human strength is seen as healthy internalized objects and good interpersonal relations; and for the psychoanalytic self psychologists health is viewed as high self-esteem and, moreover, a well functioning self. At the same time, insightfulness is one ingredient that all of these theories share as a symbol of strength and health and as a stimulus to further effectiveness. As for treatment within the psychoanalytic-psychodynamic perspective, there has been an historical tendency to ignore people’s strengths, and instead to pay very close attention to psychopathology, even in relatively well-functioning people. This was certainly the case for many decades, and it the fundamental reason that Gelso and Fretz (2001) considered counseling psychology and psychoanalysis to be “strange bedfellows” historically. At the same time,
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significant changes have occurred in recent decades within the psychoanalytic persuasion (Gelso & Hayes, 1998). The ego psychology that emerged in the middle of the twentieth century (Hartmann, 1939/1958), and has been a key theory since then, pays much attention to humans’ adaptive capacities. In particular, the emergence of psychoanalytic self-psychology (Doctors, 1996; Kohut, 1977) has been significant in terms of attention to human strengths. Even a construct as pathology-oriented as narcissism has been recast so as to reflect emotionally healthy functioning, as well as psychopathology. Despite these changes, it is difficult to find a literature within psychoanalytic-psychodynamic theory that addresses how strengths are to be attended to and built on in therapy. Wachtel’s (1993) work has been a notable exception, and will be highlighted in our formulations of how therapists may attend to and build on client strengths. In the next two sections of this chapter, we spell out ways in which attention to the positive—to the client’s assets and strengths—may be addressed in individual psychotherapy. Our focus pertains to (a) how the therapist may conceptualize the client and his or her dynamics in a way that takes strengths into account centrally, and (b) what the therapist actually does in treatment that makes use of and builds on the client’s strengths. We first address attention to strengths in conceptualization and then examine the therapist’s actual enactments with the client. Although we treat conceptualization and enactment as separate entities, we are sharply aware that the two are closely interrelated. There is a deep synergy between them, as conceptualization leads to and is affected by enactment. Our premise in discussing the use of strengths in case conceptualization and treatment is this: Despite the fact that psychotherapy, by its very nature, must address what needs to be remedied in the client—is importantly remedial—there can be a usefully positive thrust in the work. Such an emphasis will result in client gains that would not be otherwise realized.
CONCEPTUALIZING THE CLIENT AND THE CLIENT’S STRENGTHS The Questions to Ask We believe that it is useful to consider clients’ strengths deliberately and to spell out these strengths in case conceptualization. Just how these strengths are framed naturally has much to do with the therapist’s theory of the person and of treatment. Examples of some key questions to address as part of client conceptualization are as follows: • In what areas of life does the client do well? This is an overarching question that orients the therapist to psychological strengths.
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• What are the client’s internal-psychological assets. As with the first question, this is a general orienting question. It focuses the therapist on internal qualities that are effective for the client. • Regarding ego strength, how adaptable is the client? What is his or her ability to observe himself or herself and be reasonable about psychological processes? How effectively does the client cope with stress? In psychoanalytic theories of ego development, these questions reflect key functions of the ego. • Similarly, what is the client’s capacity for self-insight? As noted previously, insight is a key indicator of well functioning in all psychoanalytic theories. • What are the client’s relationship strengths? It is important to assess the ways in which the client functions effectively in a variety of kinds of relationships (e.g., friendships, romantic relationships). • What are the clients vocational-career strengths and assets? The career aspect of human strength is often ignored in psychotherapy, but is a vital aspect of well functioning. Of course, Freud gave work a central place in psychological well-being, and his view of work and love as the two fundamental aspects of human functioning has been endorsed by many over the years, • What social supports does the client have? The previous questions pertain largely to internal or intrapsychic matters. Social support, however, relate to strengths in the client’s environment. Of course, the supports one has are to an important extent determined by internal factors (e.g., skills, motivation, empathic ability). However, at times one’s social supports are not self generated, but instead are determined by outside factors (e.g., the family one is born into, the supportiveness of one’s work environment). As is evident, these questions are the flip side of the questions usually asked in therapy. Asking them in a positive manner helps orient therapists toward clients’ strengths. We do not believe that this is usually done, even in university counseling centers, which appear to have moved ever closer to a psychopathology model of case conceptualization in recent years. We note that not all of the previous questions need be addressed in a given case, but instead the questions should be tailored to the individual client. Questions such as these may be asked either through the interview (e.g., therapy, assessment) or through psychological testing. Because conceptualizing the client is always an ongoing matter, most questions such as these are asked as part of therapy. However, at times psychological testing is done to answer questions. Unfortunately, most psychological tests that are used in therapy address psychopathology much more than strength and health. At the same time, tests that have been traditionally favored by counseling psychologists do assess personality without focusing of pathology. Examples of these are the Strong Interest Inventory, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and the California Personality Inventory. With some notable exceptions, however, there is a great
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need for measures that assess actual positive features; for example, the strengths reflected in the questions noted previously. In addition to considering the strengths the client possesses in general, it is useful to assess strengths as in-session phenomena. For example, what aspects of the treatment process does the client do well in? Gestalt exercises? Free Association? Homework assignments? Is the client able to form a working alliance with the therapist? Can the client observe herself or himself during at least parts of the treatment hour? Does the client have the capacity to experience affect? Conversely, does the client have the ability to maintain some degree of control of affects and impulses? Clinical experience suggests that in-session strengths reflect the client’s dynamics more generally, and thus paying attention to such strengths is an extremely useful way of comprehending dynamics. For example, the ability to enact gestalt exercises, such as the two-chair technique (Greenberg, 1983), may be seen as a strength, for it calls on the client to experience and express considerable spontaneity, and it also reflects a high degree of trust in the therapist. Both spontaneity and trust in the therapy hour and the therapeutic relationship reflect internal dynamics in the client. Similarly, the ability to enter into a relationship and a working alliance with the therapist reflects client strengths and underlying relational dynamics. In fact, such in-session qualities may in part be seen as markers of client growth. For example, the first author has worked with several clients for whom the ability to enact gestalt exercises such as the two-chair technique is a clear sign of growth during treatment. These clients were unable to enact the two sides of an internal conflict, as required by the technique, early in treatment, but later were able to make use of this oftenpowerful technique as they developed greater trust and internal strength. Strengths in Hidden Places When conceptualizing clients from the vantage point of strengths, it is important that we not cover up problems and deficits, for doing so will result in superficial gains that, in our view, are unlikely to be durable. Ignoring deficit, while putting a positive spin on everything, does not yield a positive psychotherapy. Rather, it creates a naïve psychotherapy, at best, and a duplicitous therapy at worst. At the same time, clinical experience also suggests a paradox. That is, some strengths will tend to look like deficits and, similarly, strengths are often embedded in vulnerabilities (one being the flip side of the other, so to speak). Next we provide examples of such paradoxes drawn from our own clinical experience. An example of a strength embedded in a vulnerability is seen in the client who is defensively overintellectualized and obsessive, but who also possesses an ability to think through problems and to use his or her intellect in the service of self-understanding as well as defense. In this case, the strength may be seen as embedded in a defense or a defensive personality style, often referred to as the
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obsessive personality or character (e.g., Shapiro, 1989, pp. 29–33). It is important, in this case, that the strength be appreciated by the therapist (see case example in treatment section) and that the client be aided in using this strength to understand and work through the very defensive system in which it is embedded. A second example of a strength that is part of a vulnerability is seen in the female client who had been sexually abused as a child. The anxiety driven hyper-vigilance that likely results from such trauma may also be part of a deep awareness of others, their motives, issues, and defenses. With some therapeutic help, this defense (hyper-vigilance) may be turned into a major asset. The client may become unusually empathic, possessing an ability to empathically understand the inner world of other human beings. A third example frequently seen in our work is the emotional expressiveness that is often embedded in a histrionic personality style or disorder. The selfdramatization that is part of this disorder is driven by defense, and yet the ability to be expressive is a strength that may also aid growth in therapy. For example, such expressiveness allows histrionic clients to effectively make use of the gestalt two-chair technique referred to earlier and, more generally, to share feelings as the emerge into awareness. Similarly, for therapists who use free association techniques, the histrionic client does free association more effectively than most. A final example that is salient for both of us pertains to humor and its role and uses in psychotherapy. For both therapist and client, it is well known that humor may be used defensively in therapy. It shields both participants from painful insights and affects, and in the process serves the purpose of resistance rather than understanding. At the same time, a sense of humor is a great strength in both the therapist and the client. On the client’s side, it often eases emotional pain in a way that facilitates facing difficult issues. In addition, it also facilitates the participants in forming a therapeutic alliance, including what may be referred to as a positive real relationship (Gelso & Hayes, 1998). Therapist Empathy and the Client’s Cultural Background Empathy on the part of the therapist has been considered a key element of psychotherapy, both in terms of developing the therapeutic relationship and fostering effective outcomes (Bohart & Greenberg, 1997). Empathy may be seen as a communication skill or as a quality that allows the therapist to understand deeply the client’s internal experience. It is in this latter manner that we use the term. To clarify further, we conceptualize empathy in terms of a partial, vicarious identification with the client and his or her internal world. Thus, the therapist is able to see and experience the world as the client does, if only partially and vicariously. It is important that the identification not be too great or too close to total, for if this occurs the therapist loses his or her own identity, and
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the empathic process becomes corrupted, resulting in unmanaged countertransference problems (Gelso & Hayes, 2002). Empathy, as we have just identified it, is perhaps the most potent tool available to the therapist to understand the client deeply, and to thus conceptualize the client’s strengths. We should also note a facet of empathy that is all too rarely emphasized. That is, empathic ability in the client is also a major strength in itself, and with some clients, empathy may be used as an outcome variable. This is especially so with narcissistically disturbed clients (see Kohut, 1971, 1984), who often have a deficit in the ability to empathically understand others, which is a key element in their psychopathology. Thus, the development of empathic ability is a clear sign of progress in the treatment of such clients, and a clear sign of emerging strength, as well In conceptualizing clients’ strengths, the role of culture needs to be taken into account because, to an important extent, culture mediates the meaning and expression of strengths. The concept of ambition, which may be seen as a strength in many individuals, might exemplify this point. Ambition may look different, and its ultimate aim may be different, depending on the client’s cultural background. Thus, for the client from a cultural background that celebrates the family, the aim of ambition may be to enhance the family’s status and well-being. In addition, ambition may be expressed through effective cooperation with others. On the other hand, the aim of ambition may be to enhance the self in more individualistic cultures, and the expression of ambition may be through more competitive actions. In seeking to understand the client’s strengths from a cultural perspective, therapist empathy is a key factor. Although the term, empathy, itself is not used, examination of the multicultural literature suggests that empathy is a key element of multicultural competence. For example, in Sue’s (2001) recent model, therapist empathy appears to us to be a deep, if unnamed, element of the principles for achieving individual cultural competence. We have been examining how client strengths may be incorporated into the therapist’s case conceptualizations. We now turn to the question of how the client’s strengths may be addressed and capitalized on by the therapist in the process of therapy.
THE THERAPIST’S ENACTMENTS Most clients come in for treatment when they are having problems, and much of the work that is done in therapy is remedial in nature. Conceptualizations of the client’s strengths have a tendency to get lost in the nitty gritty work of therapy, where client problems easily take center stage. How can therapists hang on to what they know of client strength and incorporate that knowledge into what they actually do and say with clients? This question is particularly salient for the majority of clinicians who are not specifically aligned with the newer
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therapeutic orientations that focus deliberately on client strength, such as hope therapy (Lopez et al., 2000), narrative therapy, or solution-focused therapy (see Prochaska & Norcross, 1999). In the next section, we will discuss a variety of ways in which therapists can explicitly point out client strengths to support client change. (Please note that unless otherwise noted, each case presented next involves a client who was either known to or seen by one of the authors, or was seen by a supervisee.) Pointing Out Strengths Therapists can help clients build on strengths by explicitly noting strengths. Other than a chapter by Wachtel (1993), very little has been written offering guidance and ideas to clinicians about how to comment on client strengths in such a way as to promote therapeutic progress. We have been heavily influenced by Wachtel’s work, and incorporate it extensively in this section. There are number of ways that therapists can assist clients in furthering exploration and insight through commenting on strengths. An example might be the use of confrontations of the client that are based in client strengths, rather than based in client deficits. A suggestive study done by Mitchell and Berenson (1970) found that therapists who were rated as being high in accurate empathy, positive regard or warmth, genuineness or openness, and concreteness were also judged by independent raters as significantly more likely to use confrontations based on client strengths. Therapists rated low on accurate empathy, positive regard or warmth, genuineness or openness, and concreteness were significantly more likely to emphasize client weaknesses. More research could be done in this area to further explore the use of strength-based confrontation empirically. At any rate, simply pointing out client strengths may at times be very helpful to clients. Take as an example a counseling center client who came in because she was having trouble adjusting to college life and making friends as a 1st year student. This young woman had chosen to go to school far from home, and had lost regular contact with her network of high school friends and family. Furthermore, a campus housing shortage left her in an unusually isolated living situation. When the counselor pointed out the good social skills that she had been able to take advantage of in high school, the client was able to begin to explore the external and internal factors that were contributing to what the counselor and client dubbed “forgetting her social skills.” By using this phrase, the counselor and client were affirming the strong social skills the client had, even though at the moment they did not feel accessible to the client. Sometimes therapists notice that strengths in their clients are not yet fully developed. When a client shows a nascent strength in therapy, the therapist can comment on the strength, perhaps even as if it were fully present. The client can then take credit for the strength and begin to explore what it feels like to show that strength. We are not suggesting that therapists provide a distorted view of
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the clients’ strengths, but rather that therapists can react to the nascent strengths in a way that appropriately reflects and magnifies them. For example, one client felt that he could not express ex-pectations in his relationships with others. Nevertheless, after the therapist noted a period of flatness in the session, he was able to tentatively express a wish for the therapist to challenge him more on topics he was tending to avoid. The therapist then asked him what it was like for him to express an expectation in this relationship. This recognition that he had indeed shown the capacity to do something he felt impossible surprised the client, and led to further exploration. Wachtel (1993) pointed out that to build on clients’ strengths it is important to comment on small steps in the right direction. He gave an example of a woman who had come in to therapy with problems in dating men. The therapist had noted that the client tended to be very disparaging with the men she dated. When the client described an occasion on which she was assertive with a man without being disparaging, the therapist commented, I notice you didn’t say to him that you earned more than he did, only that you earned a good living. I think that’s important to notice, because it’s an instance of where you communicated clearly, directly, and yet without threatening him or being excessively competitive, (p. 117) The goal was to build on the capacity she had shown to communicate more effectively, without neglecting to explore the ways in which the client communicated with men. Sometimes clients will not show many examples of positive qualities or capacities, and at those times it may feel difficult to hold on to the conceptualization of the clients’ strengths. The therapist may be willing to comment on small steps in the right direction, but little apparent progress has been made. Wachtel (1993) suggested that at such times the therapist may need to pay attention to the small variations that can exist in a pattern. The therapist can wait until the client shows at least some small change for the better and then comment on this change, wondering with the client what enabled this (small) shift to happen. For example, a client neglected as a child and raped twice as an adolescent, tended to experience a dissociative state whenever she was asked to attend to her feelings. This pattern began to slowly shift as the therapist commented on minor variations she noticed from session to session in the client’s capacity to remain present with her emotions. Once in a while, the client would be able to stay with her feelings for a few moments, and the therapist could explore with her what had made it easier or possible for her to experience her emotions. Over time, the capacity to experience her inner world grew. At times, the therapist may need to wait and watch for signs of strength. Signs of strength will not always be manifested in new positive behaviors. At times, strengths may be shown in avoiding old negative behaviors. Wachtel
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(1993) gave an excellent example of a client who called her therapist and asked if she could have a session earlier in the week because she was feeling very upset. The therapist, realizing the client was not in an emergency, and aware of this client’s tendency toward manipulation, decided not to change the session time. At the next session, the client reported that she had been so upset because of problems in her marriage and had felt she was probably going to have a fight with her husband. However, after telephoning the therapist, she had not argued with her husband that night, though she did the next day. This fight was foremost in the client’s mind at the next session, but rather than focus on it, the therapist instead asked her, “What helped you not to fight with him on [the first] night?” (p. 115). Wachtel went on to describe the exploration that emerged from this question. However, the important point is that the therapist’s question asked the client to reflect on the fact that she had been able to control herself, allowing her to build on this nascent strength. Wachtel (1993) suggested that it is important for therapists not to reinforce clients’ negative views of themselves by making comments that imply that a particular difficulty is a static characteristic of the client. He emphasized that how clinicians communicate with clients has a very real effect on whether clients believe that change is possible for themselves. He gave an example of a client who was frequently silent. The therapist said, “You seem to have difficulty talking.” Wachtel suggested the alternative, “Sometimes you talk more easily than at other times” (p. 112), and pointed out that this statement allows the therapist to address the client’s pattern of behavior and invites the client to reflect on that pattern, while at the same time noting that there are times when the client is able to talk much more readily. This alternative comment allows the dyad to consider the pattern and examine the conditions that make it easier or harder, while allowing for the possibility of change based in strengths already present in the client. Wachtel (1993) pointed out that sometimes therapists inhibit client progress by focusing on defensive patterns that persist even as the client is beginning to show some change. A comment focused on the defense may actually reinforce the defense, and communicate to the client his or her efforts to move beyond the defense are not appreciated. Clients may even feel discouraged by the impression that the defensive processes are too strong for them to ever overcome. For example, the client mentioned earlier who had difficulty feeling her emotions, after having had a few moments of contact with her feelings might have felt discouraged if the therapist had fo-cused her comments on how the client was nevertheless still defensively shutting down after feeling some emotion. It may be more helpful for the therapist’s comments to focus on the small victory and what allowed it to occur. On the other hand, there may be instances where it may be very important to comment on defenses. Wachtel pointed out that if clients engage in a defensive retreat after having clearly made some progress, it would be important to comment on the prior pattern of
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progress while exploring the material associated with the recent retreat. This kind of approach allows the therapist and client not to lose sight of the progress, and allows for the client to build on that forward motion rather than coming to believe that the earlier advances were merely temporary. Often client strengths will emerge within the context of the relationship with the therapist that have not yet been in evidence in other relationships in the client’s life. The special qualities of the therapeutic relationship can facilitate the emergence of strengths because the client can feel safer to explore and show a variety of aspects of him or herself. It can be beneficial for therapists to make comments that help clients understand how the relational context of the therapeutic relationship makes a difference in allowing their strengths to emerge. This kind of insight can help clients consider how to build a relational network that supports their strengths. After becoming aware of positive aspects of the relationship with the therapist, clients may come to believe that it is possible to seek out some of these qualities in other relationships. Clearly some aspects of the therapeutic relationship are not applicable to other relationships (e.g. the focus is entirely on the client). Nevertheless, some aspects can be found in other relationships (e.g. being able to express oneself without being criticized or told one is wrong). Furthermore, insight into the elements of the therapy relationship that facilitate the emergence of strengths can help the client reflect on those aspects of earlier relationships that contributed to problems and made it more difficult for strengths to emerge. One client who was suffering from major depression, and was having various problems in her schoolwork and relationships, denied that she needed to be in therapy despite having recently admitted herself to the hospital with a suicidal intent. The client’s family emphasized the importance of “bucking up” and severely criticized any expression of vulnerability in the client. Yet, the client was entirely unaware of how her family dynamics were influencing her own lifelong dismissal of her problems. As the client began to feel safer in the therapeutic relationship, she began to have the positive capacity to show her vulnerabilities to the therapist. The therapist commented on the qualities of the therapy relationship that were helping the client to show this new strength (which her family did not view as a strength). This awareness helped the client begin to explore how her family relationships had affected her, and how she wanted to shift some aspects of those relationships. For example, she consciously chose to hide the fact that she was in therapy from her family so that she could have the privacy she needed to do her work. She began to think about what qualities she would like to have in friends and romantic partners that would allow her to maintain her new capacity for vulnerability. Therapists sometimes ask clients to attend to emotions in terms of how the emotion is felt in the body in an effort to help clients gain a deeper and more articulated awareness of themselves. Therapists will often use such a technique with respect to painful affect. However, a focus on the positive in psychotherapy
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might suggest that therapists ask clients to attend to their bodily sensations during times of pleasure, as well as during times of pain. (Resnick, Warmoth, & Selin, 2001). Such an intervention may help clients to gain awareness about positive states and strengths. As an example, one client had been struggling with depression for 2 years, such that school work had been very difficult for her and her grades had suffered since beginning college. As she began to improve with a combination of medication and counseling, she gradually began to have the capacity to focus more on her work. One day the client reported that she had been able to complete a particularly difficult assignment, and that her instructor had given her feedback that her work had been excellent. When the therapist asked the client how she felt about being successful, the client said that she had not thought about it. The therapist asked her to take a moment to pay attention to what she was feeling in her body, and together the client and therapist explored words that might describe those sensations. Through this process of attention to her bodily experience, the client realized that she felt pride in herself and hope about her future. The therapist and client were then able to explore the client’s past experiences surrounding her own and her parents’ pride (or the lack of it). In this case, the request to focus on a positive state allowed the client to become aware of her own strength, and furthered exploration of the client’s underlying dynamics. Noting client strengths can be verbal, as in all of the examples cited previously. However, attending to client strengths can be expressed nonverbally as well. Therapist nonverbal recognition of a client’s strength can be as simple as exhibiting pleasure in the client’s capacity. This pleasure can be shown in the therapist’s face, voice, or eyes. At times, a nonverbal recognition of strength may allow the therapist to avoid the analytical trap of being overly gratifying, though of course nonverbal communication can also be gratifying to the client. We have explored a number of ways that therapists can attend to client strengths. It is important to point out that, at times, noting strengths can feel assaultive to clients. For example, one client’s pain had been dismissed by her parents during childhood. She experienced her therapist’s noting of her strength as a recapitulation of the dismissive attitude she had experienced as a child. Clinicians may need to empathically consider how the transference may influence what clients hear when their positive aspects are commented on. Furthermore, attention to strengths may not be the best intervention for other reasons. Wachtel (1993) rightly pointed out that attention to some types of strengths may be contraindicated in cases where the client has a tendency to dismiss or minimize problems, if the attention to a particular strength would simply support this defensive minimization. Thus, a consideration of how comments on strengths might inadvertently support maladaptive patterns may be helpful. Another caveat about a focus on strengths in psychotherapy is that, at times, therapists may need to challenge apparent strengths that are not true strengths to
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tease apart actual strengths from weaknesses. For example, one client had a selfimage of being very emotionally expressive, and indeed she did speak a lot about her emotions. However, the emotions she expressed were relatively shallow. The client was very surprised when her therapist pointed out that her apparent emotional expressiveness seemed to be covering up deeper emotions that were much more painful and scary. However, the client was able to hear her therapist’s caring for her and willingness to tolerate these deeper emotions, and the client was able to begin to explore these feelings as well as her fears of being overwhelmed by them. The therapist then commented on the real strength of the client, which was to engage in a behavior that allowed her to protect herself in earlier contexts, in which her feelings would have indeed been overwhelming. Gradually, the client was able to develop a strength that had not been available to her earlier in the therapy—an ability to tolerate her underlying feelings and share them in a healthy way with another person. The important point, is that a focus on strengths in psychotherapy does not mean that every aspect of the client should be considered a strength. In fact, some apparent strengths can actually be weaknesses that need to be challenged. However, the concept of strengths can be used as a part of the process of deeper exploration in psychotherapy. Positive Reframing Positive reframing is another way that therapists can assist clients in becoming aware of strengths. Once the strengths are consciously available to clients, clients may then be able to make better use of them and build on them. One way that therapists can make client strengths more visible to their cli-ents is to reframe apparent weaknesses as a strength to be explored. For example, one client had been in twice-a-week therapy for 15 months. This client complained about her inability to deal with graduate school issues with authority figures. She was adamant that she had no control over consistently turning in her papers late. In fact, she always turned her papers in 2 days late. She felt helpless about this pattern of late papers, was continually in conflict with her advisor about this problem, and was deeply anxious about being asked to leave her program. The therapist hoped to help the client realize the strength underlying this defensive pattern, and pointed out that the fact that she was consistently choosing to turn in her papers 2 days late showed that she did, in fact, have considerable control over her papers. The therapist suggested that with this strength, the client could use the same control to turn in her papers at any time she chose. The client was able to make use of this positive reframe, and suddenly realized that she did have a choice in when to turn in her papers. She explored ways in which this pattern reflected a dynamic of rebellion against her mother. The client would passively rebel against her mother by being late, and the mother would respond by being very upset. The client realized that a similar dynamic was being
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enacted with her advisor. Once these issues were explored, the client no longer continued in the same pattern of lateness. She began to call on her strength to choose, and was able to turn in her assignments on time. Another type of positive reframe that can be beneficial is to reframe an apparent weakness in the client as a once-appropriate strength that made sense in an earlier context. This type of reframe builds hope, not only because it helps clients understand that their maladaptive patterns in the present have an origin in the past, but also because the origin of the problem actually reflects the client’s strength. The client comes to understand a current weakness as a hold-over from another time, in which the context demanded that the client respond with an available strength that was actually useful in some way at the time. This intervention fosters hope because it suggests to the client that if he or she was able to respond with a strength that was meaningful at the time, perhaps the current moment also offers an opportunity to respond anew to a new environment. The possibility of change is supported, and the apparent weakness is not viewed as a static characteristic of the client. In fact, the apparent weakness is seen as a reflection of the client’s resourcefulness and strength at an earlier and more vulnerable time. For example, a client who was sexually abused as a child may find herself shutting down and dissociating when she would actually like to enjoy some type of bodily experience, such as receiving a hug from a friend. The client may be utterly unaware of why she responds to the hug in this way, but may feel distress about how she is left feeling detached and uneasy with her friend afterward. The therapist can speak about this pattern not as a problem that needs to be excised, but rather in a way that reframes the experience as stemming from a positive childhood strength: the ability to leave when necessary, due to the abuse. The client can then become more aware of what kinds of situations now seem to trigger the use of this held-over strength. This kind of attending to her experience, can help the client begin to explore options that would allow the pattern to shift over time. Reframing the apparent weakness as a once-appropriate strength can help the client to feel herself to be “not bad,” and actually assist her in feeling more connected with her power to change her experience. In the past, she used one available strength, but now she can explore new options for changing her experience when she needs to. For example, she can ask her friend not to hug her. Or she can talk to her friend about what kind of hugging might feel okay. There are now various options she can explore, but the therapist is not suggesting that the apparent weakness is an unchangeable, bad aspect of herself. When the client is able to see her own resourcefulness, she is more likely to have hope about her ability to continue to be resourceful as she faces new challenges.
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Attending to Strengths Embedded in Defenses As discussed in the first part of this chapter, strengths are often embedded in defenses and deficits. Therapists can express appreciation for a client strength, even as the therapist and client work together to challenge and work with the defense. For example, a client who was an attorney tended to use intellectualization as a defense against experiencing painful affect. However, embedded in this defense was a strength: the ability to think very clearly. He liked to use his intellect, and due to his natural intelligence and his training as an attorney, he was able to effectively use his mind in adaptive and nondefensive ways, as well as defensively. Throughout the work, the therapist appreciated and valued the client’s ability to think well. This valuing of the strength within the defense allowed the client to slowly open up to his own feelings, although still maintaining his ability to think through problems, rather than to defend himself from pain. Another example of valuing the strength within the defense illustrates the way in which appreciating a strength can help the client feel accepted, although revealing something that is felt to be shameful about the self. This sense of acceptance from the therapist can allow the client to explore an area that might otherwise feel too difficult. An example was the case of a Caribbean-American woman whose successful and hardworking immigrant parents had instilled in her a very strong work ethic, as well as a sense that she should be able to pull herself up by her bootstraps and manage for herself. Being in therapy did not fit with her cultural expectations for herself, as it seemed to imply that she was not capable of solving her problems herself. This client felt that her parents were very supportive of her, but her mother would tell her on the phone that she could not be depressed and that she was just spoiled because her life had been too easy. Nevertheless, this client was quite depressed and anxious. She had recently moved from another state, and was feeling profoundly alone in her new community, and isolated from others who shared her culture. Even her own home did not feel like a safe haven to her, and there was no place in which she felt comfortable. The client would often arrive late to session, and the therapist attempted to explore what she suspected was some ambivalence about being in treatment. What emerged, however, was the revelation that the client generally spent a minimum of 40 min. in the shower, doing what she felt was a waste of time, and arriving late to everything including her appointments. On exploration, it became clear that the shower was the one place in which the client was able to soothe herself and self-regulate. Acceptance of what she felt was a shameful cop-out from her responsibilities, along with recognition of the nascent strength of self-soothing, was a profound experience for this client. The therapist’s ability to perceive a strength embedded in a defense can also be used as an empathic way to build the client’s capacity for self-reflection
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regarding disowned aspects of the self. As an example, consider a client whose presenting problem was difficulties in managing and tolerating his anger. This client had been abandoned by his mother before the age of 5-years-old and had been raised by a rageful father who had been an alcoholic. The only nurturant figure this client could remember was a grandmother with whom he had spent some time. This client often used intellectualization as a defense, and the therapist pointed out to him that he was able to use his intelligence as a strength to soothe himself. This client had not been aware that he was soothing himself through this defense, and in fact had not been aware that he was wanting soothing. The therapist’s comment felt like it fit for this client because he valued his intelligence very much, and was pleased that he was recognized by the therapist for using it. Thus, he was able to take in this comment and begin to reflect on the fact that he did, in fact, want soothing at times, as well as begin to explore how he soothes himself and how he experiences soothing from others. Certain client strengths can be used to compensate for deficits, and the therapist can incorporate this possibility into the treatment plan. Burns (1991) cites an excellent example offered by Yalom in his well-known book on group therapy. In this example, the client has poor impulse control, yet is fairly intelligent, able to concentrate, and has a good attention span. The therapist could point out this strength to the client and explicitly work with the client to use the strength (capacity for thought) to compensate for the weakness (poor impulse control). By pointing out the strength and how it can be used by the client to improve impulse control, the therapist provides the client with a pathway for change that is based on a client strength. Interpretation of Strengths Within a Cultural Context We spoke earlier about the role of culture in conceptualizing client strengths and the way in which culture mediates the meaning and expression of strengths. Cultural factors also have a bearing on the therapist’s enactments within the therapy hour. Therapists are always attending to strengths within a cultural context that affects the perceptions of strength. At times, there can be a real complexity in the conceptualization of strengths, and therapist interventions must take that complexity into account. An example of the interpretation of strengths within a cultural context involves a client who was an international student from Korea. This was a client with many strengths, but her concerns focused around her conflicts with her mother. The client’s mother wanted her to return to Korea and go into business with her, or for the client to allow the mother to come live with her in the U.S. The client was in conflict because her cultural values included a strong emphasis on filial piety, although at the same time, she did not want to acquiesce to her mother’s demands. Her wish was to start her own business without her mother’s participation. Her Korean friends were pressuring her to show filial piety and do as her mother asked, and the
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client also felt a similar internal pressure based in her cultural values. The client’s American friends were pressuring her to reject what her mother was asking, be assertive, and “go her own way,” which reflected an American cultural value of individualism. One important piece of information that helped to shed light on the situation was the revelation that the mother had actually been quite physically and verbally abusive to the client during her growing-up years. Even as an adult, the client had had to verbally and physically defend herself from the mother’s assaults, and when she had worked within her mother’s business, the situation had been very difficult. The therapist helped the client to explore the ways in which her mother’s behavior had not been consistent with the cultural values and expectations regarding mothering behaviors. This intervention helped the client come to see that her culturallyinconsistent desire to be independent of her mother made sense in light of her mother’s culturally-inconsistent mothering. The client then came to view her intention to neither live with her mother nor go into business with her mother as a strength, despite the fact that on the surface it was not culturally supported. The complexity in this case was that, though ultimately independence from her mother came to be viewed as a true strength, independence was not viewed as a strength simply because it is a culturally valued trait in America. In fact, under different circumstances, filial piety might have been regarded as a valued strength. The therapist and client took into account Korean cultural values and explored the ways in which the realities of her life affected the meaning she made of adherence-nonadherence to cultural norms. The important point is that therapists must be cautious in how they interpret strengths within a cultural context to ensure that certain cultural values are not unquestioningly given priority in the determination of what is a strength and what is a weakness. An additional point that must be made regarding strengths within a cultural context is that it is important for therapists to be aware of strengths that may be available to clients based on their membership in particular cultural or other groups. Often therapists are not aware of cultural strengths (such as cultural values or cultural institutions) that are available to support or help clients. Therapists may be focused on realistic or stereotypical vulnerabilities that they associate with a particular group, but be unaware of cultural strengths. Therapists can be more helpful to clients if they understand important sources of support clients may have, as well as client cultural values that support resilience. One example of an important external source of strength that clients may rely on is spiritual or religious support. For example, Avants, Warburton, and Margolin (2001) found that HIV-positive injection drug users who had higher perceived spiritual or religious support were likely to remain abstinent from illicit drugs significantly longer during the first 6 months of methadone treatment than were those with lower levels of spiritual or religious support. Thus, therapists may want to explore with their clients how much spiritual or religious support they may have. Clearly, a spiritual or religious affiliation will not always be entirely
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positive. However, even when clients are experiencing conflicts about what their religious affiliation means for their lives, often there may be strengths within the clients’ religious perspective that can be useful in the treatment. Chazin, Kaplan, and Terio (2000) provide an excellent example of a 31-year-old, divorced, homosexually identified, HIV positive, African American male who was being treated after the death of his male lover, with whom he had had a 5-year relationship. This client was a devout member of the Nation of Islam. He believed that his current grief and personal illness were the just punishments of Allah because of his forbidden homosexual relationship. He had become very socially isolated because he felt unable to reconcile himself either to his loss or to his faith. The therapist learned that in Islam, the devout are asked to pray as if they could actually see Allah, and that then the devout can seek help for the self or for deceased loved ones. The client said that he had never prayed for his deceased lover because his lover would never be able to hear him. The therapist asked if he could write a letter to his deceased lover, but the client felt this would be pointless because the lover would never be able to read it. The therapist then asked, “Why not write the letter as though the deceased can read it, just as one prays to Allah as if one can see him?” (p. 49). This intervention proved to be very effective for this client, who gained some relief in being able to share his grief. The therapist’s intervention was effective partially because it was rooted in the client’s religious tradition, despite the fact that the client was currently facing conflicts related to his religion. There has also been writing on strengths that often go unrecognized by therapists in the treatment of various groups, such as African Americans (Davis, Glance, & Gailis, 1999; Frame, Williams, & Green, 1999; Greene, 1990; Jefferies, 1976; & Stevenson & Renard, 1993), the deaf (Hoyt, Siegelman, & Schlesinger, 1981), and economically disadvantaged women (Koepping, 1996). It is important for therapists to learn more about strengths that might be associated with various groups to have a better understanding of how to properly assess and comment on available strengths. The Role of Therapist Strengths in Psychotherapy We have focused most of this chapter on strengths in the client, but it is also important for therapists (and supervisors) to attend to the therapist’s own strengths, as well as to those of their clients. It is easy for therapists to forget their own competencies at times. Therapists may neglect to consider the full range of interventions they are capable of providing with clients, due to countertransferential or other issues. At such times, therapists may appear limited in the type of responses they are able to offer the client. There may be a tendency for the therapist or supervisor to focus on this limitation as a weakness, without calling to mind strengths that the therapist has available for use in remedying the problem. For example, a therapist may uninten-tionally
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overidentify with a client’s own sense of fragility and brittleness and fail to be sufficiently challenging to the client despite the fact that the client has given evidence of being stronger than the client him or herself may be aware of. The therapist is more likely to be successful in changing the pattern of insufficient challenging with the client if he or she remembers that there have been some occasions when it was possible to be appropriately challenging with clients. The therapist could focus attention on situations with other clients, or perhaps even with the same client, in which the therapist was able to be effectively challenging, using empathy to effectively balance challenge and support. This focus on therapist strength can be useful for therapists at all levels of experience, but it is particularly relevant for the training and supervision of new therapists. For example, supervisors can explicitly point out supervisee strengths, can offer confrontations to the supervisee that are based on supervisee strengths, and can comment on small steps in the right direction. Supervisors can attempt to engage in a parallel process with their trainees, in which supervisors keep a focus on trainees’ strengths and competencies, and attempt to build on those, much as trainees are working to notice and enhance client strengths. In summary, there are a number of ways that clinicians can incorporate a conceptualization of client strengths into what they say and do in therapy, They can explicitly comment on client strengths, including strengths that emerge in the context of the therapy relationship. Therapists can also reframe apparent weaknesses as strengths, or attend to strengths that are embedded in defenses. Therapists can incorporate an empathic understanding of the client’s culture into the interpretation of client strengths, as well as into choices about how to work with client strengths based on cultural considerations. And finally, supervisors of therapists can consciously engage in a parallel process of focusing on strengths in the supervision, just as therapist trainees are focusing on client strengths in the clinical hour.
RESEARCH AGENDA FOR A POSITIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY Empirical research on the positive in psychotherapy may usefully address at least two general levels. The first is the constructs that are framed and studied, whereas the second level pertains to the effects of positive tactics on process and outcome. Next we shall briefly address each of these levels. The constructs that are studied in psychotherapy, both as outcomes and as moderators or mediators of outcome have predominantly reflected psychopathology and its elimination. For example, typical outcomes studied are the reduction in symptoms, disorders, or ineffective behaviors. The study of the effects of therapy on such negative qualities is certainly important and relevant, and we think it needs to continue. At the same time, human strengths—the
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positive qualities that we as therapists also seek to enhance—must also be studied. Although outcome research in counseling psychology has probably addressed these positive qualities more than is the case in other fields, such qualities have been mostly ignored in all fields or specialties that study psychotherapy. There are numerous constructs that are likely choices for study in therapy research, as both predictors and criteria. Some of these constructs are already prominent in counseling psychology theory and research. Examples of such extensively studied constructs are problem solving, self-efficacy, hardiness, and self-esteem, to name a few. At a more global level, self-actualization is a potential outcome variable that had been studied in earlier times (Gelso & Fassinger, 1992) but seems to have largely faded out of our consciousness in psychotherapy research. Although variables such as the ones just mentioned have been studied in counseling psychology, too rarely have they been employed in therapy research. In addition, it would be helpful to develop more measures of positive development explicitly for use in therapy process and outcome research. The second general level of research focuses on the effects of positive interventions on therapy process and outcome. Studies are needed that examine the effects of positive psychotherapies such as those noted earlier in this chapter; for example, hope therapy and the constructivist approaches. Thus, we can examine the impact of an entire treatment, in comparison to other treatments and control groups. Perhaps more fruitful would be the study of positive tactics within given treatments. For example, one or more of the suggestions we have noted in the Therapist Enactments section of this chapter could readily be incorporated into virtually any form of psychotherapy, and the effects of these positive features could be examined. The effects could be studied on aspects of the within-session process, the therapeutic relationship, session outcome, or treatment outcome. In addition, these effects could be examine in both field and laboratory studies. The latter have a long history in counseling psychology (Gelso & Fretz, 2001), and although their popularity has faded in recent years, in our view such laboratory analogues of therapy have much to offer by way of precisely studying specific interventions with a degree of experimental control that is not possible with more field-based research. Despite counseling psychology’s long history of attention to human strengths and positive development, the empirical study of therapies that focus on the positive, as well as positive aspects of traditional therapies, have been sadly neglected. We propose that the development and use of the client’s strengths ought to be a key element of every psychotherapy. Research is sorely needed to test this proposition and the numerous corollaries that are embedded in it.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to express our gratitude to James Harbin, Lewis Schlosser, and Eric Spiegel for their thoughtful feedback on our conceptions of positive psychotherapy.
REFERENCES Allport, G.W. (1963). Pattern and growth in personality. NY: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. American Psychologist (2000). Vol. 55, No. 1. Special issue entitled Happiness, Excellence, and Optimal Human Functioning. Avants, S.K., Warburton, L.A., & Margolin, A, (2001). Spiritual and religious support in recovery from addiction among HIV-positive injection drug users. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 33, 39–45. Blocher, D.H. (1966). Developmental counseling. New York: Ronald. Blocher, D.H. (1974). Developmental counseling (2nd ed.). New York: Ronald. Bohart, A.C., & Greenberg, L.S. (Eds.). (1997). Empathy reconsidered: New directions in psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Bozarth, J.D. (1997). Empathy from the framework of client-centered theory and the Rogerian hypothesis. In A.C.Bohart & L.S.Greenberg (Eds.), Empathy reconsidered: New directions in psychotherapy (pp. 81–102). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Burns, D.P (1991). Focusing on ego strengths. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 5, 202–208. Chazin, R., Kaplan, S., & Terio, S. (2000). The strengths perspective in brief treatment with culturally diverse clients. Crisis Intervention, 6, 41–50. Davis, N.L., Clance, P.R., & Gailis, A.T. (1999). Treatment approaches for obese and overweight African American women: A consideration of cultural dimensions. Psychotherapy, 36, 27–35. Doctors, S.R. (1996). Notes on the contribution of the analyst’s self-awareness to optimal responsiveness. In A.Goldberg (Ed.), Basic ideas reconsidered— progress in self-psychology, Vol. 12 (pp. 55–66), Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press. Foreman, M.E. (1966). Some empirical correlates of psychological health. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 13, 3–11. Frame, M.W., Williams, C.B., & & Green, E.L. (1999). Balm in Gilead: Spiritual dimensions in counseling African American women Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 27, 182–192.
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Gelso, C.J., & Fassinger, R.E. (1992). Personality, development, and counseling psychology: Depth, ambivalence, and actualization. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 39, 275–298. Gelso, C.J., & Fretz, B. (2001). Counseling Psychology (2nd ed.). Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt. Gelso, C.J., & Hayes, J.A. (1998). The psychotherapy relationship: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Wiley. Gelso, C.J., & Hayes, J.A. (2002). The management of countertransference. In J.C. Norcross (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work. London: Oxford University Press. Greene, B.A. (1990). What has gone before: The legacy of racism and sexism in the lives of Black mothers and daughters. Women and Therapy, 9, 207–230. Greenberg, L.S. (1983). The relationship in gestalt therapy. In M.Lambert (Ed.), Psychotherapy and patient relationships (pp. 126–153). Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin. Hartmann, H. (1958). Ego psychology and the problem of adaptation. New York: International Universities Press. (Original work published in 1939) Heath, S.R. (1964). The reasonable adventurer. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. Hoyt, M.F., Siegelman, E.Y., & Schlesinger, H.S. (1981). Special issues regarding psychotherapy with the deaf. American Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 807–811. Jahoda, M. (1958). Current concepts of positive mental health. New York: Basic. Jefferies, D. (1976). Counseling for the strengths of the Black woman. The Counseling Psychologist, 6, 20–22. Joint Commission of Mental Illness and Mental Health. (1961). Action for mental health. New York: Basic, Koepping, G.R. (1996). The impact of economic disadvantage on gifted women’s educational development. In M. Hill & E.D. Rothblum (Eds.), Classism and Feminist Therapy: Counting Costs (pp. 119–128), New York: Harrington Park Press/Haworth Press. Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self. Madison, CT International Universities Press. Kohut, H. (1977). The restoration of the self. Madison, CT: International Universities Press. Kohut, H. (1984). How does analysis cure? Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lopez, S.J., Floyd, R.K., Ulven, J.C., & Snyder, C.R. (2000). Hope therapy: Helping clients build a house of hope. In C.R. Snyder (Ed.), Handbook of Hope (pp. 123–150). New York: Academic. Maslow, A.H. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row.
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Mitchell, K.M., & Berenson, B.G. (1970). Differential use of confrontation by high and low facilitative therapists. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 151, 303–309. Pesechkian, N. (1990), Positive psychotherapy: A transcultural and interdisciplinary approach to psychotherapy. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 53, 39–45. Prochaska, J.O., & Norcross, J.C. (Eds.). (1999). Systems of psychotherapy: A transtheoretical analysis, (4th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Resnick, S., Warmoth, A., & Selin, I.A. (2001). The humanistic psychology and positive psychology connection: Implications for psychotherapy. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41, 73–101. Rogers, C.R. (1962). Toward becoming a fully functioning person. In A. Combs (Ed.), Perceiving, behaving, becoming. Washington, DC: Yearbook of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Shapiro, D. (1989). Psychotherapy of neurotic character. New York: Basic. Stevenson, H.C., & Renard,G. (1993). Trusting ole’ wise owls: Therapeutic use of cultural strengths in African-American families. Proffessional Psychology, 24, 133–442. Sue, S. (1999), Science, ethnicity and bias: Where have we gone wrong? American Psychologist, 54, 1070–1077. Sue. D.W. (2001). Multicultural facets of cultural competence. The Counseling Psychologist, 29, 790–821. Super, D.E. (1955). Transition from vocational guidance to counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2, 3–9. Super, D.E. (1977). The identity crisis of counseling psychologists. The Counseling Psychologist, 7, 13–15. Wachtel, P.L. (Ed.). (1993). Therapeutic communication: Principles and effective practice (pp. 110–134). New York: Guilford.
8 Strength-Based Health Psychology: Counseling for Total Human Health
Alex H.S.Harris and Carl E.Thoresen Stanford University
Our goal in this chapter is to discuss how positive psychology constructs may be extremely relevant to the work of health psychologists and health-focused counseling psychologists. We discuss the potential integration of positive and health psychology perspectives into a field that examines the development and interaction of positive psychology constructs, supportive social environments, health-promoting behaviors, and optimal physiology. Research in this area could explore, for example, if increasing levels of positive psychology variables, such as compassion or humor, might influence physical or social health. Conversely, might interventions targeting physiological, behavioral, or social outcomes also influence positive psychology constructs? We have selected as examples three relevant areas of positive psychology in which theoretical developments, associated intervention strategies, as well as actual or emerging research programs exist: (a) forgiveness, (b) social-emotional support, and (c) spirituality.
STRENGTH-BASED HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY The coming-of-age of Health Psychology and recent emergence of positive psychology make more obvious and central their marriage—what we call strength-based health psychology. Positive psychology, the generic term often used to refer to the study of psychological strengths and virtues, has attained the status of a hot topic. Evidence of this is found in the publication of special issues
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of major journals, including the American Psychologist, the preparation of edited books (e.g., Handbook of Positive Psychology: Snyder & Lopez, 2002) conferences (e.g., The Annual Positive Psychology Summits), and the annual Templeton Positive Psychology Awards totaling $200,000 annually). The geography of positive psychology includes, among other topics, the study of subjective experiences (e.g., well-being, satisfaction, flow, happiness), individual traits or dispositions (e.g., capacity for love, courage, socialemotional skills, hope, gratitude, patience, forgiveness, creativity, spirituality, wisdom, humor), and interpersonal-group level virtues (e.g., altruism, tolerance, civility, sense of community). Positive psychology constructs appear to be a subset of all human strengths and virtues, including not only psychological variables, but also behaviors, social-environmental factors, and physical attributes traditionally the domain of health psychologists and medical doctors. As we envision it, Strengthbased health psychology could be the study of the interrelationships between psychological, social, behavioral, and physiological human strengths. How do changes in one of these domains affect variables in the other domains, and what might be the causal pathways? Strength-based health psychology emerges from two different professional perspectives: (a) Health psychologists who are extending their traditional focus on health behaviors and physiology to more positive psychological and social variables, and (b) those involved in the emerging science of positive psychology who are beginning to examine physical and behavioral health constructs as both independent and dependent variables. Clearly, health-focused counseling psychologists are well-positioned to extend the study of human strengths and virtues to into the realm of healthrelated behaviors (e.g., exercise, maintaining proper nutrition, & sleep habits) and physical attributes (e.g., heart-rate variability). Although health psychologists have traditionally focused of on the behavioral contributions to morbidity and mortality (fixing something once its broken), increasingly we see research directed at understanding the development and maintenance of healthy behaviors, such as exercise and sunscreen use, in well populations (prevention). The growing presence of positive psychology topics, such as spirituality and forgiveness, in the realm of health psychologists (e.g., Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Annals of Behavioral Medicine) may evidence increasing acceptance for the notion of reciprocal associations between psychological, behavioral, and social strengths with physical health and illness. In response to the serious limitations of the biomedical model, many have argued that health is far more than the mere absence of disease but includes the presence of positive attributes, qualities, and experiences. This view, although intuitively appealing to many, may be scientifically meaningless unless the nature, function, and consequences of these positive qualities and attributes can be specified, measured, and demonstrated in a controlled manner. Thus, the science and practice of strength-based health psychology are about identifying
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and examining these positive qualities and attributes (psychological, behavioral, social, & physiological) creating valid and reliable assessments, and developing empirically-based interventions that produce changes in important outcomes. Although some exciting and promising scientific work in positive psychology generally, and strength-based health psychology more specifically, has already been accomplished, much remains unknown. For example, several forgiveness training intervention studies have been conducted. It would be possible to not only measure the impact of the interventions on forgiveness (often viewed as a intrapersonal process) and other individual psychological variables but also to measure the impact of forgiveness on social, behavioral, and physical outcomes. Similarly, typical health psychology interventions, such as smoking cessation or pain management, might include evaluations of the interventions on positive psychology constructs, such as the experience of life as having meaning or purpose or changes in the nature of social networks. Unfortunately, as psychologists, our professional training and culture have focused commonly, and sometimes exclusively, on measuring, diagnosing, and reducing pathology, weakness and damage rather than assessing and fostering strengths and virtues. How many courses, seminars, and supervised practica in well-being, spirituality, or humor, for example, have been a part of the professional training of psychologists? Have we been introduced to the growing empirical literatures that highlight the importance of hope, optimism, and social and emotional support to mental and physical health status? Have explorations of the possible roles of positive emotions in health been a part of our training? Even in subfields of psychology, such as counseling, that were founded with a primary orientation toward normal human problems and issues (cf., abnormal), most psychologists have seldom been exposed to practical applications of positive psychology or strengthbased health psychology concepts or to related research questions and opportunities. Even for those drawn to the idea of rebalancing the profession with a science and practice of fostering human strengths, the following practical questions often remain: • What are specific human strengths and virtues (psychological, behavioral, social, physical) that might be assessed and fostered within the work of a psychologist? • What is currently known about these strengths and virtues? What are the big questions that need addressing? • How can we integrate the emerging knowledge and interventions in such areas into our current research, training, and practice? Strength-base health psychology, the hybrid spawn of positive and health psychology, is an exciting lens through which to view the phenomena of human strengths and virtues. Clearly, we cannot in this short paper review theory, research, and intervention strategies, where they exist, in every major human
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strength and virtue. Rather, our goal is to provide a few selected examples of how positive psychology research might be extended more commonly to include examinations of positive behaviors, social-environmental characteristics and physiological variables. Forgiveness, social-emotional support, and spirituality are not the only human strengths and virtues with associated interventions and research relevant to health-focused counseling psychology, but each does provide instructive if not compelling examples illustrative of current possibilities for integrating human strengths into research, training, and practice. In addition to providing an introduction to each area, we cite additional resources for the interested reader.
FORGIVENESS Forgiveness is an impressive if not controversial topic. Even the definition of forgiveness is somewhat, but not altogether, controversial (McCullough, Pargament, & Thoresen, 2000a). Under what circumstances is forgiveness a beneficial personal or therapeutic goal? How is forgiveness best conceptualized? What offenses, if any, should never be forgiven? Does forgiveness require reconciliation? Is forgiveness beneficial to mental and physical health? If so, in what ways? Can forgiving be harmful? How does forgiveness relate to issues of social justice and ethnic and cultural diversity? Is there a place for forgiveness training in areas such as treatment for chronic pain or posttraumatic stress disorder? Much of the controversy may be due to poorly articulated concepts about forgiveness. There may indeed be a danger in presenting forgiveness as a panacea, seen as the only reasonable or morally appropriate course of action to remedy any hurt, transgression, and injustice.1 Forgiveness, however, is simply one possible path among others to reduce chronic negative thoughts, feelings, and actions associated with unhealthy physiological arousal and healthendangering “allostatic load” (McEwen, 1998; Thoresen, Harris, & Luskin, 2000), and to reduce longstanding grudges, bitter hatred, and deep resentments (i.e., being in a state of unforgiveness; Worthington & Wade, 1999). Given the potential benefits of forgiveness, such as reducing anger, hostility, depression, shame, rage, and hopelessness, as well as enhancing quality of life, we believe forgiveness deserves to be a common path used in coping with life’s hurts. We discuss the following questions about forgiveness: (a) What is forgiveness and what is it not? (b) Why is forgiveness important? (c) What is the 1
Terms commonly used, often interchangeably, when discussing forgiveness are hurt, offense, transgression, or grievance. Sometimes abuse is used to refer to a chronic offense or transgression.
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evidence to date on the effectiveness of forgiveness interventions? (d) What exemplifies a current model of forgiveness? (e) What are some questions, issues, and opportunities regarding the art and science of forgiveness, especially as it relates to psychological, social-environmental, and physiological health? Again, our overall goal is to showcase some important issues and concerns about forgiveness that will stimulate further reading, study, and application. What is Interpersonal Forgiveness? We discuss interpersonal forgiveness, primarily because almost all controlled studies to date are in this area. Theory and research in forgiveness of self, situations, institutions, or God (or higher power or spirit) are less well developed. These are however very significant topics deserving attention. Although no “gold standard” definition of interpersonal forgiveness exists (Worthington, 1998b), there is general agreement among forgiveness theorists and researchers about what forgiveness is not: It is not pardoning (legal term), excusing (implies good reason for offense), condoning (implies justification), denying (implies unwillingness to acknowledge), forgetting (implies failed memory, something outside conscious awareness), or reconciliation (implies relationship restored; Enright & Coyle, 1998; McCullough et al., 2000a) Enright and Fitzgibbons (2000) also offer a detailed summary of what forgiveness is not. Agreement however on just what forgiveness is has been more elusive. For example, McCullough et al. (2000a) defined forgiveness broadly as an “intraindividual, prosocial change toward a perceived transgressor that is situated within a specific interpersonal context” (p. 9). In other words, when a person forgives, his or her thoughts, feeling, motivations, and behavior toward the offender (or offending situation) become more positive and less negative. Enright and colleagues (Enright, Freedman, & Rique, 1998) see forgiveness as the “willingness to abandon one’s right to resentment, negative judgment, and indifferent behavior toward one who unjustly hurt us, while fostering undeserved qualities of compassion, generosity and even love toward him or her” (pp. 46–47). Snyder et al. (2001) view forgiveness in terms of”…the adaptive reframing of a seeming mistreatment or transgression such that it is no longer constrained by a negative attachment to it” (p. 6). These definitions vary yet share the following main features, some of which are implicit: (a) Forgiveness is a choice and a conscious effort by the person who has perceived the hurt or offense. Only the offended person can forgive; (b) Forgiveness involves altering or reframing cognitions and perceptions (such as, “Its all his fault,” or vengeful ruminations), affective states (e.g., anger, fear), and behavior (avoidance of or aggressive actions toward the offender); (c) Forgiveness focuses primarily on intraindividual change relative to particular interpersonal situations or contexts; (d) Forgiveness involves, to varying degrees, increases in the offended persons understanding (often empathetic) of
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the offender and the contexts involved. Note, however, that reconciliation is not required nor does it necessarily follow forgiveness; (e) The state of becoming more forgiving is often experienced as gaining greater “peace of mind” (or innerpeace), physical calmness, subjective well-being, and perceived goodwill. See Enright and Fitzgibbons (2000), McCullough, Pargament, and Thoresen (2000b) and Worthington (1998b) for additional discussions of conceptual and definitional issues Why is Forgiveness Important? In understanding the potential benefits of forgiveness, it is useful to consider the potential negative effects of what Worthington et al. (2000) call a “state of unforgiveness.” When a person is stuck in a position of feeling hurt, offended, wronged, cheated, or violated, for example, blends of the following persistent feelings are common: anger, stress, hostility, hopelessness, depression, and shame and hatred (McCullough et al., 2000b). The negative consequences of these social, emotional, and physical states, especially if chronic, on overall health have been documented, such as physical disease risk (e.g., Everson, Goldberg, Kaplan, & Cohen, 1996; Williams & Williams, 1993). Thoresen, Standard, Harris, and Luskin, (2001), building on the work of Enright, McCullough, Pargamant, and Worthington, among others, have listed several reasons why forgiveness may be important. Notice it is possible to phrase each of the following points as a testable hypothesis, most of which posit a relationship between a positive psychology construct (forgiveness) and behavioral, social, and physiological variables. • The burdens of unforgiveness to health and well-being (e.g., grudges, deep resentments, chronic hostile ruminations) can be very costly to physical, social, and mental health. • Forgiveness offers an adaptive coping strategy for fast-paced, stressful living that can mediate the risks to health of chronic anger, depression, and anxieties. • Forgiveness fosters a greater sense of community and civic responsibility often consistent and highly valued within a person’s spiritual or religious beliefs (e.g., Christianity, Judaism). • Forgiveness offers a bridge to helping people experience more positive emotions and cognitions. Can serve to prevent social and emotional problems. • Forgiveness may facilitate in some people “transformational” (life changing) experiences that help people make major life decisions and adopt different life goals.
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• Forgiveness can help reduce the increasing prevalence of excessive selfabsorption and narcissism associated with a broad range of marriage, family, work, and community problems. Example of Forgiveness Intervention To date over 12 forgiveness interventions have been reported, mostly using brief small-group formats (Worthington et al., 2000). Results have been promising, especially in demonstrating that presenting grievances or hurts can be significantly reduced and that willingness to forgive an offender can be increased through forgiveness training. Some studies also report greater generalized forgiveness across various situations (see Worthington et al. for details). In a few cases, intervention studies have also demonstrated notable reductions in chronic anger (trait-based), perceived stress, and depressive affect compared to randomized wait-list or assessment control groups. Virtually no forgiveness intervention studies to date have examined observable behaviors, group or dyad level variables, or physiological markers. For example, Thoresen et al. (2001) reported posttreatment and follow-up (4 month) effect sizes for 259 randomized adult (ages 25–50) participants comparing those treated with a wait-list control group. Effect sizes at follow-up; for example, ranged from 0.28, (.95CI: .01, .56) for forgiveness affect, 0.54 (.95CI: .26, .82) for perceived stress, 0.45 (.95CI: .17, .73) for trait anger, and 0.68 (.95CI: .40, .96) for forgiveness self-efficacy. Effect sizes were somewhat greater at posttreatment. The primarily cognitive behavioral intervention that produced these effects consisted of six once-a-week sessions conducted in small, same-sex groups. These sessions focused on helping participants understand the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral ingredients of three major themes; taking personal offense (e.g., perceiving hurt), attributing blame, and creating a grievance narrative (“story”). For example, the taking offense theme included didactic education about how physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate variability) powerfully influences cognitive processing and emotional reactivity, primarily at the automatic and subconscious level, as well as training in specific behavioral skills to help alter the automatic chaining of perception-physiological arousal-cognitive processing-emotional reactivity that is involved in taking offense. One of the goals relevant to this theme-taking offense–was learning to “raise the interpersonal bar” for experiencing offense or hurt, thus reducing the probability of perceiving others as offending or hurtful. Other major activities involved examining and altering one’s rules (e.g., personal beliefs) about how others should or ought to treat oneself. Still another goal was to restructure one’s story about a past grievance or offense.
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What is a Current Model of Forgiveness? We present Enright and Fitzgibbons’ (2000) model because of its explicit focus on fostering of positive-human strengths (e.g., compassionate understanding), empirical studies conducted to date using this model, and its adaptability to a variety of theoretical orientations. The model represents the forgiveness process as having four phases: Uncovering, Deciding, Working, and Deepening (see Fig. 8.1). Each major phase in Fig. 8.1 contains units that are typically, but not always, important. The phases and units are not rigidly chronological nor experienced by every person in the same way. Time needed to complete an intervention will also vary by the type and severity of the grievance. By examining elements of the model, an experienced counselor can gain a sense of how these steps might be achieved within their own theoretical orientation and therapeutic skills. I.
II.
Uncovering Phase: Person gains insight into if and how the injustice and injury have impacted his or her life a.
Examination of psychological defenses
b.
Confrontation and release, not harboring, of anger.
c.
Admittance of shame
d.
Awareness of depleted emotional energy
e.
Awareness of Cognitive rehearsal of the offense
f.
Insight that the injured party may be comparing self with the offender
g.
Realization that oneself may be permanently changed by the injury
h.
Insight into the impact of the injury on one’s worldview
Decisions Phase; Person learns what forgiveness is and is not and makes a decision to commit to forgiveness on the basis of that understanding, a.
Insight that old resolution strategies are not working and have a high cost
b.
Willingness to consider forgiveness as an option
c.
Commitment to forgive the offender
III. Work Phase: Person develops a cognitive understanding of the offender and view him or her in a new light, resulting in positive changes in affects about the offender, self, and the relationship.
IV
a.
Reframing the offender by role-taking and viewing him or her in context
b.
Empathy and compassion toward the offender
c.
Bearing and accepting the pain
d.
Giving a moral gift to the offender
Deepening Phase: Person finds increasing meaning in the suffering, feels more connected to others, decreased negative affect, and possibly renewed purpose in life. a.
Finding meaning in the suffering and forgiveness process
b.
Realization that self has needed forgiveness from other in the past
c.
Insight that one not alone (universality, support)
d.
Possible new purpose in life related to the experienced offense
e.
Awareness of decreased negative affect and positive affect, and possible internal, emotional release.
FIG. 8.1. Phase and Units of the Forgiveness Process and Forgiveness Therapy. Note: From Helping Clients Forgive (p. 68), by R.D.Enright & R.P.Fitzgibbons, 2000. Washington, DC: APA. Copyright © 2000 by APA. Adapted with permission.
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Enright and Fitzgibbon (2000), provide a full discussion of the model and the interventions strategy. Although space limitations prevent discussion of ways to assess forgiveness, we note that two general approaches currently prevail: forgiveness as a trait or general disposition on one hand, and as a more specific set of behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and motivational factors within specific situations on the other. An example of an assessment that conceptualizes forgiveness as a trait is found in Snyder et al.’s (2001) Heartland Forgiveness Scale, which assesses self-forgiveness, forgiving others, and forgiving situations. By contrast, Rye’s Forgiveness Scale (2001) focuses on a specific hurtful situation. Some Questions and Issues Pargament, McCullough, and Thoresen (2000) identified over 20 major “critical questions” related to research and clinical practice on forgiveness. For example, do members of different cultural, ethnic, and religious groups differ in their view of forgiveness? We suspect the differences exist, but in what ways and how do differences bear on counseling psychologists using forgiveness in their work? As another example, can children, adolescents, and adults, from a health and well-being perspective, benefit from a primary prevention approach to forgiveness? We strongly suspect that violence, conflict, and aggression may be reduced if educational institutions provided basic training in the “ABC’s” of forgiveness skills. Forgiveness education could be framed within a secular or religious perspective (e.g., secularly-based in public schools and religiouslyfocused among parochial schools). They also cited several major directions that forgiveness research needed to take, such as the need for empirical studies that document the “downside of forgiveness,” that is, when might forgiveness be unwarranted if not dangerous? Other directions included the need to conduct studies that go well beyond the typical pre–post questionnaire-based designs. Called for were use of repeated measures (e.g., daily) of persons engaged in forgiving using a combination of behavioral reports, physiologically-related assessments, with brief questionnaires. Also, increasing the capacity to forgive (self, other, institutional, or universal-higher power), or to not take offense in the first place, might be integrated into other areas of treatment (pain, cancer, Hepatitis C, HIV–AIDS, PTSD), or might be integrated into preventive (educational) or political dialogues. Closing Comments on Forgiveness Given the existing research findings, including prescientific anecdotal literature, on the positive effects of forgiveness (e.g., Albom, 1997; Flanigan, 1992), we believe that forgiveness deserves more empirical attention. Persons from all walks of life experience hurts, grievances, and offenses. Such experiences may
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help set the stage for a variety of significant social, emotional, and physical problems (e.g., depression, hostility). Counseling psychologists need to at least become informed about what is being learned about forgiveness viewed as a coping resource, one that can help clients better manage life’s inevitable hurts. We hope they will also take part in helping to expand an empirical literature that in time will benefit many persons to live more peaceful and healthful lives.
SOCIAL INTEGRATION AND SUPPORT The ability to elicit and receive support from others, being able to perceive social interactions as supportive and meaningful, as well as providing effective support to others all can be considered important human strengths and virtues. Being integrated within a supportive social network has been theorized to provide a sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging in life, to increase selfworth, and to lend one a sense of stability and predictability, that in turn may result in generally more positive emotions and downstream health benefits (Cohen, Gottlieb, & Underwood, 2000). Research in this area has ranged broadly in terms of the features of social relationships under investigation (e.g., frequency of social contact or level of perceived or received social support), as well as the nature of mediating, moderating, or outcome variables assessed. Although much of the research has been epidemiological- correlational, interventions designed to alter the quality of a person’s social ties have also been developed and evaluated. Because many conceptual, theoretical, measurement, and intervention-related issues need further clarification, great potential exists for health-focused counseling psychologists to refine our understanding of the associations between certain areas of social relations with various desirable (e.g., improved health behaviors) and undesirable outcomes (e.g., increased drug use or gang activity). Particularly promising is the application of counseling interventions to foster social support within experimental research designs. We address four main goals in this section: (a) To introduce some of the major constructs from the areas of social support and integration, (b) to briefly sample research findings relating measures of social involvement to indicators of mental and physical health, (c) to outline some of the issues related to intervention research, and (d) to suggest future research goals relevant to the counseling psychologist. The Geography of Social Integration and Social Support Structural perspectives. Structural conceptualizations of social support are concerned with the characteristics or nature of the social system, as opposed to the functions social relations may serve. We focus on three structural conceptions of social relations: social integration, social networks, and social
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capital. Social integration refers to the extent of participation in a range of social relationships. Social integration has been operationalized in a number of ways, including from a role-based perspective, that is, the number of types of social relationships in which a person participates (e.g., parent, worker, friend), a participation-based perspective,that is, the frequency of participation in various activities (e.g., church attendance, number of visits with friends); and a perceived integration perspective, that is, the extent to which a person believes she is embedded in a social structure and identifies with her role and other members within that structure (Berkman, Cohen, & Seeman, 2000; Berkman, Glass, Brissette, & Seeman, 2000). Specific measures of social integration (e.g., participation in one or more social groups, diversity of social ties) have correlated to many important outcomes, including less mortality (see Berkman, 1995), several physical health and illness variables, such as better recovery from and adjustment to chronic disease (Berkman, 1995; Cohen, Doyle, Skoner, Rabin, & Gwaltney, 1997; Helgeson, Cohen, & Fritz, 1998; Seeman, 1996), as well as mental-health outcomes, such as less depression (e.g., Cohen & Wills, 1985). Cohen et al. provided a notable example. They found that increased number and diversity of roles was associated with decreases in infection of the common cold after inoculation with the cold virus. Also found were higher levels of positive affect, self-esteem, perceived control, sleep and exercise, and less smoking and alcohol consumption. The nature of the causal path is uncertain. Epidemiological analyses have found the disease risk of social isolation (low social integration) is of a comparable magnitude to smoking or hypertension, even after controlling for traditional health risk factors (Brissette, Cohen, & Seeman, 2000; House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988). Social network analysis, an alternative to one-dimensional concepts of social integration, quantitatively describes the stable social relationships (“ties”) between members (“nodes”) of a social system. The most simple measure of a social network is size, or the number of nodes. Network size typically is weakly associated with health-related outcomes (Uchino, Cacioppo, & Kielcolt-Glaser, 1996). Network density (extent network members know one another & interact) has been found to better predict outcomes, such as less depression (Kuo & Tsai, 1986). However, others have found that low-density networks correlated with better mental health for people in certain circumstances, such as divorce or unemployment, both states of transition (Hirsch, 1980). These contrasting findings highlight the importance of considering person, network, and context factors. Interventions that ignore these factors may facilitate opposite effects than those intended. Measures of social integration and support are focused on the social interactions of a particular individual An emerging construct is that of social capital, the connections among individuals including social networks and the norms of trust and reciprocity among people within communities (Putnam,
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2001). As such, social capital refers to the social and civic activities that influence good will, fellowship, mutual understanding, and respect. Research on social capital has rarely examined relationships with mental and physical health outcomes (Brissette et al., 2000); however Kawachi, Kennedy, Lochner, and Prothrow-Stith (1997) found that two measures of social capital (proportion of people who feel others can be trusted and membership in volunteer groups) were negatively associated with all-cause and infant mortality. As with various individual-level measures of social integration and support, development of interventions aimed at increasing social capital would be very useful to see if such interventions increased individuals’ levels of social integration as well as improved mental and physical health outcomes. Functional perspectives. Both the perception of available support and the actual receipt of support have been categorized into the major functions they appear to serve. Supportive functions include Emotional Support (e.g., encouragement, listening, caring, approval, sympathy), Instrumental Support (e.g., the provision of resources or help), Informational Support (provision of information, alternatives, & feedback), Companionship Support, and Validation (e.g., normalizing individual’s feelings and behaviors; Wills & Shinar, 2000). Which type of perceived or received support influences what types of outcomes for whom remains a critical question. Of particular importance to counseling psychologists is which intervention strategies are useful in producing various effects. Clearly, answers to these questions will come from carefully controlled intervention studies that are sensitive to both individual differences as well as group trends. Wills and Shiner (2000) provided an excellent review of the available measures of both received and perceived support. They also offered a compilation of research studies correlating these constructs to specific health conditions, including arthritis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. For example, in a longitudinal study (N=85) of emotional support and marital status with post-hospital adjustments following coronary artery bypass surgery, Kulik and Mahler (1996) found that married patients experienced higher emotional support which independently predicted better emotional status (lower anxiety, depression), higher perceived quality of life, and better compliance with medical advice (e.g., walking & not smoking). Emotional support however did not predict improved cardiac health. Shortly, the first major NIH-sponsored clinical trial (ENRICHD) focusing on increasing perceived and received social-emotional support and reducing depression to reduce coronary morbidity and mortality in over 2400 postcoronary patients of diverse ethnicity will announce its major findings (Thoresen, 1999a). These data will shed considerable light on whether a combination of individual and small group counseling focused on socialemotional support and depression leads to reduced disease, as well as
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improvements in a variety of psychosocial variables. If successful, the basis for providing counseling interventions aimed at increasing social and emotional support will be greatly enhanced. The associations found between various measures of social involvement and important mental and physical health outcomes are provocative. The challenge and promise in this area of research however cannot rest in the continued use of correlational designs, no matter how sophisticated or complex. Counseling psychologists can make dramatic contributions in this area by (a) developing and validating interventions to increase received or perceived support, and (b) examining within experimentally designed research how different levels of social support, however defined, influence important clinical outcomes. Intervention Strategies and Issues Support groups, mentors, home visitors, labor coaches, network restructuring, telephone counselors, and therapeutic allies are but a few of the social support interventions that have received clinical and research attention. In assessing, extending, or applying the state of knowledge in any of these areas, it becomes obvious that “the devil is in the details.” Taking the literature on support groups as an example, it is evident that support groups differ substantially in terms of their duration, size, characteristics of the leaders and participants, and the nature of what happens during the sessions. Although many studies on the effects of support groups suffer serious methodological flaws, such as not having a control group, results from carefully controlled studies also need to be carefully qualified. For example, in a study of Stage 1 and 2 breast-cancer patients, Helgeson, Cohen, Schulz, and Yasko (1999) found group education had positive effects in both psychological and physical functioning but peer discussion groups did not. In contrast, Kelly et al. (1993) found that peer support interventions had more lasting benefits than an 8-week CBT group with HIV patients. What was different about the interventions, participants, assessments, or other factors that might explain why support groups appear beneficial in some studies and weak or harmful in others? This, in a nutshell, is the exciting task that needs addressing. Counseling psychologists are in an excellent position to further the state of knowledge in this area because of our expertise in developing and evaluating interventions to help people change. Gottlieb (2000) made several important points regarding social support intervention research and applications, including the following: First, that social support intervention strategies may be classified on two continua: (a) Is the intervention developing existing or creating new social ties? and (b) What is the number of ties that characterize the unit of support? Second, interventions may target the structure or composition of the social network, the individual’s behavior and attitude toward it, and the nature or frequency of the individual’s interaction with all or part of it. Third, certain conditions (e.g., existing social
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network is impoverished, conflictual, reinforcing of unhealthy behaviors, or lacks relevant resources or knowledge) warrant the introduction of new social ties while other conditions (e.g., outside intervention would be stigmatizing, goal attainment depends on behavior of all or part of the natural network) may indicate interventions that work within the existing natural social network. Forth, individual differences of those receiving support (e.g., extroversion, social competence, agreeableness, cultural variables) most likely influence their predisposition to benefit from one type of intervention over another. Fifth, implementing interventions to alter a person’s social network and functioning within it carries certain risks, including the emotional consequences of failure to attract support, overtaxing a natural social network, and possible relapses when the intervention-based support is finished. Those of us interested in developing and evaluating social support interventions would do well to keep these points in mind. Another important theoretical issue relevant to intervention research and application concerns the generally modest correlations between actual received support and both perceived support and subsequent coping (e.g., Lakey & Heller, 1998). Cutrona, Suhr, and MacFarlane (1990), for example, found no relationship between ratings of a stranger’s supportiveness and the stranger’s actual behavior. Although perceived social and emotional support has been found in many cases to be more highly associated to outcomes than actual received support, most interventions have focused on changing actual support. A few studies have sought to alter the cognitive structures and related emotions that affect the perceptions of support. See Wills and Shinar (2000) for further discussion. Next Steps To someone not familiar to the social support literature, the somewhat chaotic state of the art may be seen as quite overwhelming-discouraging or as full of opportunity. Fortunately, some fairly simple guidelines can be applied to research in this area to improve its quality. We offer three recommenda-tions for advancing our understanding the association between social support variables and health: 1. Routine use of randomized designs, control groups, objective outcome measures (e.g., not just participant satisfaction), adequate sample sizes, longer-term follow-up assessments, and more diverse participant pools would greatly benefit the field (Helgeson & Gottlieb, 2000). 2. Moderator variables need to be identified to help match people with certain intervention strategies. For example, Helgeson, Cohen, Schulz, and Yasko (2000) looked at moderator variables that could affect the benefit (& h harm) of group-based interventions for cancer patients. They found that educational groups produced greater benefits on the physical functioning of women who
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entered the study with more difficulties (e.g., low in support, fewer personal resources). They also found peer discussion groups produced greater benefits for women who lacked support but were harmful for women who had high levels of support. This level of analysis is unfortunately rare and should be emulated. 3. New Directions: Most social support interventions have focused on increasing the perceived or received support experienced by the individual. Given the provocative literature associating volunteering (giving support) with social and health-related outcomes, including dramatically lower all-cause mortality (e.g., Oman, Thoresen, & McMahon, 1999), what might be the effect of an intervention designed to encourage service and providing support to others on perceived and received social support and integration? Could supporting others be a faster and more enduring path to social integration than learning to elicit support from others? Another emerging area that is ripe for study is the influence of on-line activities involving giving and receiving support. When are such on-line activities beneficial and when might they be harmful? RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL FACTORS Empirically and theoretically-based justifications for integrating religious and spiritual (RS)2 factors into psychosocial treatment have increased in frequency and quality in recent years (e.g., Hill & Hood, 1999; Koenig, 1998; Levin, 1996; Miller & Thoresen, 1999; Thoresen, 1999; Thoresen & Harris, in press). Recent publication of several relevant books (e.g., Koenig, 1998; Miller, 1999; Richards & Bergin, 1997; Shafranske, 1996) and special journal issues (e.g., Journal of Health Psychology, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, American Psychologist) indicate growing acceptance of assessing and addressing RS factors within the counseling context. Even so, many counseling psychologists and other professionals may still doubt that RS factors are related to mental or physical health, and believe that RS factors should not be addressed in counseling, even if such relationships exist (Sloan, Bagiella, & Powell, 2001; Thoresen, 1999b). As with other proposed human strengths, RS involvement may be a great benefit in certain forms and contexts yet may be an impediment if not hazardous to health in other forms and contexts (Thoresen, Harris, & Oman, 2001). Religious and spiritual involvement clearly have elements that are psychological, behavioral, and social-environmental. The question as to whether any of these elements affect physiology is complex, exciting, and controversial.
2
We use the abbreviation “RS” to signify “Religious or Spiritual” to save space. Spirituality and religion are often used interchangeably, yet actually represent somewhat distinct if not independent constructs for many people.
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Experiencing life as having greater meaning and purpose is clearly a positive thing. Although a sense of personal meaning may derive from many different sources, such as work, family and love, RS involvement has long been for many an important source of wisdom, community, support, meaning and purpose (Baumeister, 1991). Indeed, Putnam (2001) argued that RS involvement represents the single largest component of social capital in any community. The question we address here is the following: What are professionally appropriate (or inappropriate) roles for counseling psychologists to play concerning RS involvement? In addressing this question, we think it is important to distinguish between facilitating-enhancing RS involvement and being clinically sensitive to such involvements. Smith (2001) argued, for example, that the state of the evidence linking forms of RS involvement with health-related outcomes, although suggestive, is not yet conclusive enough to warrant the development and evaluation of interventions designed to influence RS factors, either as primary dependent variables or as mediating variables to other outcomes. Others, however, argue that the evidence is persuasive enough to at least warrant some initial steps in educating health professionals about RS and health relationships (e.g., Miller & Thoresen, 1999). Current research is clarifying what might explain, for example, the impressive predictive relationship between frequent religious service attendance and mental and physical health outcomes, such as all-cause mortality (Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen, in press). Here, we only briefly focus on the current state of knowledge and important next steps, referring the reader to other sources for additional discussion. Our primary goal is to discuss the potential benefits and possible dangers of integrating spiritual or religious language, metaphors, or cultural sensitivity regarding RS factors into the counseling and health care processes. If there are forms of religious or spiritual involvement that may act as sources of wisdom, strength, and health, how can we appropriately facilitate (or at least not unwittingly discourage) our clients’ growth in these domains? What research directions might inform our actions in this domain? RS Factors and Health (Mental & Physical) Virtually all research examining relationships between RS factors, mental health, and counseling (broadly defined) have used religious variables, such as church attendance or perceived strength from one’s religion, rather than distinctly spiritual variables, such as feelings of connection to the divine or the beauty of nature. Currently, spirituality perceived as independent from religion has rarely been studied (cf. Keefe et al., in press; Shahabi et al., in press; Woods & Ironson, 1999). Many studies in this area, until recently, failed to employ proper controls for other factors that could account for predictive relationships between RS factors and health (e.g., not controlling for smoking or social
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support). As noted previously with regard to social support, the complexities of conceptualizing and assessment of RS factors are truly challenging. Given these qualifications, current evidence does exist suggesting that religious involvement or experiences are associated with a variety of desirable and undesirable mental-health outcomes (e.g., Bergin, 1983; Exline, Yali, & Sanderson, 2000; Gartner, Larson, & Allen, 1991; Levin, Markides, & Ray, 1996; McCullough, Larson, & Worthington, 1998; Pargament, Smith, Koenig, & Perez, 1998; Worthington, Kurusu, McCollough, & Sandage, 1996). Greater frequency of religious service attendance (i.e., weekly or more often), when compared to little or no attendance, has been related to greater subjective wellbeing, life and marital satisfaction, fewer depressive symptoms, less suicide, reduced delinquency, and decreased substance abuse (McCullough et al., 1998). Impressively, frequent attendance independently predicts reduced all-cause mortality when over 12 control variables are used (McCullough, Hoyt, Larson, Koenig, & Thoresen, 2000). Some have found however that certain RS factors, such as the presence of religious strain (Exline et al., 2000), difficulty forgiving God (Exline, Yali, & Lobel, 1999), and negative religious coping styles (Pargament et al., 1998) are related to undesirable mental health variables, such as greater stress, depression, and suicidality. RS factors may be a strength or an impediment, depending on which features of RS involvement are examined, and most probably a host of person and context factors that remain to be examined. RS factors may not only be important as individual level variables. Substantial differences in religious beliefs and values often exist between clients and treatment providers and these differences may affect treatment, especially for highly religious clients (Worthington et al., 1996). Some evidence exists, albeit modest, that religiously or spiritually modified secular interventions, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression, are equally or more effective than standard treatment for more religiously-oriented clients (e.g., Propst, Ostrom, & Watkins, 1992). This example illustrates the point we made earlier: There is an important difference between designing intervention to influence RS factors and modifying intervention aimed at addressing other issues to be more acceptable to the RS sensibilities of the recipients. RS factors may also be viewed as social and contextual variables, such as sense of spiritual community, and might influence overall health in more indirect ways, as background or cultural factors (Putnam, 2001). Also see McCullough (2000) and Harris, Thoresen, McCullough, & Larson, (1999) for research reviews of RSoriented interventions. Rationales For Integrating RS Factors into Treatment The evidence referred to above, although suggestive that a nonrandom relationship exists between certain RS factors and health-related variables, does not alone necessarily constitute sufficient reason to actively promote RS factors
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in treatment. In other words, we suspect that the correlational facts may not necessarily speak for themselves. Health professionals indeed disagree, as noted, about the sufficiency of existing evidence warranting any changes in professional practice. This is very understandable and desirable, given the need to base professional practice on sound evidence and reasoning. RS factors should be subjected to a level of scrutiny at least as high as other factors that may be integrated into clinical work (Thoresen & Harris, in press). Short of targeting RS factors as the focus of clinical work, it may be justified and important to at least be informed about and sensitive to the clients RS orientation and worldview. Richards and Bergin (1997) offer five reasons to at least include questions regarding RS factors in a complete clinical history. They argued that conducting a RS assessment can help therapists in the following ways: • To better understand the client’s worldview, increasing the therapist’s ability to work empathetically and sensitively. • To determine if the client’s RS orientation is health or unhealthy and its impact on the presenting problem. • To assess whether the client’s religious or spiritual community is a resource to aid the therapeutic process. • To determine if a religiously or spiritually-oriented or modified intervention is indicated to achieve therapeutic goals. • To identify unresolved religious or spiritual doubts, concerns, or needs that might become the focus of clinical attention. Shafranske and Malony (1996) made a persuasive argument for the inclusion of religious issues in the clinical practice of psychology based on four major points: the professional ideal of cultural inclusion; the substantial evidence of religion as a cultural fact; the developing body of theoretical, clinical, and empirical research literature concerning religion as a variable in mental health; and the appreciation of psychological treatment as a value based form of intervention.” (p. 561) The now familiar arguments demanding sensitivity and appropriateness of assessment and treatment with respect to the cultural factors of race and ethnicity, and more recently sexual orientation, physical disability, age, and gender, should be extended to the cultural influence of religious or spiritual orientation (see Gallup, 1994 for data on the prevalence of RS factors in the U.S.). Without sensitivity to individual and cultural differences based in religion or spirituality, counselors risk excluding critical information from their clinical practice. Issues of distinguishing “different” from deviant, liabilities from resources, and “spiritual emergencies” from psychiatric disorders, recognized
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for the first time in the DSM IV, must occur with knowledge of the cultural framework of the client. For many clients their religious or spiritual framework is highly salient in how they think, feel, and act about their problems and issues (Miller & Thoresen, 1999). Arguments Against the Integration of RS Concerns Into Treatment (& Partial Rebuttals) A lively debate exists among researchers and clinicians regarding the appropriateness of integrating RS concerns into psychological and medical treatment. The main points of contention have been twofold: (a) the quality and implications of the evidence linking religious activity, especially religious service attendance, to beneficial health outcomes, and (b) the potential ethical problems of mixing religious concerns and the professional services we provide. We briefly outline some of the concerns that have been raised in both of these domains. Sloan et al. (2001) found the current evidence linking forms of religious activity to beneficial health outcomes to be weak and to suffer from serious methodological problems. Even in light of the recent publication of several studies (e.g., Hummer, Rogers, Nam, & Ellison, 1999; Musick, House, & Williams, 1999) that addressed some of the most serious methodological concerns, such as controlling for important health-related covariates, these authors found no empirically-based justification for integrating RS factors into treatment. They noted that even the best empirical studies linking RS involvement and health outcomes are plagued by several serious problems, such as failure to control study-wide Type I error, the failure to control for important health-related covariates, and the use of correlational-epidemiological versus experimental designs. Although a partial rebuttal of these criticisms is possible, the correlational nature of the evidence to date is inescapable. Indeed, to “leap from correlational epidemiological findings across the expanse of causal ambiguity to clinical recommendations” (Smith, 2001, p. 366) is indefensible. Our stance is not that this evidence is strong and clear therefore “prescribing religion” is empirically justified. Rather, we characterize the evidence as suggestive, and conclude that types of RS involvement may influence health for better or worse. This suggestion, coupled with the cultural relevance of religion and spirituality in shaping clinician and client worldviews, informs and justifies the inclusion of RS assessment and cultural sensitivity in the intake and treatment process. Apart from the empirical-methodological debate, Sloan et al. (2001) raised ethical concerns (objections really) to the integration of RS factors into medical practice, including the potential for coercion and unnecessary violations of privacy. Clearly the opportunity for coercion exists if health care providers were to dispense religious advice or recommend the adoption of religious practices
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that have only the most tentative empirical link to health outcomes. Unfortunately, some have recommended these activities (e.g., Koenig, 1998). The question is not, from our perspective, if RS assessment and interventions are always important or even appropriate in all treatment contexts. The real question is whether RS assessment and interventions are ever appropriate and if so when, for whom, and by whom? Sloan and colleagues argue that even if the discussion of RS factors was situationally appropriate, that the valuable time a provider spends with a patient would be better used discussing other often neglected topics such as nutrition, exercise, and smoking that more clearly have an impact on health. We leave open the possibility that certain situation, medical, or person factors may exist (e.g., terminally ill religious persons, person disabled by puritanical religious thoughts) that justifies moving the assessment and discussion of RS factors up (or down) in the priority list of potentially relevant issues. Where it can be justified in light of other priorities, such discussions must be respectful and noncoercive. Sloan and colleagues are also concerned that the patient’s privacy would be violated by asking about deeply personal and private issues such as religious and spiritual involvement. They feel this violation of privacy is made worse by the lack evidence linking RS factors and health. Again, it is fairly easy to imagine situations where the potential infringements to privacy are potentially greater than the potential health-related benefits. The same may be said of assessing the nature of a person’ sexual behavior. If a patient comes in for cognitive testing, questions about RS factors (or sexual behaviors) may be less justified than if a patient is a religiously involved recent widow presenting for grief counseling. Again, the appropriateness of a particular assessment or question depends greatly on the situation. As health care providers, we must use judgment to balance the risks of violating privacy unnecessarily with the risk of not gathering information or addressing topics that may be influential to treatment. We believe that blind and rigid acceptance of the integration of RS factors into treatment is as dangerous and closed-minded as the complete rejection of the notion that addressing RS factors in treatment is ever appropriate. Different or Deviant? Discerning pathological from healthy or mature RS adjustment is sometimes difficult, particularly for a therapist with little professional or personal experience in this domain. Lovinger (1996) offers 10 markers of potentially unhealthy religious adjustment that therapists may find useful, including, among others, conspicuous self-oriented display of religious adherence, intense focus on scrupulously avoiding sin, relinquishing responsibility to divine or evil forces, persistent church shopping, using the Bible (or presumably other sacred texts) as a “Moment-to Moment Guide to Life,” and demonic possession. These markers do not necessarily imply maladjustment and need to be understood from
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the perspective of the client’s RS tradition, yet they also serve as red flags. Lovinger also offers five marker of healthy or mature religious adjustment, including awareness of complexity and ambiguity in sacred texts and traditions, choosing religious affiliation through some degree of intentional choice rather than through blindly accepting parental preferences, some degree of and desire for value-behavior congruence, recognition and acceptance of personal shortcomings, and respect for appropriate boundaries; in other words, one does not force religious enthusiasm and beliefs on others. For the interested reader, Pargament (1997) offers a thorough discussion of positive and negative religious coping styles and Galanter (1996) provides useful information on cults and the psychology of charismatic groups. Professional and Ethical Issues Counselors integrating RS factors into psychological treatment face potentially challenging ethical issues. Given the dearth of attention paid to RS in graduatetraining programs (Richards & Bergin, 1997; Shafranske, 2000), and under representation of RS beliefs in therapists’ personal lives as compared to their clients (Thoresen, 1999b), it is not surprising that relatively little attention has been paid to the professional challenges posed by RS factors in the literature. An exception is Richards and Bergen, who provide an excellent overview of many challenges, detailing how dual relationships, usurping religious authority, imposing religious values on clients, violating work-place boundaries, such as the separation of church and state, and practicing beyond one’s professional competence must be thoroughly considered by therapists. More recently, Chirban (2001) has outlined the following areas of self-assessment that counselors can undertake to gage their readiness to ethically and competently integrate RS factors into treatment: a personal psycho-religious inventory, basic knowledge of the client’s religion and spirituality, the ability to differentiate legitimate and illegitimate uses of religion and spirituality, and understanding of the transference and counter-transference dimensions of religion and spirituality. Respect for clients’ autonomy, safeguarding their clients’ welfare, keeping them from harm, and treating them justly and honestly are benchmarks for all therapists to consider on an ongoing basis. Although these ethical challenges and burdens of self-examination are substantial, we need to remember the ethical peril of not addressing RS factors when they possess therapeutic if not personal relevance. Next Steps What might be the important next steps in this area? Given the general lack of knowledge about RS factors and health among psychologists, a prudent if not ethically needed first step would be to generate opportunities via profes-sional,
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graduate, and continuing education for counseling psychologists to learn about what is currently known in this area and to at least examine their own personal and professional views on the topic. Given the fact that the vast majority of Americans identify themselves as believing in God (over 90%), as having a religious affiliation (over 80%), consider their religion “very important” in their lives (over 60%) and attend religious services regularly (over 40%; Gallup Poll data, 1999), counseling psychologists would be well served by understanding ways that RS factors relate to the manner in which people cope with life’s many demands. RS factors represent a major avenue of coping for many people. Beyond gaining some basic knowledge and understanding of what is known and what remains unknown, another step could be to consider ways to assess RS factors in research protocols. A great deal can be learned by assessing selected RS factors in studies, particularly prospective studies that allow examination of predictor and moderating variables. Keefe et al. (in press) provide an impressive example of how selected RS factors were assessed repeatedly among chronic pain patients, demonstrating that a person’s daily spiritual experiences and perceived salience of religion in coping predicted pain levels and self-efficacy to manage pain.
CONCLUDING COMMENTS The recent advent of positive psychology has provided a much needed breathe of fresh air. The integration of positive and health psychology perspectives may provide a lens through which we can view the complexity and richness of human strengths. People have many strengths and possess many virtues that too often remain unrecognized if not unwittingly diminished by many health professionals. Counseling psychologists are uniquely positioned to contribute to this positive movement that seeks to redress in psychology a disproportionate focus on pathology, especially in terms of what we study and how we attempt to help people. In many ways, the biomedical model, although appropriate for some physical problems, has gradually infiltrated counseling psychology and in ways has accentuated that which is negative about the people we serve. Ignored too often have been the attitudes, skills, strengths, virtues, and resources of clients. We have tried to introduce three examples of areas that deserve the attention of counseling psychologists, with the hope that reader will seek more information about forgiveness, social support, and spiritual and religious factors. Note that these topics are related to each other in a variety of ways. Each represents a strength, a capacity to prevent and resolve problems, as well as to experi-ence life with greater overall quality. Hopefully, recognition for a more positive, affirming approach in the field will grow, along with interest in conducting research, creating training protocols, and practicing with an
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expanded sense of what is good and strong in our clients, our colleagues, and ourselves.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Preparation of this article was supported, in part, by a Stanford Graduate Research Fellowship to Alex H.S.Harns and from grants by Fetzer Institute and the John Templeton Foundation to the Carl E.Thoresen. The contributions of Albert Bandura, Robert Enright, Michael McCullough, William Miller, and Ken Pargament are gratefully acknowledged.
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9 Toward a Taxonomy of Human Strengths: Career Counseling’s Contribution to Positive Psychology
Mark L.Savickas Behavioral Sciences Department Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
During his term as president of the American Psychological Association, Martin E.P.Seligman (1998a) identified “building human strength” as psychology’s forgotten mission. Unfortunately, in drawing this conclusion Seligman might have overgeneralized. Maybe clinical psychology has neglected positive development, but counseling psychology has never forgotten the importance of developmental and preventative approaches to helping people cope with life’s challenges. Counseling psychology has not treated clients as passive recipients of external reinforcement and shaping, a second deficit of psychology according to Seligman. Counseling psychology has always viewed people as active shapers of their own lives and producers of their own development. Seligman asserted that, because of neglect, fundamental questions remain unanswered; for example, the question of “How can we prevent problems like depression and substance abuser?” To address this neglect, Seligman proposed constructing a new science of building human strength that will foster in young people virtues such as courage, optimism, interpersonal skill, hope, perseverance, and a work ethic. Apparently unbeknownst to Seligman, counseling psychology has pursued just this mission since its inception as the field of vocational guidance. In fact, Leona Tyler (1969, p. 10) asserted that “the psychological purpose of counseling is to facilitate development.” Counselors intervene systematically to build human strengths and thereby increase coping
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effectiveness. This coincides with Seligman’s (1998b) definition of positive psychology’s purpose as measuring, understanding, and building human strengths and civic virtues. Although not cited by Seligman (1998a) in his article about the failure of psychology to attend to positive development, counseling psychology’s main achievements and contributions have been in constructing models, methods, and materials that build human strength. In a second article, Seligman (1998b) asserted that “positive psychology needs a taxonomy…to guide the formulation and building of the good life” Constructing a taxonomy of human strengths is an interesting project both because of its theoretical importance and its practical applications. Counseling psychologists have constructed several such taxonomies over the last 50years (e.g., Blocher, 1974; Crites, 1965; Havinghurst, 1972). These taxonomies usually describe human strengths as the coping attitudes and skills needed to respond to the developmental tasks that society imposes on its citizens. Coping behaviors are the instrumental acts that exercise the human strengths needed to achieve the “good life” described by Seligman (1998b). Career counselors have been particularly active in proposing taxonomies of human strengths as a means of operationally defining the domain and goals of developmental career counseling. Career-development taxonomies (e.g., Hershenson, 1968; Super, 1963; Tiedeman & O’Hara, 1963) generally organize the coping behaviors using Erikson’s (1968) epigenetic framework of character strengths or virtues. The career-development taxonomies identify how these fundamental human strengths are exercised as vocational coping responses in the career domain. The coping responses catalogued in career development taxonomies are viewed as the actual processes of human development and the mechanisms of positive change. For example, the human strength of hope is exercised in planful attitudes and planning behaviors. Hope is the foundation of psychosocial ontogeny (Erikson) and, in parallel, planfulness is the fundamental variable in all models of career maturation (Super, 1983). By career counseling, and I include career education here, I mean developmental interventions that build the human strengths and practice the coping responses that individuals need to choose an occupation and secure a place in it. I do not mean vocational guidance that uses the psychology of individual differences to match people to fitting occupations. Developmental counseling concentrates on careers and their management over time, not occupational fit. Nevertheless, I should mention that Holland’s (1997) hexagonal model of coping orientations serves as a viable taxonomy of psychological strengths, one with strong construct validity and extensive empirical support. In contrast, career-development models are taxonomies of psychosocial strengths and may be more useful in considering how to build the human strengths and civic virtues identified by Seligman.
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PSYCHOSOCIAL STRENGTHS Career counseling concentrates on helping individuals implement their selfconcepts in society, particularly in work roles. Careers involve the psychosocial integration of work self- concepts and occupational roles, a process prompted by community expectations concerning how life should be lived. The essence of constructing careers lies in recursive transactions between self-concept and social role. An individual, as a self-organizing system with its own goals, repeatedly encounters the social expectation that she or he occupy a work role. The individual subsumes the goal of making a living into the larger meaning system of making a life. Society subsumes the expectation that each person play an occupational role into the larger goal of having its members contribute to the well being of the community. These two sets of goals, both dealing with system maintenance, must be negotiated. At stake for the individual, and thus providing a motivational drive, is the fulfillment of personal needs for survival, reproduction, and cultural self-realization. At stake for the community, and thus prompting social pressure, is easing adaptation to the physical environment by coordinating the action of group members. In its simplest sense, the culture of the community organizes individual variation among its members and thereby affords individuals a means of indirectly adapting to the physical environment by directly adapting to the culture itself. As an individual extends the self into the community through enacting social roles, there must be effective adaptation for both to flourish. The self-concept, usually in the form of integrative and selfdefining narratives, guides transactional adaptation by negotiating cultural opportunities and constraints. Each transaction should both strengthen the group and improve the individual’s adaptive fitness. The transactional adaptations required to mesh self and role produces vocational development. The never ending process of transactional adaptation and career construction evolve in probabilistic ways, which are struc-tured by the community and then imposed on individuals in the form of social expectations. Because these expectations are socially constructed and conditioned by local situations, they are contingent on time, place, and social role. The actual mechanisms of transactional adaptation involve psychosocial strength or the human strengths emphasized by positive psychology. In practice, career researchers, with their interest in continuity of career patterns and themes, have concentrated on six psychosocial strengths. From the perspective of the individual, construction of a career relies on developing the six human strengths by exercising syndromes of coping attitudes, beliefs, and competencies. The six lines of development can be conceptualized, from the social point of view, as six major tasks of vocational development imposed on children by society: (a) become concerned about the future, (b) increase personal control over one’s own activities, (c) form convictions about preferred roles and goals, (d) acquire the confidence that supports self-esteem and productive work
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habits and attitudes, (e) commit oneself to an occupation, and (f) find effective ways to connect with one’s coworkers and community. For the purpose of identifying the human strengths and the coping responses on which career intervention concentrates, I have grouped the coping responses into six syndromes of attitudes, beliefs, and competencies (the ABCs of career construction); Concern, Control, Conviction, Competence, Commitment, and Connection. In the remainder of this chapter, I describe the coping responses that exercise each human strength, as well as succinctly indicate how the career counseling builds these strengths. Hoping: Developing Career Concern In constructing a career, the first question that an individual asks of life is “Do I have a future?” If an individual is locked into the present, for whatever reason, then the answer is either “no” or “who cares?” The mainstay of a healthy personality in Western culture is a future orientation. Without this sense that the future is real and that one can prepare to meet it, people feel pessimistic and hopeless. Populating the future with anticipated events makes the future feel real and usually heightens the sense of continuity that connects present behavior to future outcomes, as well as increases optimism about the achievability of goals. Career development rests on the bedrock belief that one has a future worth preparing for and that preparation will improve that future. In fact, the very idea of a career requires that one have a future time perspective. Career is not a behavior, it is an idea. Thoughts of career require that an individual remember her or his vocational past, experience the vocational present, and anticipate the vocational future. Career development is fostered by first realizing that one’s present vocational situation evolved from past experiences, and connecting those experiences through the present situation to a preferred future. The connection between present experience and dreams of the future enables individuals to prepare to meet tomorrow. If the present is disconnected from the future, then an individual feels helpless in doing things today that will improve tomorrow. Or worse, if one cannot envision a future any better from today, then he or she may not bother to prepare for what one already has. Accordingly, the first psychosocial strength for career development is concern about tomorrow. Career concern is the line of vocational development rooted in dependence on parents and plotted by the coordinates of interpersonal trust and intrapersonal hope (cf., Erikson, 1963). Career development counseling seeks to establish a relationship with clients and use this goal- oriented partnership to reinforce the client’s optimism about and involvement in constructing their own career. This relationship, and the setting in which it forms, provides a safe space for clients to discuss their dreams and anxieties, It also provides a secure base from which to venture out into the world in search of social settings wherein they also feel a sense of trust. Occasionally, counselors encounter clients who do not feel safe,
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even in the consulting room. Then career counseling must focus first on fighting demoralization and instilling hope. The roots of feeling hopeless and insecure go deep into the heart of clients’ experiences with their families. Infants and children who establish secure attachments to their caregivers learn to trust themselves and other people. This positive conception of both self and others forms an “internal working model” of human relationships that enables children and adolescents to feel secure as they explore the work world and daydream about their place in it. Later, as adults, this felt security allows individuals to interact positively with mentors, supervisors, coworkers (Hazen & Shaver, 1990) as well as commit themselves to their occupations and stabilize in their organizations (Meyer & Allen, 1997). In contrast, insecure attachments produce negative conceptions of self or others (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). The preoccupied style of attachment, produced by a negative self-concept and positive conception of others, leads to anxiety about pleasing other people and ambivalence regarding vocational development tasks. The dismissive style of attachment, produced by a positive self-concept but negative conceptions of others, leads to a dissocial attitude toward tasks of vocational development. The fearful style of attachment, produced by a negative conceptions of both self and others, leads to career apathy and a disorganized work history. Each of these four attachment styles, as shown by data from the longitudinal Career Pattern Study, has different implications for vocational development and career construction. For example, a secure attachment leads to a future orientation, optimism, and daydreaming about possible selves and alternative futures. These childhood behaviors are precursors of an adolescent’s acquisition of foresightful attitudes toward planning one’s career. If one is not, or does not feel safe, then surviving the present is more compelling than planning tomorrow. The fundamental role of concern in constructing careers is reflected by the prime place given to it by prominent theories of vocational development, denoted by names such as anticipation (Tiedeman & O’Hara, 1961), awareness (Harren,1979), orientation (Crites, 1965), planfulness (Super & Overstreet, 1960), and time perspective (Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951). Career counseling fosters the development of a forward looking orientation by increasing individuals’ planfulness regarding how they will respond to the societal expectation that they work. More importantly, career counseling helps client to dream and, thereby, design their lives (Marko & Savickas, 1998). Specific interventions that build the human strength of hoping by exercising career concern include the Real Game (Jarvis & Richardt, 2001), the Life Skills Program (Adkins, 1970), time perspective workshops (Marko & Savickas), and writing future autobiographies (Maw, 1982). These interventions induce a future orientation, foster optimism, make the future feel real, reinforce positive attitudes toward planning, link present behavior to future outcomes, practice planning skills, and heighten career awareness (Savickas, 1991). These coping
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attitudes, beliefs, and competencies exercise the psychosocial strength of hope, foster vocational development, and construct careers. Willing: Developing Career Control If an individual believes that he or she has a future, then the next question that individual asks of life is “Who owns my future?” The answer to this question is heavily influenced by the culture in which the individual lives. In Western cultures that are individualistic, the expected answer is “I own my future.” Of course, in more collectivistic cultures following guidelines set by elders may be the more adaptive way to control one’s own career. Understanding cultural differences in viewing career control is a critical step in providing culturally sensitive and competent career counseling. Counselors must be careful not to impose their cultural views on their clients. In an individualistic culture like the United States, career counseling has a long history of reinforcing independence in career decision making, viewing dependence as immature, and ignoring interdependence (Hardin, Leong, & Osipow, 2001). Individuals who believe that other people own their career have been viewed by modern counselors of the 20th century as having foreclosed their options because they follow normative expectations in making choices that accommodate their family’s needs. Postmodern counselors of the 21st century have a more complicated view of this issue. They are sensitive to the social context and historical era in which their clients construct a career, as well as clients’ beliefs about who controls their lives. Regardless of culture, issues of control are usually a central topic in career counseling. Career control is the line of vocational developmental rooted in independence from parents and plotted by the coordinates of interpersonal autonomy and intrapersonal willpower (cf., Erikson, 1963). A sense of optimism about one’s vocational future leads to concern about who owns that future. Thus, a second human strength developed through career counseling is a sense of control over the vocational future. Individuals who fail to develop a sense of career control, and thus continue to rely on other people to shape their vocational future, seem to be persistently concerned with dependency issues. This trend line begins when infants learn to control their own bodies and, in due course, extend this control to a widening physical environment and interpersonal world. The developmental line of self-control has been, and remains, the subject of extensive research in vocational behavior including studies of locus of control, causal attributions, sense of agency, decisional styles, decisional competencies, decisional strategies, assertiveness, and individualism versus collectivism. Much of this extensive literature on the initiation and regulation of intentional behavior is brought to bear on vocational behavior in a model of selfdetermination devised by Blustein and Flum (1999). Herein, suffice it to state that career control is a major developmental construct, one particularly
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important to viewing individuals as producers of their own development. Proactive behaviors such as decision making, delaying gratification, and attributions to effort increase a sense of interpersonal autonomy and personal agency. These behaviors are the forerunners of an adolescent’s selfdetermination to choose decisively among various educational and vocational alternatives. Without a sense of career control, individuals do not feel they can chart their own destiny. Instead, they feel that their future will be ruled by external forces. Rather than make choices that shape their own futures, they can only hope that these forces will be kind to them. When it comes time that they must make decisions, they turn to external forces to show them the way. Often they turn to their parents to help them make the choice but they can also look to teachers, counselors, a higher power, or astrology to guide them. Counseling aimed at increasing the human strength of willpower and the coping responses of career control concentrate on exercising decision-making skills and assertive behaviors. The modal client in career counseling presents with a interpersonal style characterized by dependency. Accordingly, almost all of the popular intervention models and materials aim, at least indirectly, to increase career control. In addition, there are numerous interventions directly aimed at increasing career control, including assertiveness training, decisionmaking training, and attribution retraining. In short, effective career interventions almost always increase decisional skill, not just aid in making an educational or vocational choice. These interventions induce or increase a sense of responsibility, ability to delay gratification, knowledge of the principles of decision making and practice in their application, and decisiveness. These coping attitudes, beliefs, and competencies exercise career control and build the psychosocial strength of willing. Purposing: Developing Career Convictions Having a sense of control over one’s vocational future leads an individual to ask of life, “What do I want to do with my future?” In answering this question, an individual can look inward or outward. The inward answer is that the purpose of life is to please oneself This egocentric position leads to investing willpower in a stubborn insistence on receiving narcissistic supplies. The outward answer is that life is with people and one must contribute to the group. Thus, purposing is a third human strength, involving exploration of convictions about the meaning of work and its place in one’s life as well as a willingness to cooperate with people and contribute to the community. After all, work is social responsibility. It insures the survival of the group, not just individual subsistence and selfactualization. Career conviction is the line of vocational development rooted in interdependence with other people and plotted by the coordinates of
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interpersonal initiative and intrapersonal purpose (cf., Erikson, 1963). This developmental line starts when the curiosity that prompts children to explore who they are and what they want. It eventually leads to considering the meaning of life and how it should be lived. Conceptualizing how life should be led includes forming ideas about how career choices should be made. Career convictions, and the considerations and contrivances that accompany them, involve the expectations and explanations that individuals use to comprehend how to make choices and construct their careers. These convictions affect choices by determining the bases for choosing. For example, some people believe that you should choose the occupation that you are good at whereas other people believe that you can become anything you want as long as you try hard. Once employed, some people believe that you must stick with the job you have chosen, whereas others believe that if you stay too long in a job, the boss will take you for granted. Exploration of how choices are made in one’s family and culture, followed by interrogation of these processes, prefigure adolescents’ contrivances for making career choices and fund of information about occupations and the world of work. Distorted career conceptions can derail the career choice process, leading to decisional difficulties, as well as to a lifelong pursuit of extrinsic rewards. Adaptive conceptions about the career choice process lead to suitable and viable choices throughout one’s career, as well as to the pursuit of intrinsic gratification on the job. Individuals who fail to develop career convictions that appropriately respond to community expectations seem to be egocentrically concerned with only themselves and their own perspective. Individuals who fail to develop convictions rooted in social interest pursue career plans that focus on power, possessions, and prestige. Rather than intrinsic goals, they pursue extrinsic signs of success. In so doing, they can achieve success, and even admiration from others, but the cost is the inner satisfaction one feels from sharing one’s talents so as to enrich the community. A sense of purpose allows one to transcend egocentric limitations; to get out of “I” and into “us.” Career counseling increases the human strength of purposing by exercising exploratory behavior. Career counseling fosters the development of personal convictions by helping clients learn how to explore their environments and their values. Exploration of the salience of social roles such as work, friendship, and play, requires information about the social opportunity structure and the identification of role models. Specific interventions include training in information-seeking behavior, values clarification exercises, achievement motivation training, and goal setting exercises. Counselors also confront selfish and maladaptive ideas in examining career choice misconceptions (Crites, 1965), ordinary explanations (Young, 1988), and career beliefs (Krumboltz & Vosvick, 1996). The interventions aimed at examining and revising career convictions such as A Purpose for Your Life (Ligon, 1972) seek to clarify values, examine role models, prompt vocational exploration, increase
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occupational information, and encourage social interest. These coping attitudes, beliefs, and competencies exercise career convictions and build the psychosocial strength of purposing. In the end, career counseling helps the client identify and articulate a purpose in life, one that synthesizes selfish goals and selfless outcomes. Endeavoring: Developing Career Competence Having established career convictions about what they want to contribute to society—and what they seek in return—individuals then ask a fourth question of life: “Can I do it?” After forming career convictions and a life plan, individuals usually wonder if they are capable of reaching their goals. Thus, a fourth human strength is endeavoring; that is, feeling confident about meeting the demands of one’s vocational future. Self-confidence means that one anticipates success in encountering challenges and overcoming obstacles (Rosenberg, 1989). Confidence can move individuals from setting goals to actualizing roles and achieving goals. Confidence denotes feelings of self-efficacy concerning one’s ability to successfully execute a course of action needed to make and implement suitable educational and vocational choices. Career confidence facilitates the performance of behaviors that lead to developmental task mastery. Career confidence is the developmental line rooted in feelings of equality with other people and plotted by the coordinates of interpersonal industriousness and intrapersonal confidence (cf. Erikson, 1963). The developmental line for career confidence originates from solving problems encountered in daily activities; such as household chores, schoolwork, and hobbies. Moreover, recognizing that one can be useful and productive at these tasks increases feelings of self-acceptance and self-worth. Confidence is strongly affected by internalizing the appraisals of significant others in the family. When their efforts are acknowledged and behaviors applauded, children grow in confidence that they are good enough to meet the demands that life places on them. They can separate their worth from their behavior. In contrast, individuals who are routinely criticized and whose worth is evaluated have trouble separating their behavior from their worth. Because their worth hinges on good performance, they often develop anxieties about trying, including speech anxiety and test anxiety. Individuals who fail to develop a sense of competence seem to be persistently concerned with self-perceived weaknesses and inadequacies when they consider their work lives. They focus more on how they are doing than on what they are doing; and thus, become hesitant about pursuing their goals and committing themselves to an identity. They need the courage to be imperfect. Career counseling builds confidence by encouraging clients to concentrate on what they are doing, not how they are doing. Although empathy heightens self-acceptance, encouragement increases self-efficacy. Fundamentally,
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encouragement inspires clients to believe that they can meet the demands of life and resolve, if not solve, the problems they encounter. Encouraging statements delivered by the counselor always emphasize what the situation requires; concentrates on the present situation, not sadness about the past or fears about the future; focuses on the act not the actor; and looks toward effort, not outcome. Specific interventions include success acknowledgment (Haldane, 1960), Adlerian exercises that instill courage (Perman, 1975), Transactional Analysis training to learn, “I am okay and you are okay” (Kurtz, 1974), and workshops that increase self-esteem and self-efficacy (Betz, 1992). The interventions aimed at building self-esteem seek to encourage a sense of self-acceptance, focus attention on what situations require rather than on safeguarding self-esteem, and prompt trying and persistent effort. These coping attitudes, beliefs, and competencies exercise career confidence and build the psychosocial strength of endeavoring. Committing: Developing Career Choices Having developed confidence about making a social contribution that substantiates one’s purpose in life, individuals then ask life the next question, “Which roles enable me to pursue my life goals?” This question focuses on identifying and selecting social roles that enable the purposeful pursuit of life goals. In the vocational domain, it is a question of how to occupy oneself This question is answered by committing oneself to a self-chosen identity through the tangible choice of an occupation. Matching self to occupations, it must be emphasized, involves more than the psychological activity of mentally comparing conceptions of self and occupations. Translating private goals into public roles is a psychosocial process of identity construction because, in declaring an occupational choice, an individual identifies himself or herself before some audience. Public declaration of occupational interest crystallizes meanings that both an actor and the observers attribute to the self in the social role of worker. Stating an occupational choice involves telling a story about the self, one with a plot that makes a life whole by unifying and assigning meaning to various elements of the self. Thus, vocational identity individuates a self among other people. By extending the self into the world and declaring “this is me,” individuals establish their identity in relation to society. Having learned to be feel equal among other people (as well as the flexibility to be, in different situations, dependent, independent, & interdependent), an individual must stake a claim to uniqueness, one that distinguishes “me” from others in the same community and identifies the way in which “I” can be a resource for the group (Hogan, 1982). Career commitment is the developmental line rooted in feelings of individuality and uniqueness plotted by the coordinates of interpersonal identity and intrapersonal integrity (cf., Erikson, 1963). The social demand to construct a
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vocational identity is presented by society in the concrete form of expectations to make an occupational choice. As Erikson (1963), noted, society confirms identity with “the tangible promise of a career” (pp. 261–262). Choosing an occupation rests on a process of individuation that constitutes a vocational identity by unifying one’s interests, needs, abilities, and values. The process is eased by career counseling that prompts individuals to crystallize a group of vocational preferences, eventually specify an occupational choice, and finally actualize that choice by securing a position in the chosen occupation and committing oneself to that position, employer, and occupation. Mastering these three vocational development tasks of the exploration stage (crystalization, specification, and actualization) move an individual from occupational daydreams to employment in a job and commitment to a social identity. Individuals who encounter difficulty in negotiating the choice process experience delays in identity formation and may be viewed by other people as avoiding commitments. Avoidance behaviors include undecidedness and the overuse of delay and procrastination in an effort to ignore, for as long as possible, problems and choices. Those who use the avoidant style prefer emotionally-focused coping and seem to lack role models. The avoidant style springs from negative perceptions of others that leads to diffuse identity and, if self is also evaluated as negative, to a disorganized identity. Individuals with diffuse or disorganized identities generally experience unstable work histories. To help foster commitment to a vocational identity, career counselors usually assist clients to learn more about their occupational abilities, vocational interests, and work values. Identifying dependable strengths and enduring motive increases self-knowledge and eases individuation that, in turn, enables individuals to choose among occupational alternatives and possible selves. Because this self-knowledge is so important, Valliant (1977) has cogently identified self-exploration as the single most important coping skill for leading a successful and satisfying life. Career interventions that provide tools for identity construction usually involve self-appraisal, occupational information, and vocational guidance. Specific activities include the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1994), SIGI (Katz, 1993), DISCOVER (Harris-Bowlsbey & Sampson, 2001), interpreting results from ability tests and interest inventories, thematic analysis of career narratives, career choice workshops and courses, role experimentation, part-time and trial jobs, and resume writing. Relating: Developing Partnerships Individuals who have made an identity commitment, that may include choice of an occupation, then need to implement that vocational self-concept. They then ask of life, “With whom will I pursue my goals?” The “whom” refers to community, company, and coworkers. Counselors can help clients learn how to present themselves to these institutions and groups so as to secure positions in
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the chosen field and then stabilize in a congruent position. Individuals who encounter difficulties in negotiating transitions (e.g., school-to-work, home to work) and establishing themselves in an occupation and other community roles usually need to learn social skills that enhance their ability to form effective relationships with diverse individuals in manifold contexts. Career connection is the developmental line rooted in community feelings and plotted by the coordinates of interpersonal association and an intrapersonal sense of belongingness (cf. Erikson, 1963). Connecting requires that individuals stabilize in an occupational position, primarily by adapting to the organizational culture that surrounds their job. Adaptation to the organization deals with participating in the work environment, not performing job tasks. Organizational adaptation involves transactions between the worker and the job environment, with the person engaged in efforts to learn about the company of workers and the company engaged in efforts to socialize the newcomer. As they begin their employment, newcomers must learn how things are done in their new company. This includes becoming knowledgeable about about the people, politics, values, language, and history of the organization in general and of their work group in particular. It is important that novices understand how their job fits into the big picture; that is, why their job is important and what they contribute to the organization’s goals. Part of organizational adaptation includes forming congenial relationships with coworkers and supervisors. Inability to get along with coworkers is the most frequent reason for leaving or losing one’s job. In addition to observational learning, prior work experience is helpful here, as is taking advantage of orientation programs and buddy systems. Specific career interventions include mentoring, peer support, conflict resolution workshops, social skills training, group counseling, Careerspeak (Farren, Kaye, & Leibowitz, 1982), career conversations (Hirsh, Jackson, & Kidd, 2001), and career coaching (Laske, 1999). These interventions focus on improving coworker relationships by communicating appropriately, supporting colleagues, encouraging peers, demonstrating goodwill to supervisors, tolerating individual differences, and dealing with diversity. These coping attitudes, beliefs, and competencies exercise career connection and build the psychosocial strength of relating.
STRENGTH ASSESSMENT When development is on schedule or career counseling succeeds, individuals approach occupational choices and work roles with a concern for the future, a sense of control over it, conceptions of which roles to play and conviction about what goals to pursue, confidence to design the occupational future and execute plans to make it real, commitment to their choices, and connections to their coworkers and organization. It is important to note that development along the
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six lines progresses at different rates, with possible fixations and regressions. Delays within, or disequilibrium among, the six developmental lines produce problems that dominate the daily practice of career counseling. Moderate disharmony produces individual differences in choice readiness and explains variant patterns of vocational development and work adjustment. Strong disharmony produces deviant patterns of development and adjustment. Accordingly, the six developmental lines sketch a framework that can be used to assess career adaptability, as well as diagnose vocational decision-making difficulties and work adjustment problems. Counselors may use the career adaptability framework to assess developmental delays and distortions in building human strengths and then prescribe interventions to further exercise the strengths an individual needs to cope more effectively with the situations she or he encounters. The assessment framework arranges variables from the six developmental lines into a structural model that can be used to recognize individual differences in the readiness and resources for making, implementing, and maintaining occupational choices. The model of career adaptability appears in Fig. 9.1. The variables in this structural model are grouped as Attitudes, Behaviors, and Competencies. Attitudes refer to the dispositions and beliefs that orient an individual’s frame of mind, response tendencies, and inclinations toward constructing career choices and working. The Human Strengths
Interpersonal Orientation
Adaptive Attitudes
Cognitive Competencies
Coping Behaviors
Hoping
Dependent
Concern
Planning
Assured Forward Looking Optimistic
Willing
Independent
Control
Decision Making Assertive Roponsible Disciplined
Purposing
Independent
Conviction
Occupational Information
Endeavoring
Equality
Confidence
Problem Solving Self-efficacious Striving Persistent
Commiting
Individuated
Commitment
Setf-Knowledge
Consistent Stable Predictable
Relating
Union
Connection
Negotiating
Networking Collaborative Partnership
Exploratory Realistic Compromise
FIG. 9.1. A Structural Model of Career Adaptability. This figure is copyrighted by Mark L. Savickas.
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six attitudes or dispositions are named career concern, control, conviction, confidence, commitment, and connection. The cognitive competencies, that is comprehension and problem-solving abilities, denote the resources brought to bear on making and enacting occupational choices. In the structural model the six competencies are knowledge about self and occupations, as well as skill at relating the two through matching, planning, problem solving, and negotiating. The development and use of competencies is shaped by the attitudes, with each attitude facilitating development of a particular competence. Concern generates planning competence; control enhances decisional competence; convictions engender knowledge of occupations; confidence breeds problem-solving competence; commitment enhances self-knowledge, and connection increases negotiating skill. The six cognitive competencies modulate coping behavior, whereas the attitudes—lying between competence and action—mediate the use of competencies. The last column in Fig. 9.1 lists three coping behaviors that draw on each attitude and competence. The career adaptability model can be applied either by interpreting psychometric inventories or analyzing client narratives. Inventories that measure the attitudes, beliefs, and competencies in the model were described elsewhere (Savickas, 2000), so I will not repeat that information. To assess career adaptability using narrative analysis requires that a counselor elicit a client’s career story and then determine which issue or question organizes the story. The rows in the framework provide a structure for narrative analysis of career conversations. By filtering the career story through the framework, a counselor can identify the narrative themes that dominate a client’s deliberations and then select an appropriate intervention to turn that preoccupation into an occupation. Although one can be tempted to interpret the framework columns as development stages, it is wiser to view them as developmental lines that run through a life. Every person needs all six human strengths. Understanding how they interrelate at a particular point in life, and which one dominates the client’s narrative, is sufficient for understanding a client’s vocational situation. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that adjacent rows do often form patterns. For example, helping a client develop career confidence can lead to the self-esteem needed to act on her interests in making career commitments. I use the adaptability model to determine where to enter the client’s narrative, and begin to discuss how she or he can actively master what is being passively endured. Particularly useful in identifying the narrative theme of the career story, is to listen for the question being addressed by the client’s story. Fig. 9.2 outlines a model for narrative analysis of career adaptability using the six career questions already explained earlier in this chapter. In addition to the question being addressed by the career story, the model includes the narrative plot that clients use to consider each question. The fourth column lists some typical statements that clients have made in narrating a career story about each question. Each statement, in capsulizing the issue that preoccupies the client, emphasizes
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the theme of his or her current career story. For example, the first question in the model asks, “Do I have a future?” Clients who narrate a career story that addresses this question are often heard making statements such as: “Its hard to imagine myself in any occupation.” “I cannot seem to become very concerned about the future.” “Something will come along sooner or later.” “There is no sense in making plans when the future is so uncertain.” “Who knows where I will be next year.” Although these statements organize slightly different stories, the plots are fundamentally similar in expressing anxiety about the future and directing attention toward the need for increased career concern and hope. Individual differences in the race, gender, and age of the story teller should not distract the counselor from recognizing the universal human theme expressed by stories about career anxiety. At this point, it is important to note that the framework for narrative analysis of career stories emphasizes career adaptability, not a scheme of unfolding career maturation. The six questions recur throughout a career and life, they are not encountered and resolved once and for all. Continuing the example of career concern, the issues involved in career anxiety about the future are typically brought to counselors by at least three groups of clients. The first group is Adolescents who have trouble envisioning a better life for themselves. The second group is Midlife Workers who encounter a crisis initiated by unemployment, usually because of downsizing or factory closings. The third group is Older Workers who need to start thinking about disengaging from work roles and making plans for retirement living. Although differing greatly in chronological age, these three types of clients each tell a story plotted by apathy. The apathy can be rooted in alienation or anxiety. Career alienation typically locks one into a present-oriented time perspective and produces feelings of pessimism about opportunities for creating a better future. Career anxiety is more hopeful about future possibilities yet includes feelings of apprehension when thinking about the future. Although individuals who experience career anxiety often seek counseling, individuals who experience alienation only present themselves to the counselor when referred by authority figures or when prompted by outreach programs that transform indifference into anxiety. Regardless of how they arrive at counseling, each group needs to build the human strength of hope as they develop an attitude of concern about the future and competence at planning their lives. In the process of exercising this strength, they need to feel secure in depending on someone or something larger than themselves. They benefit from career interventions that heighten their awareness of impending transitions, as well as the adaptive responses and social opportunities that ease negotiating these life shifts. In sum, the framework for
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narrative analysis of career stories concentrates on functional issues and adaptability, not chronological issues and maturity. Adaptability Syndrome Concern
Career Question Do I have a future?
Narrative Plot Apathy
Sample Statements Its hard to imagine myself in any occupation.
Career Interventions Awareness Heightening
I cannot seem to become very concerned about myfuture. There is no sense in making plans when future is so uncertain. Control
Who owns my future?
Indecisiveness You get into an occupation mostly by change.
Decisional Training
Why worry about it when you do not have much to any about it anyway. I would like someone to tell me what to do. Conviction
What do I want to do with my future?
Unrealism
I can doanything I want if I try hard.
Values Clarification
It does not matterwhatI do a long as itpay swell. There is only one right occupation for each person. Confidence
Can I do it?
Inhibition
I dont know how to get into the line of work I want to do.
Self-Esteem Building
I will probably how to settle for a job that I don’t like. My goals are so high, I don’t know if I can attain them. Commitment
Which roles enable me to do it?
Uncertainty
I cannot under stand how some people can be so certain about what theywant to do.
Identify Construction
I keep changing my occupational choice. I have so many iterests it is hard to choose just one. Connection
Who will I do it with?
Isolation
There are not any openings for the job I want.
Mentoring Conversations
I am having a hard time fitting in at work. When I work, the rules are unfair.
FIG 9.2 A Model for Narrative Analysis of Career Stories. This figure is copyrighted by Mark L.Savickas.
Of course, using narrative analysis of career stories to make developmental diagnoses does prescribe the goal of career intervention. Career counseling is applied human development in which counselors engage clients in activities that exercise human strengths to train and build these strengths. In general, the goal
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is to foster vocational development and adaptive fitness. In particular, the goal is to help a client exercise the attitudes and competencies, as well as practice the behaviors that address the adaptive tasks that he or she now faces or is about to encounter. The counselor’s responses to these questions, which the client asks of life, come in the form of the career intervention selected. These interventions, listed in the last column of Fig. 9.2, help build human strengths by exercising the attitudes, beliefs, and competencies that enable clients to cope with the question(s) embedded in their stories. For example, a counselor can respond to the question, “Can I do it?” with theories and techniques aimed at increasing self-esteem and enhancing self-efficacy (e.g., Betz, 1992). These techniques, however, provide a less adequate response to the question of “What do I want to do in the future?” Therefore, according to the framework, the career intervention should fit the narrative theme in the clients career story and provide a schema that enables the client to advance the story to the next chapter. Used to script the next chapter, the career intervention materials and methods serve as exercises to form the attitudes, beliefs, and competencies that foster mastery of vocational developmental tasks, smooth adaptation to work roles, and construct careers. These interventions exercise and increase the human strengths that are the focus of positive psychology.
SUMMARY The virtues listed by Seligman (1998a)—courage, optimism, interpersonal skill, hope, perseverance, and a work ethic—are each subsumed in this taxonomy of career adaptability syndromes. In brief, career concern includes a hopeful and optimistic future orientation that fosters involvement in thinking about and planning one’s life. Career control arises from exercising decision making, interpersonal assertiveness, decisiveness, and self-determination. Career conviction is rooted in values which serve to guide one’s life, including a strong work ethic. Career competence involves the self-esteem and self-efficacy that encourage individuals to believe they are able to meet the challenges that life presents and to persevere until they achieve desired outcomes. Career commitment involves identifying oneself in a community, whereas career connection subsequently relates the self to other people in that community through the life roles of work, family, leisure, and citizenship. Clearly, career education and counseling, through the exercise of vocational coping attitudes beliefs and competencies concentrate on building the human strengths to which Seligman refers. Hopefully, as the American Psychological Association advances with the positive science that Seligman envisions, it will include, or at least consider, the contributions offered by counseling psychology, in general, and career counseling, in particular.
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REFERENCES Adkins, W.R. (1970). Life skills: Structured counseling for the disadvantaged. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 49, 108–116. Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L.M. (1991), Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226–244. Betz, N.E. (1992). Counseling uses of career self-efficacy theory. Career Development Quarterly, 41, 22–26. Blocher, D.H. (1974). Developmental counseling (2nd ed.). New York: Ronald. Blustein, D.L., & Flum, H. (1999). A self-determination perspective of interests and exploration in career development. In M.L.Savickas & A.R.Spokane (Eds.) Vocational interests: Meaning, measurement, and counseling use, Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black. Crites, J.O. (1965). Measurement of vocational maturity in adolescence: I. Attitude Test of the Vocational Development Inventory. Psychological Monographs, 79(2), 595. Erickson, E.H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York: Norton. Erikson, E. (1968). Identity, youth and crisis. New York: Norton. Farren, C., Kaye, B., & Leibowitz, Z. (1982). Careerspeak: A career discussion kit for employees. College Park, MD: Career Systems. Ginsberg, E., Ginsburg, S.W., Axelrad, S., & Herma, J.L. (1951). Occupational choice: An approach to a general theory. New York: Columbia University Press. Haldane, B. (I960). How to make a habit of success, Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Hardin, E.E., Leong, F.T.L., & Osipow, S.H. (2001). Cultural relativity in the conceptualization of career maturity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58, 36–52. Harren, V.A. (1979). A model of career decision-making for college students, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14, 119–133. Harris-Bowlsbey, J., & Sampson, J.P. (2001). Computer-based career planning systems: Dreams and realities. Career Development Quarterly, 49, 250–260. Havinghurst, R.J. (1972). Developmental tasks and education (3rd ed). New York: David McKay. Hazan, C., & Shaver, P.R. (1990). Love and work: An attachment-theoretical perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 270–280. Hershenson, D.B. (1968). Life-stage vocational development system. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 15, 23–30. Hirsh, W., Jackson, C., & Kidd, J.M. (2001). Straight talking: Effective career discussions at work. Cambridge, England: National Institute for Career Education and Counselling.
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Hogan, R. (1982). A socioanalytic theory of personality. In Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (pp. 55–89). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Holland, J.L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. Holland, J.L. (1994). Self-Directed Search (Form R, 4th ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. Jarvis, P., & Richardt, J. (2001). The Real Game series: Bringing real life to career development. New Brunswick, Canada: National Work/Life Centre. Katz, M.R. (1993). Computer-assisted career decision making: The guide in the machine. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Krumboltz, J.D., & Vosvick, M.A. (1996). Career assessment and the Career Beliefs Inventory. Journal of Career Assessment, 4, 345–361. Kurtz, R.R. (1974). Using a transactional analysis format in vocational group counseling. Journal of College Student Personnel, 15, 447–451. Laske, O.E. (1999). An integrated model of developmental coaching. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice & Research, 5, 139–159. Ligon, E.M. (1972). A purpose for your life. Schenectady, NY: Union College Character Research Project. Marko, K.W., & Savickas, M.L. (1998). Effectiveness of a career time perspective intervention. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 52, 106–119. Maw, I.L. (1982). The future autobiography: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of College Student Personnel, 23, 33, 35, 51. Meyer, J.P., & Allen, N.J. (1991). Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research, and application. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Perman, S. (1975). Encouragement techniques. Individual Psychologist, 12, 13–18. Rosenberg, M. (1989). Society and the adolescent self-image (Rev. ed.).Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. Savickas, M.L. (1991). Improving career time perspective. In D.Brown & L.Brooks (Eds.), Technique of career counseling (pp. 236–249). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Savickas, M.L. (2000). Assessing career decision making. In C.E.Watkins & V.Campbell (Eds.), Testing and assessment in counseling practice (pp. 429–477). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Seligman, M.E.P. (1998a). Building human strength. Psychology’s forgotten mission APA Monitor, 29(1). Seligman, M.E.P. (1998b). What is the “good life”? APA Monitor, 29(10). Super, D.E. (1963). Vocational development in adolescence and early adulthood: Tasks and behaviors. In D.Super, R.Starishevsky, N.Matlin, & J.Jordaan (Eds.), Career development: Self-concept theory (pp. 79–93) New York: College Entrance Examination Board.
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10 Assessing Optimal Human Functioning
Patricia Frazier, Shigehiro Oishi, and Michael Steger Department of Psychology University of Minnesota
As this volume exemplifies, there is a movement within psychology to focus on the positive aspects of life, in contrast to psychology’s more typical focus on deficits and problems. The purpose of this chapter is to describe specific measures counseling psychology researchers and practitioners can use to assess various aspects of optimal human functioning, and to discuss some general assessment issues in this area. More specifically, we begin by briefly describing various definitions of optimal functioning and our rationale for choosing specific domains to cover. We next outline the criteria we used to evaluate measures. We then describe and critique assessment instruments in three domains of optimal functioning that we feel are particularly important for counseling psychologists: subjective well-being, meaning in life, and posttraumatic growth. We conclude with a discussion of some broader issues to consider in the assessment of optimal functioning.
DEFINITIONS OF OPTIMAL HUMAN FUNCTIONING What constitutes optimal human functioning? Not surprisingly, there is no clear answer to this question. For example, Ryff (1989) presented one attempt to define systematically the essential features of psychological well-being. Based on a review of clinical, mental health, and life-span developmental theories, she identified 6 core dimensions (i.e., self-accep-tance, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others). More
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recently, Ryff and Singer (1998) outlined two core features (i.e., leading a life of purpose & having quality connections to others) and two secondary features (i.e., positive self-esteem & mastery) of positive human health. Although not a systematic attempt to define the domain, in their introduction to a special issue of the American Psychologist on optimal functioning, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) described three levels of positive psychology. The first involves subjective experiences, such as happiness, hope, and optimism. The second concerns positive individual traits such as courage, wisdom, and forgiveness. Finally, at the group level are virtues such as responsibility, nurturance, and tolerance. Another special issue on positive psychology (Sheldon & King, 2001) highlighted similar topics, including positive emotions, resilience, happiness, and optimism. Given the numerous aspects of optimal functioning that have been described in the literature, we were faced with the daunting task of deciding what aspects we would cover in this chapter. Clearly, we could not cover every attribute that might be considered an aspect of optimal functioning. Our decisions were based on the following criteria. First, although there is no clear consensus on this issue, we wanted to cover what appeared to be the most important aspects of optimal functioning based on current conceptualizations (e.g., Ryff & Singer, 1998). Second, we chose constructs that seemed to be most relevant to counseling research and practice. Each of the measures we describe could be used in counseling research and practice to assess, for example, clients’ current functioning and counseling outcomes. Third, we chose domains of optimal functioning that, although relevant to counseling, may be less familiar to counseling psychologists than others. Finally, we focused on aspects of optimal functioning for which there are psychometrically sound measures that also lend themselves to use in counseling research and practice. The three domains chosen—subjective well-being, meaning in life, and posttraumatic growth—all meet these criteria. For example, both subjective well-being and meaning in life are essential to the folk concept of the “good life” (King & Napa, 1998) and are important outcomes to consider in counseling research and practice. Posttraumatic growth seems especially relevant to counseling both because traumatic experiences are common among clients seeking counseling and because although most work with trauma survivors focuses on reducing distress, a growing body of research indicates that many trauma survivors report positive changes in their lives (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1998). To understand the effects of traumatic events in counseling research and practice, we need to assess both their negative and potentially positive effects. In regard to familiarity to counselors, a computerized search of the Journal of Counseling Psychology from 1990 through 2001 revealed very few articles related to subjective well-being (n=6), meaning in life (n=1), or posttraumatic growth (n=0) but 22 articles on self-esteem. Thus, although self-esteem clearly is an important domain of optimal functioning, we chose not to review measures
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of self-esteem because they are likely to be more familiar to counseling psychologists. Finally, as outlined next, there are psychometrically sound instruments that can be used to assess subjective well-being, meaning, and posttraumatic growth that are easily used in research and counseling settings. In contrast, for example, although Baltes and Staudinger (2000) described a very interesting program of research on wisdom, their assessment procedure is fairly complicated (involving transcription of open-ended responses & coding by highly trained judges). In summary, although many important aspects of optimal functioning remain unaddressed here because of space limitations, we hope that the framework we use to evaluate instruments in our three chosen domains, and the general assessment issues raised in the final section, will help readers evaluate measures that assess other domains of optimal functioning. In addition, we encourage readers to consult the special issues mentioned previously and the references cited herein for more information.
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING MEASURES Prior to describing and critiquing instruments used to assess various domains of optimal functioning, we briefly describe the criteria we used to evaluate these instruments. Although these criteria likely will be familiar, we reiterate them here to provide a framework for our subsequent review. Our criteria were derived from the most recent revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (Joint Committee on Standards for Educational & Psychological Testing, 1999). Reliability The two broad categories of reliability coefficients most relevant to the measures we describe are internal consistency and stability coefficients. The desired levels of internal consistency and stability depend on the theory of the construct in question. Validity Evidence Consistent with the Standards, we viewed validity as a unitary concept and thus refer to various kinds of validity-related evidence rather than to distinct types of validity. The first is content-related evidence, which is obtained from an analysis of the relationship between test content and the construct in question. This analysis requires that the test developer describe the procedures followed in specifying and generating test content in reference to the construct. The second is evidence based on internal structure. Analyses of internal structure indicate
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the degree to which the relationships among test items conform to the construct in question. The third is evidence based on relations with other variables, which includes evidence that the test is positively related to measures of similar constructs (convergent evidence) and unrelated to measures of different constructs (discriminant evidence). Also in this category is evidence regarding test-criterion relationships, which refers to the extent to which a measure of a construct is associated with some external indicator of the same construct. The criterion can be measured either at the same time as the predictor (concurrent test-criterion relationships) or in the future (predictive testcriterion relationships). We also considered whether the test developers assessed the effects of method variance by examining relations between the test and other variables using multiple methods of multiple traits, known as a multitraitmultimethod (MTMM) matrix (Campbell & Fiske, 1959). Use of a MTMM matrix allows for the estimation of the relative contributions of trait and method variance. The basic idea is that correlations between measures of the same trait that involve different methods (e.g., self reports & informant reports of the same trait, called heteromethod monotrait correlations) should be higher than correlations between measures of different traits that involve the same method (e.g., self-reports of 2 traits, called monomethod heterotrait correlations).
ASSESSMENT OF SPECIFIC DOMAINS OF OPTIMAL FUNCTIONING Subjective Well-Being In the traditional medical model, the removal of pain is considered the ultimate goal of treatment. According to this model, if Sylvia no longer feels depressed, the treatment is over. However, does Sylvia now feel happy and joyful? Subjective well-being (SWB) research started with the idea that, because the removal of symptoms does not always result in a joyful life, the documentation of positive outcomes should be made independently of negative ones (Diener, 1984). Indeed, now there is substantial evidence that the frequency of negative emotional experience is independent of the frequency of positive-emotional experience (e.g., Diener & Emmons, 1984). SWB researchers, therefore, aim to understand how individuals negotiate the ups and downs of their daily lives and achieve their important goals (see Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999, for a review). As a first step toward this end, numerous scales have been developed over the past 30 years (Andrews & Robinson, 1991). Some scales focus on the cognitive aspect of well-being (i.e., life satisfaction), whereas others focus on the affective aspect of well-being (i.e., emotions). In this section, we first review reliability and validity evidence for three life satisfaction scales, followed by similar
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evidence for three emotion scales. Unless stated otherwise, in this and subsequent sections, the evidence provided comes from the citation provided for the measure. We conclude with some more general comments on SWB measures (see also Robbins & Kliewer, 2000). Cognitive Evaluation of Well-Being: Life Satisfaction Scales Three life satisfaction scales—the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999), and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB; Ryff, 1989)—were chosen because, although widely used in SWB research, they were not covered in an earlier review by Andrews and Robinson (1991). The five-item SWLS is the most widely used multiple-item scale. The SHS also is a short life satisfaction scale, consisting of four items. Finally, the PWB is the most comprehensive measure of well-being. This 120-item scale consists of 6 subscales: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others, and self-acceptance.1 Reliability All three scales show evidence of reliability. In regard to internal consistency, total scales and all subscales of the PWB have alphas of .80 or greater. All three test developers also reported stability coefficients. Specifically, 2-month testretest reliability was .82 for the SWLS; test-retest reliability coefficients were .85 over 1 month, .71 over 3 months, and .55 over 1 year for the SHS; and 6week test-retest reliability was over .80 for all six facets of the PWB. Validity Evidence Content-Related Evidence. Unlike educational testing measures, it is difficult to gauge the content validity of well-being measures, as the boundary of the construct is ambiguous. Because of this ambiguity, as well as individual-cultural differences in definitions of well-being, the developers of the SWLS and the SHS created global items (e.g., “so far I have gotten the important things I want in my life”) that would allow each respondent to interpret the items in a subjectively meaningful way. On the other hand, Ryff (1989) created the PWB to represent the psychological functioning of the individual as postulated by various theorists (e.g., Erikson, Maslow, Rogers, & Jahoda). Although it is
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84 item (Ryff,Lee, Essex, & Schmutte, 1994) and 18 item (Ryff & Keyes, 1995) versions of the PWB also are available.
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debatable whether Ryff’s six dimensions represent a universal conception of well-being (Diener, Sapyta, & Suh, 1998), there is no question that she paid the most attention to the issue of content validity. Internal Structure. The internal structure of the PWB (Ryff & Keyes, 1995) has been established using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), whereas the one factor structure of the SWLS has been established via exploratory factor analysis. The one-factor structure of the SHS has not been formally tested by factor analysis, although the high alphas, combined with the small number of items (i.e., 4), strongly suggest the one-factor structure of the SHS. Convergent and discriminant Evidence. All three scales showed expected positive relations with self-esteem and optimism, and negative correlations with depression. As expected, the SHS and the SWLS were uncorrelated with gradepoint average (GPA). In addition, the convergent and discriminant validity of the SWLS in relation to positive emotion, self-esteem, and optimism has been shown using a MTMM matrix (Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996). For instance, the monotrait-heteromethod coefficient (e.g., the correlation between SWLS selfreports & informant reports) was higher than the heterotrait-monomethod coefficient (e.g., the correlation between the SWLS & Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale—2 self-report measures of different traits). Test-Criterion Relationships. Relations between the SWLS and external criteria have been extensively examined. For example, scores on the SWLS differed systematically across groups such as American-college students, male-prison inmates, clinical-intake patients, and clinical-advanced patients, showing that the SWLS effectively differentiates satisfied people from unsatisfied ones (Pavot & Diener, 1993). Scores on the SWLS also were highly correlated with expert interview ratings among college students and Veteran’s Adminstration inpatients (Pavot & Diener). The SWLS has shown convergence with average daily social life satisfaction over 52 days (Oishi, Schimmack, & Diener, 2001; Study 1), and average daily satisfaction over 23 days (Oishi et al., Study 2). Higher scores on the SWLS also were related to experiencing more positive events and fewer negative events, both concurrently and prospectively (Seidlitz & Diener, 1993). Moreover, the SWLS was related to the accessibility of positive and negative events in memory (i.e., how quickly one can recall positive vs. negative life events) both in the United States (Seidlitz & Diener) and Russia (Balatsky & Diener, 1993). Finally, the SWLS was correlated with the importance of daily goals (Emmons, 1986). The SHS has substantial correlations with informant reports. It also is linked to reactions to actual and hypothetical events (Lyubomirsky & Tucker, 1998). However, the formal MTMM approach to validation has not been taken with the SHS. Because its correlations with self-esteem and optimism might be due to
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method variance, its discriminant validity has not been established (c.f., Lyubomirsky, Lepper, & Giordani, 2001 for evidence of differential correlates of happiness & self-esteem). Similarly, the PWB scale has expected correlations with measures of theoretically related constructs. However, the formal MTMM approach has not been taken. Thus, discriminant and convergent validity across different methods has not been established. Comparison of Measures All three measures have reliability and some validity-related evidence. In terms of validity, the SWLS is the most well-established of the three. The SWLS and the SHS are highly correlated (r’s=61–.72; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) even though the SWLS focuses on the subjective perception of life as a whole and the SHS focuses on self-perception of being a happy person. When researchers or practitioners are interested in perception of life circumstances, the SWLS is the best choice, whereas when an individual’s self-concept related to well-being is of interest, the SHS would be the best choice. Also, if a brief measure of wellbeing is needed, either the SWLS or the SHS would be a good choice. On the other hand, the PWB scale would be the best choice if a comprehensive assessment of well-being is desired. Affective Evaluations: Emotion Scales The second component of well-being is the affective evaluation of life. There are dozens of emotion scales with various lengths, from single item scales (e.g., “the Affect Grid,” Russell, Weiss, & Mendelsohn, 1989) to the 130-item Mood Adjective Check List (MACL; Nowlis & Green, 1957; see Larsen & Fredrickson, 1999, for a review). In this section, we will focus on three emotion scales: the 10-item Affect Balance Scale (ABS; Bradburn, 1969), the 20-item Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) and Diener, Smith, and Fujita’s (1995) 24-item emotion scale. We selected these scales because (a) the ABS and the PANAS are probably the two most widely used scales, and (b) the scale development of the three scales is interrelated. That is, the ABS is one of the oldest emotion scales, the PANAS was developed to improve the ABS, and Diener et al’s scale was developed as an alternative to the PANAS. Reliability Both the PANAS and Diener et al.’s (1995) scale have high internal consistency reliability, well beyond .80. On the other hand, the ABS showed poor internal consistency (.54 for positive affect; .52 for negative affect), perhaps because the
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yes–no format limits the variance in responses and because it has relatively few items. All three scales have evidence of test-retest reliability. Three-day testretest reliability was .76 for the entire ABS scale, .83 for the positive affect (PA) subscale, and .81 for the negative affect (NA) subscale. Eight-week test-retest reliability ranged from .47 to .68 for PA and .39 to .71 for NA for the PANAS. Two-year test-retest reliability was .56 for PA and .61 for NA for Diener et al.’s emotion scale. Validity Evidence Content-Related Evidence. The ABS was developed to cover a wide range of affective reactions to life, from “pleased about accomplishing something” to “upset because someone criticized you.” This breadth may be another factor contributing to the low internal consistency of this scale. The PA and NA subscales of the PANAS represent the structure of affect proposed by Watson and Tellegen (1985). Items were selected from two dimensions: high activation positive affect and high activation negative affect. Diener et al.’s (1995) scale was developed to represent six basic, discrete emotions proposed by various theorists such as Ekman, Izard, and Plutchik: joy, love, fear, anger, shame, and sadness. Specific emotion words were selected based on Ortony, Clore, and Collins’s (1988) theoretical analysis. This analysis was used because the PANAS items include “strong,” “active,” and “alert,” which are not considered emotions by many theorists. Internal Structure. The two-factor structure of Diener et al.’s (1995) scale has been established via CFA, whereas that of the ABS and the PANAS has been established via exploratory factor analysis. Diener et al.’s factor structure is hierarchical: the two-factor structure (PA, NA) at the global level, and the sixfactor structure (joy, love, fear, sadness, shame, & anger) at the lower level It is noteworthy that the PANAS’ factor structure has been validated not only at the interindividual level, but also at the intraindividual level both in the United States and Japan (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1984). Convergent and Discriminant Evidence. All three scales showed expected correlations with other emotion scales, extraversion, neuroticism, life satisfaction, self-esteem, optimism, and depression. As expected, the ABS and the PANAS were uncorrelated with GPA (Sandvik, Diener, & Seidlitz, 1993; Watson & Clark, 1997). Also, as one might expect, Diener et al.’s (1995) PA and NA scales were largely unrelated to measure of values (Oishi, Diener, Suh, & Lucas, 1999). Test-Criterion Relationships. These three scales also have extensive evidence of convergence with external criteria. For example, the ABS showed correlations
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with informant reports, interview ratings, 42-day daily reports of emotion, and event memory (number of positive vs. negative events people can recall in 3 min., Sandvik et al., 1993). Similarly, the PANAS PA scale was highly correlated with the average of 7-week daily positive mood, the number of daily social activities, and the number of leadership roles, whereas the PANAS NA scale was highly correlated with the average of 7-week daily negative mood and anxiety and depressive disorders (Clark & Watson, 1999), In addition, the PANAS was substantially correlated with informant reports (Lucas et al., 1996; Watson & Clark, 1991). Finally, Diener et al.’s (1995) emotion scale also showed convergence with informant reports and daily reports. A MTMM matrix revealed that heterotrait-heteromethod correlations for positive emotions (e.g., self-report “joy” & informant report “love”) ranged from .34 to .48, whereas mono-trait-heteromethod correlations (e.g., self-report Joy and informant report Joy) ranged from .45 to .68. This pattern indicates that joy and love measured by this scale have convergent and discriminant validity. With regard to the four discrete negative emotions, the MTMM matrix also showed that most monotraitheteromethod correlations were higher than heterotraitheteromethod correlations, providing further evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Comparison of Measures Psychometric properties suggest that the PANAS and Diener et al.’s (1995) emotion scale are superior to the ABS. When a measure of various discrete emotions is desired, Diener et al.’s scale is the measure of choice, although Watson and Clark (1997) developed the 60-item expanded version of the PANAS, the PANAS-X, which measures six discrete emotions: fear, sadness, hostility, joviality, fatigue, and surprise. At the level of PA and NA, the PANAS and Diener et al.’s scale are very similar. The major difference between these two scales is that the PANAS items are mainly high activation affective states (e.g., “strong,” “determined”), whereas Diener et al.’s items are more evenly distributed in terms of activation levels of emotions (“joy,” “content”). Thus, the PANAS might be more appropriate when researchers or practitioners are interested in assessing vigor and severe forms of affective disorders, whereas Diener et al.’s scale might be more appropriate when a wider range of positive and negative emotions are of interest. Comments on SWB Measures The construct validation processes undertaken by Diener, Watson, Clark, and others show that subjective well-being can be measured with some confidence. Their multimethod approach to construct validation (e.g., daily diary method, interview, goal assessment, informant reports) is exemplary. One limitation of
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the extant validation processes is that psychometric properties were usually tested via classical test theory. The use of Item Response Theory, which is a more sophisticated method of selecting and modifying items, might be a welcome addition to the already well-established validation process (e.g., see Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000). In addition, the existing MTMM matrices were based on observed correlation coefficients. In the future, the matrices should be analyzed based on latent variables to provide more accurate psychometric information (i.e., coefficients corrected for measurement errors; see Eid, 2000, for technical aspects). Meaning in Life We next review a number of instruments available to measure meaning and purpose in life. This domain was chosen because of the theoretical importance of purpose-oriented behavior and meaning to human functioning. For example, purpose in life was conceptualized as one of two core features of human health (Ryff & Singer, 1998) and is an essential part of folk conceptions of the good life (King & Napa, 1998). In this section, we briefly describe and critique four leading measures of meaning, and discuss ways to facilitate the further development of meaning assessment. Standardized Measures of Meaning or Purpose in Life Although several measures and methods exist to assess meaning, four were selected for consideration: the Purpose in Life Test (PIL; Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1964), the Life Regard Index (LRI; Battista& Almond, 1977), the Life Attitude Profile (LAP; Reker & Peacock, 1981), and the Personal Meaning Profile (PMP; Wong, 1998). The criteria for selection were that (a) the instrument was standardized, thus excluding other methodologies (e.g., Personal Projects Analysis; McGregor & Little, 1998), (b) the instrument was specifically constructed to measure meaning or purpose in life, thus excluding broader measures (e.g., “sense of coherence”; Antonovsky, 1987),2 (c) the instrument was relatively well-represented in meaning research or of theoretical interest, and (d) validation information was available. A review of reliability and validity evidence follows these brief summaries of the instruments. The PIL was developed to assess Frankl’s (1955) conceptualization of meaning in life, and is the most frequently used measure of meaning. A complementary measure, the Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG;
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Ryff’s (1989) PWB measure, which includes a purpose in life scale, is reviewed with subjective well-being.
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Crumbaugh, 1977), which purports to assess the strength of motivation to find meaning, will not be reviewed because it has received very little validation support and does not specifically measure meaning. The LRI was developed to address value-bias in the PIL and represents a relativistic perspective. The LAP combines the PIL and SONG with items assessing attitudes toward death, and was created to assess meaning as a multidimensional construct. Finally, the PMP was developed to measure the extent to which individuals gauge their lives as matching an ideal, prototypically meaningful one. Reliability Internal consistency and stability coefficients for all four measures are generally good. For example, alphas at or above .80 have been reported for the singledimension PIL. Debats, van der Lubbe, and Wezeman (1993) reported an alpha of .91 for a Dutch translation of the LRI, and subscale alphas in the middle .80s. Internal consistency coefficients for the seven factors of the LAP initially ranged from .55 to .83, although revision increased the lowest two alphas to around .70. Total scale alphas have not been reported. The PMP contains seven factors, although the total scale alpha was .93. Two individual subscale alphas were low (both .54), with the rest being good (i.e., >.77). Stability coefficients for all four instruments are good, ranging from .79 to .94, although the time between administrations has been short (1–6 weeks). Validity Evidence Content-Related Evidence. The PIL was designed to assess both psychiatric morbidity and Frankl’s idea of existential vacuum, or noogenic neurosis, a state marked by lack of meaningfulness. The authors (Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1964) developed 25 items (5 were later dropped) based on the existential and logotherapy literature and their clinically-educated guess concerning differences between psychiatric patients and nonpatients. It appears unlikely that the initial item pool was sufficient to completely represent the construct of meaning. In addition, more than one study has indicated that the construct measured by the PIL is confounded with depression (see Dyck, 1987). Battista and Almond (1977) developed the LRI to address concerns with the PIL. Whereas the PIL was felt to endorse certain values as more meaningful (e.g., exciting life, responsibility), the LRI was designed to assess a relativistic conceptualization of meaning, whereby no specific meaning or purpose in life is preferable. The LRI assesses positive life regard, which is the belief that one is fulfilling a positively valued life-frame work or life-goal. The presence of a lifeframework and the level of fulfillment experienced form the two factors of the LRI. Battista and Almond developed 28 items to assess this “unbiased” conceptualization of meaning. It is unclear to what extent the authors attempted
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to completely canvas the construct of life regard. However, their “value-free” intent has been supported by research showing an association between the LRI and only one of 36 items from the Rokeach Value Survey (Debats et al., 1993). The 53-item LAP was constructed using most of the items from the PIL and the SONG in addition to items from the Personal Orientation Inventory (Shostrom, 1965); Lowe, Germanous, and Hubbard’s (1979) Death Perspective Scale (cited in Reker & Peacock, 1981); and a few original items. One of the authors had factor-analyzed the SONG and PIL items, revealing multiple factors (Reker & Cousins, 1979), which provided the motivation to develop a multidimensional meaning instrument. The authors sought to measure the extent to which an individual has discovered the meaning of his or her personal existence, as well as the strength of desire to find such meaning. They included death acceptance because “death concerns are a part of life” (p. 264). Whereas items from the PIL and SONG were developed from Frankl’s “will to meaning” orientation, the items from the Personal Orientation Inventory were designed to assess Maslow’s idea of self-actualization and the theoretical compatibility of these two concepts was not addressed. In addition, a theoretical basis for incorporating death concerns was not explicated. The PMP has the most clearly elucidated content domain of any of these four measures. Taking an implicit theory approach, in which the prototypical structure of concepts and beliefs held among lay people is explored, respondents were asked to describe the characteristics of an “ideally meaningful life.” Several hundred responses were reduced to 58 items based on item analysis of responses by two additional samples. These items do not refer explicitly to meaning or purpose in life. To the extent that individuals rated themselves as currently experiencing these ideal characteristics of a meaningful life, they would be anticipated to experience meaning. It appears that the domain of lay person conceptions of what constitutes a meaningful life was adequately sampled, although only individuals from North America were surveyed. The items are saturated with endorsed values, which was deemed a potential weakness of the PIL, and by extension the LAP However, according to the developers of the PMP, it is being in accordance with these widely valued statements (e.g. “I am at peace with God,” “I value my work”) that leads people to feel their lives are meaningful. Internal Structure. Congruence between test scores and the hypothesized structure of a construct can be used as evidence of validity. The authors of the PIL did not specify its structure, and later principal components analyses have found different, multiple factor structures (Chamberlain & Zika, 1988; McGregor & Little, 1998; Reker & Cousins, 1979). Given these findings, the underlying structure of the PIL is unclear. The LRI was intended to represent two factors, a life-Framework (FR) for meaning and a sense of Fulfillment (FU) of personal meaning. Three studies have reported factor structures relatively
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consistent with this construction (Chamberlain & Zika; Debats et al., 1993; Van Ranst & Marcoen, 1997). Because no internal structure was hypothesized for either the LAP or the PMP, empirical structure evidence is not easily interpretable. However, Reker and Peacock (1981) reported seven factors for the LAP, and the structure of the PMP has varied from six to nine factors, depending on the sample. Convergent and Discriminant Evidence. All four measures possess concurrent convergent validity. For example, the PIL correlated positively with a meaning measure constructed from questions Frankl used to assess his clients and with the K scale from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which indicates adequate defenses, and was negatively correlated with the MMPI Depression subscale. In addition, other researchers using the PIL have found it to correlate as expected with many other variables (see e.g., Bonebright, Clay, & Ankenmann, 2000; Zika & Chamberlain, 1992). The LRI was positively related to the Self-actualizing Value Scale of the Personal Orientation Inventory, the PIL, and self-esteem. Other studies using the LRI have found expected relationships (see e.g., Debats, 1998; Zika & Chamberlain). The LAP was shown to correlate with internal locus of control, and a few subscales correlated in expected ways with alienation and academic goals. The PMP correlated as expected with physical and psychological well-being, depression, and with subscales of the LAP However, because no formal MTMM validation evidence was gathered for any of the measures, method variance cannot be excluded as a contributor to these correlations. Discriminant validity evidence for the PIL was indicated by a nonsignificant association with a measure of values. An effort to provide discriminant validity evidence for the LRI, however, revealed a mild, positive correlation with social desirability. Discriminant validity evidence for the LAP consists of a lack of correlation with social desirability. No discriminant validity was reported for the PMP. Test-Criterion Relationships. External criterion validation has been gathered for the PIL and LRI. For example, clinician ratings of clients on PIL items correlated .27 with client self-reports on the PIL. In addition, although the PIL differentiated between psychiatric patients and nonpatients, given that items were written with this very task in mind, this result does not provide very compelling evidence of validity. The LRI has also been found to differentiate between patients and “normal” university students (Debats et al., 1993) and between those who had utilized mental health services more often and for longer periods of time, even though its items are more neutral in content. Battista and Almond (1977) also compared the highest 14 and lowest 16 scorers on the LRI (out of 229) and conducted interviews to determine whether individuals were “high” or “low” in meaning. Interviewers, who were blind to which group
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interviewees fell into according to their LRI scores, correctly identified them at a p .001 level. Unfortunately, no further information was given regarding agreement across interviewers. Comparison of Measures In summary, although none of these instruments have extensive validity evidence, the LRI provides more evidence based on multiple methods, although not a full MTMM matrix. In addition, its theoretical structure has received some support, and it differentiated between criterion and comparison groups. Criticisms of the LRI have included difficulties supporting the specified twofactor structure, the fact that the Framework subscale demonstrated a weaker relationship with measures of well-being, and the fact that the negatively worded items correlate more weakly with other measures of meaning (Chamberlain & Zika, 1988; Zika & Chamberlain, 1992). Readers are encouraged to see Debats (1998) for further consideration of the LRI. The PIL appears to be confounded with measures of affective distress (see Dyck, 1987) as two structural analyses (Chamberlain & Zika; McGregor & Little, 1998) revealed factors related to happiness and enthusiasm, as well as the inclusion of values (e.g., responsibility & sensation-seeking) that are not easily rationalized by its nomological net. The LAP would appear to have inherited these problems along with the PIL items it incorporated. In addition, the relationships among the PIL—SONG items, items assessing Maslow’s self-actualization, and acceptance of death have not been elaborated, rendering construct validation difficult. The PMP appears promising, as it not only indexes level of meaningfulness experienced in an individual’s life, but also provides information regarding the specific characteristics, conditions, and activities present in that person’s life. However, with 57 items, it may be long for many research and counseling purposes. In addition, it is the newest measure and validity evidence is lacking. Therefore, the LRI would appear to be the most defensible choice for use in both research and therapeutic contexts at this time. Comments on Meaning Measurement The most prominent need in the area of meaning measurement is for more rigorous and complete validation. Clearer explications of nomological nets and the use of MTMM matrices to assess convergent and discriminant relationships across methods and traits would help establish the clarity and distinctness of meaning in life as a measurable construct. Continued testing across samples should be augmented by investigation into the function and structure of meaning across cultures and societal subgroups (see Garfield, 1973; Wong, 1998). It is also recommended that efforts be made to assess the affective, cognitive, and motivational aspects of meaning, as well as values associated with meaning.
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This would allow for investigation of some of the confounding of meaning measures with depression, values, happiness, and other constructs. Posttraumatic Growth In this section, we review assessment instruments and issues related to optimal functioning following traumatic events. As mentioned, this is important because of the frequency of traumatic events in clients’ lives and the neglect of potential positive outcomes in trauma research and counseling. Because research on posttraumatic growth (PTG) is relatively new, standardized assessment instruments have only recently been developed. In this section we briefly describe and critique three measures that have been developed simultaneously by separate groups of investigators. We also provide some comments regarding the further development of assessment instruments in this domain. Cohen and his colleagues (Cohen, Cimbolic, Armeli, & Hettler, 1998; Cohen, Hettler, & Pane, 1998) provided further discussion of these in-struments and related assessment issues. Massey, Cameron, Ouellette, and Fine (1998) also provided an interesting discussion of the benefits of the qualitative assessment of growth, and Calhoun and Tedeschi (1999) discussed the clinical assessment of PTG. Standardized Measures of Posttraumatic Growth The three measures of PTG are the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996), the Stress Related Growth Scale (SRGS; Park, Cohen, & Murch, 1996), and the Perceived Benefits Scale (PBS; McMillen & Fisher, 1998). All three were developed to assess positive changes following traumatic life events. The 21-item PTGI yields a total score and five subscale scores, the SRGS is a unidimensional scale with 50 items3, and the 30-item PBS yields scores on eight subscales. Next we summarize evidence regarding the reliability and validity of the measures from the references cited previously. Reliability All three measures show evidence of internal consistency reliability. This is particularly true of the SRGS and PTGI total scores, which have alphas of .90 and greater. However, the alpha for one of the five PTGI subscales was below .70.
3
Armeli, Cohen, and Gunthert (2001) describe a 43-item version of the SRGS, and a reduced 19-item version that loads on 7 factors. A 15 version also is available (L. Cohen, personal communication, June 27, 2001).
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All three test developers also report stability coefficients. Two week testretest reliability was .81 for the SRGS and above .70 for all but one of the PBS subscales. The stability of PTGI scores was assessed over a 2-month period. The test-retest correlation was acceptable for the total scale (.71) but not for some of the subscales (r’s=.37−.47). Validity Evidence Content-Related Evidence. The developers of all three tests reported limited information regarding how items were developed and whether they adequately represented the construct of PTG. The PTGI items were developed to assess three domains of change identified via a review of the literature (i.e., changes in self, relationships, & life philosophy). The SRGS was developed to represent three domains of change drawn from Schaefer and Moos’ (1992) theoretical framework: enhanced social resources, enhanced personal resources, and new or improved coping skills. Items were developed based on a review of the empirical and theoretical literature, clinical and personal experience, and a previous study by the authors (Park & Cohen, 1993). PBS items were developed based on open-ended responses made by participants in a previous study (McMillen, Smith & Fisher, 1997) who had experienced various kinds of disasters (e.g., flood, plane crash, mass shooting). To the extent that survivors of different kinds of events report different kinds of growth, items developed based on responses from disaster survivors may not reflect the complete domain of growth. Internal Structure. For the most part, the internal structures of these instruments do not match the hypothesized structures of the construct. For example, although the PTGI was developed to measure three domains, the items loaded on five factors. The SRGS was developed to assess three domains of growth, but the items loaded on one factor. The number of factors in the PBS was not specified a priori and the eight-factor structure found in the development sample was not cross-validated. Convergent and iDscriminant Evidence. All three groups of test developers reported some evidence that their measure correlated positively with concurrent measures of similar constructs. For example, the PTGI was positively correlated with measures of personality (e.g., optimism) and religious participation; the SRGS was correlated with intrinsic religiosity, optimism, and positive affectivity; and the MBS scales were correlated with the PTGI scales. Using prospective data, higher scores on the SRGS in regard to a recent negative event were associated with increases in optimism, social support, and positive affectivity. Less attention has been paid to discriminant validity, although both the PTGI and the SRGS were unrelated to measures of social desirability.
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Test-Criterion Relationships. Evidence regarding test–criterion relationships consists of comparisons between traumatized and nontraumatized groups (for the PTGI) and correlations with informant reports (for the SRGS). Specifically, students who had experienced a trauma scored higher on the PTGI than students who had not experienced a trauma. Respondents’ ratings on the SRGS were significantly correlated with ratings made by friends-family members regarding the respondent’s growth, although the correlations were small (r’s= .21−.31). These correlations would have more meaning if friends-family rated another attribute also rated by the respondent so that all four correlations could be compared (i.e., self & other ratings of PTG & another variable). However, the correlation between respondent and friend ratings on the SRGS (monotraitheteromethod) was lower than the correlation between respondent SRGS scores and measures of other constructs, such as positive affectivity (heterotraitmonomethod), which suggests the presence of cons truct-irrele van t variance in the measure. Another criterion against which to evaluate measures of PTG is the respondent’s level of distress and well-being. Specifically, studies of traumatized individuals that use other measures of growth generally have found that those who report more growth also report lower levels of distress and greater well-being (see e.g., Frazier, Conlon, & Glaser, 2001). Consistent with these findings, higher scores on the PBS scales generally were associated with greater concurrent well being. However, both PBS and SRGS scores were associated with more concurrent symptoms of distress. As mentioned next, this may be a reflection of the nature of the samples used rather than a lack of validity. Comparison of Measures For the counselor or researcher trying to decide which measure to use, we offer the following evaluation of relative strengths and weaknesses of the three measures, in addition to those mentioned previously. One strength of the PTGI is that it is the briefest of the three measures, which can be an important consideration. In contrast, the 50-item SRGS may be too long for some research and counseling purposes. A strength of both the PTGI and PBS is that they measure several dimensions of growth; however, in both cases, some of the subscales have few (2–3) items and do not have adequate reliability Furthermore, the factor analyses on which the subscales were based were not cross-validated in separate samples. This is a bigger limitation for the PBS because no reliability and validity information was presented for the total-scale. One limitation of the SRGS is that items are rated on a three-point scale, which allows for less variability in responses than the five-point scales used in the other measures. In sum, the PTGI may be the measure of choice at this point, although subscale scores should be used with caution.
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Comments on PTG Measures We divide our comments regarding further developments in the assessment of PTG into two categories: additional research that is needed to validate existing measures and ideas regarding the development of new measures. With regard to validating existing measures, the extent to which the data presented by these test developers bear on the validity of the measures is questionable because the study participants had not necessarily experienced the kinds of traumatic events that are likely to trigger PTG. For example, the PTGI and SRGS were developed and validated using samples of undergraduate students and the PBS was developed and validated based on the responses of adult spectators at children’s baseball games. Thus, the fact that higher scores on the SRGS and PBS were associated with more, rather than less, distress may be a reflection of the samples used, rather than a lack of validity of the measures. Further research is needed to validate these measures using traumatized samples. In addition, multiple methods should be used to assess multiple traits. Only the developers of the SRGS used a method other than self-report to assess growth, although not a full MTMM matrix. To validate reports of PTG it also is necessary to show that the reported changes actually resulted from the traumatic events, either by collecting measures both prior and subsequent to the traumatic event or by collecting data from nontraumatized comparison groups. The factor structures of the PTGI and the PBS also need to be replicated. Although all three measures of PTG have some initial evidence of reliability and validity, they all focus exclusively on growth, ignoring negative life changes that also occur following trauma. However, recent research suggests that negative life changes also are common and are more strongly related to standard measures of distress, which are important criteria for validating measures of life change, than are measures of positive change (Frazier et al., 2001). In addition, measures that assess both positive and negative change might be less susceptible to response biases. Thus, we recommend that measures be developed that assess negative as well as positive life changes (see e.g., Armeli et al., 2001).
GENERAL ASSESSMENT ISSUES In this final section, we discuss some general assessment issues associated with global self-reports of optimal functioning that should be considered, including social desirability, current moods, question order effects, and memory biases. We also discuss alternatives to self-report measures. We conclude with a discussion of broader issues related to the conceptualization of optimal functioning.
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Social Desirability In the United States, being happy, having meaning in life, and having a sense of self-improvement are all socially desirable. Therefore, a potential problem in the measurement of these constructs is that responses to the aforementioned scales might reflect individual differences in social desirability, rather than psychological functioning. A new line of research directly tackles this using implicit measures. Specifically, Greenwald, Banaji, and Nosek developed the Implicit Association Test (I AT), which utilizes reaction times to valenced semantic stimuli in a categorization task (see mailto: http://buster.cs.yale.edu/impl for more information & to take the IAT). The IAT was originally developed to measure implicit attitudes (e.g., racial attitudes) but recently has been used to measure implicit self-esteem as well (Greenwald & Farnham, 2000). To the extent that the speed with which one categorizes semantic stimuli is not consciously controlled, scores on the measure are not influenced by social desirability. The IAT can be easily modified to measure life satisfaction, meaning, or growth by varying the nature of the categorization task. Although the psychometric properties of such measures are not yet wellestablished (Bosson, Swann, & Pennebaker, 2000), implicit measures like the IAT might be a useful alternative to self-report. Another alternative measure that is not influenced by social desirability involves coding facial expressions and gestures. In counseling settings, for instance, if clients can be videotaped while they talk about their recovery from a traumatic event, their facial expressions and gestures can later be coded. Gottman (1993) and Ekman and Friesen (1978) have developed sophisticated coding schemes to use for this purpose. Though time consuming, facial expressions and gestures can be a powerful alternative to self-report measures. Contextual Effects: Moods and Question Order It is possible that when participants are in a negative mood, they may perceive their lives as less satisfying or less meaningful or report less posttraumatic growth than when they are in a positive mood (see Schwarz & Clore, 1983, for a discussion of mood effects on life satisfaction). Recent research has found that mood effects on well-being judgments are small, and do not threaten the validity of well-being measures (e.g., Schimmack, Diener, & Oishi, 2002). Nevertheless, it is ideal to take into account the potentially confounding effects of moods by assessing individuals’ moods when assessing optimal functioning. The order of question items may also have an impact on the assessment of optimal functioning. Strack, Martin, and Schwarz (1988), for instance, demonstrated that when participants were asked about their dating right before a general life satisfaction question, their life satisfaction rating was highly correlated with their dating (r=.55). However, when the general life satisfaction question was asked before the dating question, the correlation between dating
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and life satisfaction was not significant (r=.16). It is, therefore, important to pay careful attention to the order of questions when assessing human functioning (see Steinberg, 2001, for recent evidence regarding context effects). Memory Biases Yet another issue in the measurement of optimal human functioning is related to accuracy. There is the serious possibility that individuals may overestimate or underestimate their daily well-being, sense of meaning, or growth on global selfreport measures. There is now convincing evidence that people tend to remember what they want to remember and revise the past to fit their present view of themselves (e.g., Ross, 1989). Researchers can address this issue by obtaining data on a daily basis (e.g., Diener et al., 1995; Oishi et al., 2001) or multiple times per day at random moments (experience sampling method; ESM). For instance, participants in a study by Oishi (2000) carried a hand-held computer for 7 consecutive days, and recorded their moods five times a day when a beeper went off at random moments. The data obtained from the daily diary method or ESM are not as influenced by memory bias or cognitive distortion as global self-report measures of optimal functioning. Thus, although these methods are time-consuming and labor-intensive, they should be incorporated into the assessment repertoire in this area. Oilier Alternative Assessment Methods In addition to IAT, facial–gesture coding, informant reports, daily reports, and ESM, there are other alternative methods that can be used to assess optimal functioning. One of the oldest methods is text analysis. Recently, Pennebaker and colleagues (e.g., Pennebaker & Seagal, 1999) used this method to investigate the psychological benefits of writing. They developed a computer program that counts the number of positive emotion words, negative emotion words, and so forth in a writing sample. This method documents respondents’ idiographic perspectives and reactions to an event (e.g., a trauma), although still allowing for nomothetic analyses. For instance, clients can be asked to write a story about their lives, which can later be coded in terms of satisfaction or meaning. It is possible to repeat this assessment several times, and examine changes in satisfaction or meaning over time. A similar method is goal analysis (e.g., Emmons, 1999; Klinger, 1998). Here respondents typically are asked to list 10 to 15 goals they are actively pursuing. These goals are personally meaningful and idiographically generated. Then, they rate each goal in terms of several dimensions such as importance, meaningfulness, and commitment. These ratings provide information regarding the degree to which individuals find meaning and purpose in life. Finally, it is also possible to record the number of social activities (e.g., volunteer work) in which clients or participants engage in
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their daily lives. Active participation in social activities might provide another index of human functioning. In conclusion, it also is critical to note that no single method is perfect; each has its strengths and weaknesses. As recommended by Campbell (1986), the use of multiple methods makes it possible to test the generalizability of results from one method to another and to increase the chance of making a valid assessment. Broader Conceptual Issues In addition to the aforementioned issues related to the measurement of optimal functioning, there are some broader conceptual issues to consider. One such issue concerns the extent to which existing definitions of optimal functioning are culturally universal. Commenting on Ryff and Singer’s (1998) core features of positive human health, Keough and Markus (1998) argued that what currently is known about the “healthy self” may be primarily representative of educated, middle-class Americans. Similarly, Diener et al. (1998) noted that, whereas the characteristics listed by Ryff and Singer seem important to Westerners, members of other cultures would generate different lists. On the other hand, Ryff and Singer argued that, although specific manifestations of the good life differ, there is a fundamental endorsement across cultures that the good life is characterized by meaningful goals and quality relationships. Given that culture and ethnicity often have been neglected in theorizing about optimal functioning (Ryff, 1989), further research is needed on how different cultural groups define the good life. Counseling psychologists seem particularly well-situated to conduct research of this sort. This issue also should be kept in mind when working with culturally-different clients. Another issue with regard to the conceptualization of optimal functioning concerns its focus on individual, versus collective, well-being. For example, although Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) noted the importance of grouplevel virtues (e.g., tolerance), most of the articles in their special issue focused on individual characteristics (e.g., happiness). One exception is the article on wisdom (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000), which is defined in part as using knowledge for the well-being of both oneself and others. Another example is research on generativity, which is a commitment to promoting the next generation through parenting, teaching, and mentoring (e.g., McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1998). Thus, in defining and assessing optimal functioning, it is important to consider both individual and collective well-being.
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11 Fostering Human Strength Through Diversity and Public Policy: A Counseling Psychologist’s Perspective
Rosie Phillips Bingham The University of Memphis
INTRODUCTION: THE STRUGGLE WITH DIVERSITY Not since WWII had the United States of America struggled so clearly with its diversity and public policy as it did during the fall of 2001. It was in September of that year that Middle Eastern terrorists used jet airliners in the U.S. to plow into the two towers of the world trade center in New York City and the pentagon in Washington, D.C. to kill and maim over 3,000 unsuspecting individuals. The country and, indeed, the world was horrified, outraged, and in search of a righteous justice for all involved. The hunt began for Muslims of Arab descent that had helped to perpetrate the act of carnage. Then the questions began. How would the country continue to embrace the citizens and loyal visitors to the country who looked like the terrorists? Would they all be rounded up and placed in special confinement areas as were the Japanese Americans during WWII or would they at least be watched as were the early marchers in the civil rights and peace demonstrations in the 1960’s and early 1970s? What would be the U.S. public policy that would allow the country to embrace middle easterners and allow the rest of the country to feel secure? Was the country now more weak and vulnerable because of its plurality and its laws and policies that
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supported freedom and justice for all? After all, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights all herald freedom and justice for every citizen regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, and so on. In addition, would the country’s struggle with diversity continue? As front and center as the struggle was in September of 2001, it did not begin there nor will it end there. Although that event did force United States’ usual issues of other racial, ethnic, religion, and class divisions into the background as Americans suddenly saw themselves as “one,” those usual issues were still there. For example, during the weeks following the September 11th tragedy, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that supported The University of Mississippi in a fight with a man who had brought a confederate flag into an athletic event. The university, in an attempt to end the waving of confederate flags at its games, had disallowed objects like the sticks to which the flags were attached. The man brought his flag anyway and was removed from the stadium. He fought all the way to the Supreme Court. The case is illustrative of the struggle between the perceptions and rights of Black and White Americans that have been on-going since slavery. Of course, sexual issues were not that far in the background as the media reported on ministers who raised abortion and sexual orientation issues as reasons for the tragedy being visited on the United States on September 11th. According to the media, the ministers retreated from such remarks after the outcry from the public, and yet the military policy of “don’t ask; don’t tell” for gays in the military was still there. The results from former President Bill Clinton’s Race Initiative were still not well known and barely discussed. There was still a backlog of unfilled federal judgeship because of the votes against the appointment of black federal judges during the Clinton Presidency and the subsequent backlash apparent during the Bush Administration. All of these examples make it clear that it is difficult for the U.S. to deal with its diversity. Therefore, the question becomes, how strong can a country be if it was founded on pluralistic democratic principles and yet it struggles so much with diversity? What does it take to help societies deal with diversity? How can social policy help to strengthen human beings and the societies in which they live? In this chapter, I shall raise questions about counseling psychology’s role in diversity, human strength, and public policy. I will then go on to highlight some of the changing demographics that make it imperative for counseling psychology to attend to matters of diversity and multiculturalism. I will implore the field to do research in this area and then position itself as an expert in diversity and public policy so that we can promote positive change. Finally, I will conclude with five recommendations designed to move counseling psychologists closer to assuming a stance of fostering human strength through diversity and public policy.
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DOES COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY HAVE A ROLE IN DIVERSITY, HUMAN STRENGTH, AND PUBLIC POLICY? It certainly seems plausible that the field of psychology could shed some light on how to foster human strength through diversity and public policy. Counseling psychology ought to be able to contribute to the discourse and perhaps even the formulation and implementation of interventions that help the society with diversity matters. The very principles on which counseling psychology was founded rest on a focus on human strength and diversity. In 1998 the APA Counseling for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology accepted the archival definition of counseling psychology (The Counseling Psychologist, 1999). Part of that definition reads as follows: Within the context of life -span development, counseling psychologists focus on healthy aspects and strengths of clients (individual, couple, family, group, system, or organization), environmental/situation influences (including the context of cultural, gender, & lifestyle issues), and the role of career and vocation on individual development and functioning, (p. 589) Implicit in this description is a link between diversity and human strength. Although many counseling psychologists are committed to a social justice agenda, the archival description is silent on a focus on public policy. Yet, it is difficult to imagine that counseling psychologists could concern themselves with strengthening individuals, groups, families, systems and organizations without being concerned with public policy. Our challenge is to apply our research methods and practice to shape public policy in such a way that individuals are empowered and society as a whole is stronger and healthier.
CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE UNITED STATES Fostering human strength through diversity is a great challenge because there is so much change and much more diversity in the country than ever before. Already 75% of the new entrants into the workforce are people of color and women. In addition, although the race data from the 1990 census and the 2000 census are not directly comparable because of changes in the questionaires that allowed people more latitude in defining their race or ethnicity, the differences are still striking. From 1990 to 2000 the White population increased by 8.6%, African Americans by 21.5; Asians by 72%, Native Americans by 110%, and Hispanics or Latinos by 58%. Of equal interest is the fact that millions of Americans marked more than one race-ethnicity as a self-descriptor (McKinnon,
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2001). The changes support earlier predictions about how the population in the United States would dramatically change during the 21st century. It has even been suggested that by the year 2050 no racial group will constitute a majority (Sue, Parham, & Santiago, 1998). Governor Gray Davis of California reported that the state is currently 50% people of color. Will California remain a strong state with such a drastic change in its ethnic and racial population? Governor Davis stated that he believes the state is even stronger because of its diversity. Yet, no change comes without struggle; especially if the change involves adding and accepting diversity. The inclusion of African Americans as full citizens in the United States took a war. The acceptance of women and poor people into colleges and universities took student revolutions. Public policies throughout time have often helped to foster fights and revolutions. It was a public policy that instituted the law of “separate but equal” in the educational arena. The separate but equal public policy is a clear example of a society not capitalizing on its diversity for the good of the people or even the societal institutions. When the law was changed the country underwent a momentous change as reflected in the civil rights struggle. One has to wonder if the tools of counseling psychology could have helped the country more easily accept the policy changes? The Counseling Psychology Perspective—Diversity The Vail Conference (Korman, 1974) established counseling psychology as a scientist-practitioner profession. That means that the discipline is committed to training professionals as scientists and practitioners. Thus, science will inform practice and practice will inform science. Counseling Psychologists are trained to use research methods to understand phenomena and develop interventions to influence change. If that is the case, then research might have helped politicians to understand that a policy of separate but equal would be detrimental to the nation and further that when the walls of segregation were legislated down that groups of individuals would have great difficulty with changing racist attitudes and beliefs (Brown v. To peka, 1954). Numerous counseling psychologists have told the world that race matters (Carter, 1995; Helms, 1990). Counseling Psychologists’ research on race, diversity, and multiculturalism has been somewhat slower in coming to fruition. Stanley Sue (1999) argued that the slowness is in part a result of psychology’s emphasis on internal validity in nearly all research with a concomitant lack of emphasis on external validity. As a result, sometimes when research is conducted only on a sample of racial-ethnic minorities that research is unacceptable because of a lack of a White control sample. There are questions raised about the generality of the findings. The same standard is not applied to research with White samples with no ethnic minority controls. Sue hypothesised that such “selective enforcement of scientific principles” adversely influences
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the production of research studies on diversity and multiculturalism (p. 1070). Ocampo (2000) goes even further and suggests that traditional research models that stress objectivity, reduction, and rather stringent control variables may not be a good fit for studying racism and variables like health. Even though counseling psychologists may not have as much research on the impact of race and diversity in fostering human strength, they have been leaders in placing the multicultural agenda front and center in the field of psychology. In the early 1980s, The Division of Counseling Psychology (17) of the American Psychological Association (APA) appointed a task force to draft guidelines for multicultural counseling. That committee produced a Position paper: Crosscultural counseling competencies authored by Sue et al. (1982). That document generated a continuous round of discussions in psychology departments and other professional organizations (Sue, Arrendondo, & McDavis, 1992). However, it took nearly 20 years before the revised guidelines were submitted through formal APA channels for adoption as association policy. The movement to adopt the multicultural guidelines as APA policy has been greatly influenced by members of Division 17 (The Division of Counseling) and Division 45, (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues.) At the first biennial National Multicultural Conference and Summit in 1999 under the leadership of four counseling psychologists (Sue, Bingham, Porche-Burke, Vasquez, 1999) one of the major outcomes was a resolution endorsing the Multicultural guidelines. Although the process for getting the guidelines accepted as association policy was difficult, counseling psychologists always supported the notion that it is in the best interest of individuals and the society to train competent psychological practitioners and researchers to em-power all to deal more effectively with diversity because human strength is fostered through diversity. Counseling psychologists showed their commitment to keeping the diversity agenda alive by the number of them willing to facilitate discussions on raceethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities at the National Multicultural Conferences in 1999 and 2001. The sessions entitled, “Difficult Dialogues,” helped the audience and the leaders understand just how large a task one takes on when there is dedication to a diverse society. In addition, even as the discussions took place, there were more calls for the need to talk about the role and place in this society of Jews, Muslims, biracial individuals, Native American college students, people from lower economic classes, and so on. During town hall meetings at both Summits individuals spoke about the need for societal improvement, acceptance, and a sense of belonging for all minority people. So although counseling psychology is keeping the discussion alive, it is the research that can help the nation understand the strength and power in an inclusive-diverse model for human integration and acceptance.
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THE RESEARCH ROLE The evidence suggests that if research is used interventions can be found and policies implement that foster human strength. At the second biennial National Multicultural Conference and Summit held in January 2001 research was presented that clearly demonstrated how race and diversity matter. Claude Steele (2001) demonstrated the impact of race on test scores. There has long been evidence of the disparity between race and ethnic groups on tests like the ACT Assessment, and SAT Scholastic Aptitude Test and Steele (1997) was able to demonstrate conditions under which all racial differences in test scores disappear. In fact, the research has shown how situations can be changed so that there is a reversal in the scoring outcome. In other words, if the proper conditions are created the standardized scores of White test takers can be lower than those of their minority peers. Steele (2001) asserted that the pressures of the racial situation influence the outcome of the test scores. Research like that of Steele’s implies that the training counseling psychologists receive as scientists can help to eliminate discrimination based on test results or other evaluative measures that are influenced by race, gender, and culture. It may be possible to improve the opportunity of a more diverse group of people to compete for jobs at all levels of society. Such research has the potential to help eliminate “glass ceilings” and “sticky floors.” Of course, the counseling psychologist would need to extend the research to help society understand how racial attitudes help individuals to maintain discriminatory practices. Counseling psychology has not been a leader in these research efforts. However, counseling psychologists are becoming more proactive about exposing and promoting the work of social psychologists, like John Dovidio and his colleagues (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1991, 1997; Dovidio, Mann & Gaertner, 1989). Dovidio and his associates have taken major steps forward in demonstrating the effects of what they term, aversive racism, “Aversive racism has been identified as a modern form of prejudice that characterizes the racial attitudes of many Whites who endorse egalitarian values, who regard themselves as not prejudices, but who discriminate in subtle rationalizable ways” (Dovidio, Kawakaming, Johnson, Johnson, & Howard, 1997, p. 512). This line of research helps to explain how, for example, Black and White individuals can see the same event and have two vastly different perceptions and understandings about what occurred and why it happened. Such research could potentially help to explain racial profiling so that law enforcement agents could have a more complete and conscious understanding of the kinds of behavior that indicate illegal intent, while eliminating their unconscious racial bias, which can result in race -based discrimination. Currently, the social psychologists are the leading researchers in the field of prejudice and discrimination and the toll it takes on individuals and society. The
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question becomes, given counseling psychology’s history of working from the strengths of individuals can the work of the social psychologists be applied by counseling psychologists in a way that helps to foster positive strength in the society? If the practitioners are indeed scientists then it seems a reasonable and natural conclusion that such would be the case. There are examples in the literature in which counseling psychologists have done just that; that is, taken the work of researchers in other branches of psychology and applied counseling-psychology methods to the research and the subsequent practice so that individual strength is fostered in diverse population. Vocational psychology has long been viewed as a basic activity of counseling psychology. Hackett and Betz (1989) took the Bandura (1986) principle of selfefficacy and added it to vocational psychology theories. Bandura stated that selfefficacy was essentially one’s belief in one’s ability to successfully complete a task. Hackett and Betz took that principle and applied it to one’s belief in abilities to succeed in certain academic areas and subsequent careers. The research is so important because it pointed to practical interventions that could enable women and minorities to see wider ranges of academic and career possibilities. Perhaps more importantly, it helped counselors see greater career possibilities for minority groups (Bingham, 2000; Byars, 2001; Ward & Bingham, 2001). One could speculate that the shift toward self-efficacy could even have helped some White psychologists end some unconscious unintentional bias against minority groups entering particular occupations. The Hackett and Betz research results have influenced some researchers and practitioners to introduce the self-efficacy concept into their assessment instruments and in their applied practices. Some clinical agencies have begun to ask clients about their level of self-efficacy in various careers and occupational tasks (Bingham, 2000).
DIVERSITY AND PUBLIC POLICY Although counseling psychology is a relatively young discipline (Meara & Myers, 1999) during the entire course of its existence there has been an emphasis on the person and the environmental community. Such an emphasis has often lead counseling psychologists to concerns of public interest and consequently public policy. In 1993 The Division of Counseling Psychology reorganized. The body moved from an Executive Board with no vice president to one with four vice presidents including a Vice President for Diversity and Public Interest. Generally falling under the auspices of the Vice President for Diversity and Public interest was the notion of Prevention Counseling. Implied in Prevention and Public Interest is a social justice agenda. The discipline’s focus on diversity inevitably pushed it into the social justice waters because of the politics involved
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in diversity matters. Because racism, prejudice, and discrimination have been such core parts of this society they have been reflected in the country’s separate but equal public policy; as was its subsequent dismantling in Brown v. Topeka (1954). There is no record that counseling psychologists played an active role in effecting any policy changes in this educational arena; however, counseling psychologists have consistently theorized about the effects of discrimination on the mental health and career choices of women and diverse minority groups (Fouad & Bingham, 1995; Hargrow & Hendricks 2001; Phelps & Constantine, 2001; Sue et al., 1998). It is interesting to speculate on how policies might be different if counseling psychologists were more proactive in their research about and more assertive in their organizational interventions around diversity and public policy. If counseling psychologists could help policy mak-ers focus their questions on the strengths-the positives of each individual and group then there would be answers that lead to more effective policies. The separate but equal model advocated an ideology that essentially and subtly suggested that one race of people was inferior and incapable, whereas the other race was superior and would be tainted by exposure to the lesser group. Counseling Psychology could have brought a research focus, a reasoned practice focus, and a strength and development focus to the separate but equal model and perhaps more quickly brought an end to that policy. If there were a counseling psychology perspective to the affirmative action public policy would the debate be different? The answer is likely to be yes. Often times affirmative action efforts get couched in terms of quotas and discrimination. A counseling psychology perspective would change the focus to one on strengths of the individuals, corporations, organizations, systems, and society. Sue et al. (1998) have made an eloquent case for the changing face of the U.S. workforce. They highlight feminization, diversification, and aging of the workforce. It is becoming clear that it behooves the society to look for the strengths of these groups, capitalize on those strengths, and fully integrate these individuals into the workforce. During the summer of 2000 major U.S. automobile companies began calling on colleges and universities to educate a more diverse group of students to supply the skilled workers needed in a rapidly changing economy. In October, 2001 many companies were downsizing their labor force because of the weak U.S. economy, yet a number of companies were laying-off people in a more strategic manner with an eye on what was called the “diversity factor.” Rives (2001) reported that the companies were not willing to sacrifice the diversity gains they had previously made so instead of merely laying-off on a “last hired, first fired” basis they were not cutting “critical employees.” The article stated that even though talking about diversity during such tough economic times was very sensitive, it still made good business sense to maintain a diverse labor force get the most talented staff and appeal to the widest customer base. It is plain to see that these companies are fostering human strengths through diversity and sensible business policies. Would a counseling
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psychology perspective have helped them change their policies and practice even sooner? Sadly, the leading psychological advocates of diversity have thus far lagged behind the corporate community in proactively promoting the strength of diversity. Even as automobile companies were calling on higher educational institutions to supply a more diverse work pool, affirmative action plans were being dismantled at colleges and universities in California, Texas, and Florida. Minority admissions to the University of California at Berkeley had dropped by 55%, whereas African-American enrollment in Texas public medical schools dropped by 54% in 1997. These data suggest that policy makers were not hearing the pleas of business and industry. A diverse higher education environment increases complex and critical thinking in students. Yet, policy makers struggle with the notion of affirmative action. There seems to be a disconnect between what the corporate world needs, what educational research demonstrates, and the laws policy makers write and enforce. Could a counseling psychology perspective help with this dilemma? If it is true that what we believe is shaped by how issues are framed, perhaps counseling psychologists could help to more adequately frame the affirmative action concept in a strength mode. Counseling psychology research could inform the policy. Counseling psychology could aid in the implementation of the policy through psychosocial interventions designed to modify individual, group, system, and organizational attitudes and cultures. Would a counseling psychology perspective help the nation to foster more human strength in the health arena through acceptance of diversity in communication styles? Probably—a simple example of how understanding of diverse communication styles can affect health education policy can be found in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Over the last several years research has shown that parents can reduce the occurrence of SIDS by simply having babies sleep on their sides or backs. SIDS among White families is down by 40%; yet, the rate remains virtually unchanged in the Black community. Why? Here is a policy and an intervention that works. What is missing for the African-American community? Would a counseling psychology perspective help? The answer is likely to be yes if counseling psychologists would proactively work with the health profession on differences in communication styles and patterns between ethnic and cultural groups. Counseling psychologists could work with the media on designing messages aimed toward the strength of the group to which the SIDS message is directed. The psychologist could aid the health profession and the media in understanding the role of the grandmother and great grandmother in raising African-American babies. If these grandmothers tell their daughters to have the babies sleep on their backs and sides the SIDS rate will begin to fall in that community. Grandmothers and babies are strengths in the Black community.
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To make interventions like those mentioned previously counseling psychologists must be proactive. Since its reorganization, the Division of Counseling Psychology has a Vice President for Diversity and Public Interest so it seems reasonable that the leadership might want to promote and support policy initiatives that would help foster strengths in individuals and communities. The vice president could suggest a more proactive role for the Section on Counseling Health Psychology in health matters like SID Syndrome. Or the leadership could promote more study of religious ethnic groups in the Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity. If counseling psychologists are going to claim the moral and scientific high ground on diversity then it must demonstrate evidence for such a claim. Sue, et al. (1998) maintained that all of psychology has failed to become involved in public policy in part because of a lack of understanding about how systems work and because of an aversion to becoming involved in social and political matters. The 2001 National Conference on Counseling Psychology claimed social justice as its major theme. There were numerous recommendations from that conference that called on counseling psychologists to take more active social and political stances. The question is whether counseling psychologists will answer the challenge posed by the conference attendees. Will counseling psychologists work to understand the social and political systems that Sue and his colleagues maintain that we do not understand? In addition, have we begun to overcome our aversion to social and political advocacy and involvement? We must do both if counseling psychologists are to influence public policy.
RECOMMENDATIONS We are living during a time of difficult questions that require complex answers. Perhaps the most difficult question is how will human beings live and thrive together? Obviously, I am proposing that part of the answer is in capitalizing on the world’s human diversity. I am strongly recommending that we support policies that foster human strength through diversity. In addition, I am suggesting that counseling psychologists can show us how to do that if we follow five rather simple recommendations: (a) go back to the basics on which counseling psychology was founded; (b) insist on a focus on culture, race, and ethnicity in all areas of psychology; (c) do the research and promote the scholarship; (d) influence polices which impact diversity; and (e) revamp graduate education and training programs to include a distinct, yet integrated focus on diversity and public policy.
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Reclaim Basic Counseling Psychology Principles Fredrickson (2001) called positive psychology an “emerging field.” Sheldon and King (2001) defined positive psychology as having a focus on ordinary average people. Meara and Myers (1999) stated, “Throughout its history counseling psychology has maintained interests in normal development” (p. 9). Although none of these authors directly mention diversity in these comments, implicit in their statements is a focus on all people. So, if counseling psychologists believe in their fundamental foundational beginnings, then there has been a claim to focus on the positive psychology of diversity. The question then becomes, will counseling psychology wholeheartedly endorse the proposition that diversity can foster human strength? Or are Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) right? Is positive psychology an emerging field and will counseling psychology need to decide if it wants to find a place within this field? I recommend that we go back to our foundations, claim it, and accept the counseling psychology perspective on diversity and multicultural psychology. We must challenge our own beliefs, biases, and prejudices. We must determine whether or not we believe that there is strength through diversity. If counseling psychology is to maintain its position as a leader in the field of focusing on the strengths and positives, then we must continue to have difficult dialogues with each other about issues that often cause discomfort, are denied, and otherwise not discussed. Such issues include race, ethnicity, sexual orientation religion, disability, and White privilege. Difficult dialogues properly facilitated can create opportunities for individuals to not think and react as they usually think and react. Such discussions will help counseling psychologists continue to change and grow so that we can continue to focus on positive growth for individuals and for society. Understand That Culture Counts Counseling psychologists must be bold in asserting that culture counts and raceethnicity matter. Massimini and Della Fave (2000) maintained that we must look at culture if we dare to hope for “the actualization of cultural values such as peaceful and cooperative relations, equality and tolerance” (p. 25). Human beings are more than biological beings; we are social groups of beings who share different world views, customs, mores, and so on. Individuals sometimes group themselves by phenotypes such as race, religion or regions, and so on. To understand those individuals, and to insure peace and health between and among the groups we must study and understand the cultural dynamics of each set of individuals. If we do not we will not thrive and survive. In “A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General” (2001), one of the main findings was that “culture counts.” The supplement went on to highlight collective positive strengths from African Americans, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic Americans. For example, the report talked about the resilience of African
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Americans and Hispanic Americans, the lower cancer and heart disease mortality rates for American Indians, and the family cohesion and educational achievements of Asian Americans. This report clearly demonstrated that if we want to foster human strength then it is imperative that we study these diverse groups to learn the secrets of their distinct strengths. Do the Research Counseling psychology has found itself in the curious position of defending its claim to be an early leader and founder of the field that focuses on positive psychology, nurturing and strengthening “normal, average individuals.” Why did that happen? Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) maintained that we “somehow failed to attract a cumulative empirical body of research to ground…” our ideas (p. 13). The same fate awaits the study of diversity and public policy if counseling psychologists do not become leading scholars and researchers in this venue. Although it seems logical that we can foster human strength through diversity, only research and a “broader view of knowing” (Walsh, 1999, p. 120) will demonstrate the soundness of the phenomenon. Research can not remain merely the basic type in which dependent and independent variables are manipulated in reasonably controlled settings. Walsh (1999) called on counseling psychologists to begin doing great research out in the world to change the world. He described four types of research or scholarship—original research, integration of knowledge, application of knowledge, and teaching—that will help counseling psychologists become more proficient in developing research strategies that help advance the cause of fostering human strength through diversity and public policy. That research will help to integrate knowledge across disciplines, across relationships, and across time periods. Counseling psychologists can use research from social psychology, sociology, education, and from historical events to help influence policies like affirmative action. Of course there are examples of research in the counseling psychology literature that demonstrate how to apply such research principles to the multicultural area (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1991, Hackett & Betz, 1989, Constantine, 2002). It is incumbent upon counseling psychologist researchers to boldly apply their skills and abilities to research projects that demonstrate the strengths found in diversity. Influence Policy If we are to demonstrate that we can foster human strength through diversity and public policy, then counseling psychology must position itself as an entity with enough expertise on public policy to influence the decision makers. It was a step in the right direction when counseling psychologists helped to elect a counseling psychologist to congress. Another step in the right direction occurred when a
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counseling psychologist went as one of the representatives from APA to the United Nations World Congress on Race. In addition, we must do much more. It is important to form a strong working alliance with the APA Public Policy Office. Counseling psychologists must seek to become part of campaigns like that of the American Psychological Association Public Interest Directorate that collaborated with the Ad Council to air violence prevention messages on radio and television. In addition, counseling psychologists must find ways to testify on matters of diversity and public policy that come before the U.S. congress and other governmental agencies. Masten (2001) maintained that “attention to human capabilities and adaptive systems that promote healthy developments and functioning have the potential to inform policy” (p. 235). If counseling psychologists can use science to help policy makers understand the role of diversity, then positive changes will occur. For example, data show that American Indians and Native Alaskans have limited access to mental-health services. Only 1% to 2% of the Indian Health Services budget is allocated for mental health and very few Native Americans are health care providers (Belcourt-Dittloff & Stewart, 2000). Yet, despite high alcoholism, high poverty, and high unemployment rates, the Surgeon General reports lower mortality rates among American Indians from cancer and heart disease. If counseling psychologists would use their scientific principles and data to help decision makers understand this phenomenon perhaps there could be a policy change that ear marked more of the Indian Health Services budget to mental health. Furthermore, if counseling psychologists would position themselves to influence policy perhaps scientific data could be used to effect foreign policy in a way that promoted human health and thriving rather than the lack of information and deadly consequences evident in the September 11, 2001 tragedy. Ocampo (2000) maintained that it is the lack of “consistent, federally funded attention” to matters like discrimination that highlights weaknesses in scientific policy. The weakness in scientific policy means that we will necessarily have weakness in public policy matters related to diversity. Revamp Educational and Training Programs I am constantly surprised by how little counseling psychology graduate students and interns know about multiculturalism and diversity. I wonder if it would surprise the professors and supervisors of graduate students that ethnic minority students are having a hard time thriving in graduate programs? A major problem exists if the graduate curricula and the student bodies of counseling psychology programs are not diverse. In one surprising study it was reported that 92% of the White students at the University of Michigan came from segregated settings and 52% of the African American students did too. So, if the curriculum remains culturally encapsulated there is no chance for counseling psychology to firmly grasp its basic values of inclusion of people and equal access to education, to
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understand culture, and certainly no way to appreciate diversity and the significance of public policy. If the student body is not diverse there is less chance to develop scholars who are interested in these matters. For it is true that researchers often study those things which most directly impact them. Race and ethnicity in the United States is a paramount concern to many of the racial and ethnic minorities who strive to become counseling psychologists. The population changes in the United States must be reflected in our training programs. Yet, ethnic minorities make up only about 6% of graduate students in all of psychology. Furthermore, many programs still do not require courses in multicultural psychology and of those that do often times one course will fill the requirement. Many educators maintain that diversity and multiculturalism must be integrated throughout the curriculum. Yet, graduate students still report to me that integration often means on class lecture devoted to culture or ethnicity and race. Currently there is no evidence of discussions of the role of public policy in counseling psychology training programs. From my perspective, if the curriculum and student body are not diverse then there is no way for counseling psychologists to develop the research that supports the notion of fostering human strength through diversity and public policy. It is probably wise for training programs to review the multicultural guidelines and even the accreditation guidelines on multiculturalism and then determine how closely their programs reflect the propositions in those documents. Such a self-assessment could do much to help trainers and educators strengthen the foundations of their counseling psychology programs. It is my contention that if we want strong, positive communities that help individuals grow and develop then we must make the recommended changes. We must be proactive in the promotion of diversity and in those public policies that move all individuals toward a positive psychology that fosters human strength.
REFERENCES Archival Description of Counseling Psychology. (1999). The Counseling Psychologist, 27(4), 589–592. Bandura, A, (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Belcourt-Dittloff, A., & Stewart, J. (2000). Historical racism: Implications for Native Americans. American Psychologist, 55, 1166–1167. Bingham, R.P. (2000). Multicultural career counseling: Awareness, knowledge, and skills for the changing face of the workplace: Practical strategies for career management professionals. In J.M.Kummerow (Ed.), New Directions
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in career planning and the workplace (pp. 247–272). Palo Alto, CA: DaviesBlack. Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (D. Kan., 1954). Byars, A.M. (2001), Rights-of-way: Affirmative career counseling with African American women, In W.B.Walsh, R.P.Bingham, M.T.Brown, & C.M.Ward (Eds.), Career counseling with African Americans (pp. 113–137).Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Carter, R. (1995). The Influence of Race And Racial Identity in Psychotherapy Toward a Racially Inclusive Model. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Constantine, M.G. (2002). Predictors of satisfaction with counseling: Racial and ethnic minority clients’ attitudes toward counseling and ratings of their counselors’ general and multicultural counseling competence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 255–263. Dovidio, J.F., & Gaertner, S.L. (1991). Changes in the nature and expression of racial prejudice. In H.Knopke, J.Norrell, & R. Rogers (Eds.), Opening doors: An appraisal of race relations in contemporary America (pp. 201–241). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. Dovidio, J., Kawakaming, K., Johnson, C., Johnson, B., & Howard, A. (1997). On the Nature of Prejudice: Automatic and Controlled Processes (pp. 510–540). Hamilton, NY: Colgate University Press. Dovidio, J., Mann, J.A., & Gaertner, S.L. (1989). Resistance to affirmative action: The implication of aversive racism. In F.A.Blanchard & F.J.Crosby (Eds.), Affirmative action in perspective (pp. 83–102). New York: SpringerVerlag, Fouad, N.A., & Bingham, R.P. (1995), Career counseling with racial-ethnic minorities. In W.B.Walsh & S.H.Osipow (Eds.), Handbook of vocational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 331–366). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Fredrickson, B.L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226. Hackett, G., & Betz, N.E., (1989). An exploration of the mathematics selfefficacy/mathematics performance correspondence. Journal of Research in Mathematics Education, 20, 261–273. Hargrow, A.M., & Hendricks, F. (2001). Career counseling with African Americans in nontraditional career fields. In W.B.Walsh, R.P.Bingham, M.T.Brown, & C.M.Ward (Eds.), Career counseling with African Americans (pp. 139–160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Helms, J.E. (1990). Black and white racial identity: Theory, research and practice. Westport, CT: Greenwood. Korman, M. (1974). National conference on levels and patterns of professional training in psychology. American Psychologist, 29, 441–449,
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Massimini, F., & Delle Fave, A. (2000). Individual development in a biocultural perspective. American Psychologist, 55, 24–33. Masten, A.S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56, 227–238. McKinnon, J. (2001, August). Census 2000 Brief. The Black Population: 2000. Retrieved November 10, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01–5.pdf Meara, N., & Myers, R.A. (1999). A history of division 17 (counseling psychology): Establishing stability amid change. In D.A.Dewsbury (Ed.), Unification through division: Histories of the divisions of the American Psychological Association (pp. 3, 9–42). Washington, DC, American Psychological Association. Ocampo, C. (2000). Psychophysiology and Racism. American Psychologist, 55, 1164–1165. Phelps, R.E., & Constantine, M.G. (2001). Hitting the roof: The impact of the glass-ceiling effect on the career development of African Americans. In W.B.Walsh, R.P. Bingham, M.T.Brown, & C.M.Ward (Eds.), Career counseling with African Americans (pp. 161–176). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Rives, K.S. (2001, October 19). Refusing to downsize diversity. The Commercial Appeal. Sunday, p. H19. Seligman, M.E., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000), Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5–14. Sheldon K.M., & King, L. (2001). Why positive psychology is necessary. American Psychologist, 56, 216–217. Steele, C.M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52, 1101–1110. Steele, C.M. (2001, January). Keynote address, National Multicultural Conference and Summit II, Santa Barbara, CA. Sue, D.W., Arrendondo, P., & McDavis, R.J, (1992). Multicultural counseling competencies and standards: A call to the profession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 20, 64–88. Sue, D.W., Bernier, J., Durran, A., Feinberg, I., Pedersen, P., Smith, E., & Vasques-Nuttal, E. (1982). Position paper: Cross-cultural counseling competencies. The Counseling Psychologist, 10, 45–52. Sue, D.W., Bingham, R.P., Porche-Burke, L., & Vasquez, M. (1999). The diversification of Psychology: A multicultural revolution. American Psychologist, 54, 1061–1069. Sue, D.W., Parham, T.A., & Santiago, G.B. (1998). The changing face of work in the United States: Implications for individual, institutional, and societal survival. Cultural Diversity and Mental Health, 4, 153–164. Sue, S. (1999), Science, ethnicity, and bias: Where have we gone wrong? American Psychologist, 54(12), 1070–1077.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity: A supplement to mental health: A report of the surgeon general. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001). Mental health: Culture, race, and ethnicity: A supplement to Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General, Executive Summary. Walsh, W.B. (1999). 1998 Presidential Address: Toward a broader view knowing. The Counseling Psychologist, 27, 120–127. Ward, C.M., & Bingham, R.P. (2001). Career assessment for African Americans. In W.B. Walsh, R.P.Bingham, M.T.Brown, & C.M.Ward (Eds.), Career counseling with African Americans (pp. 27–76). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
12 Fulfilling Its Promise: Counseling Psychology’s Efforts to Understand and Promote Optimal Human Functioning
Shane J.Lopez Lisa M.Edwardsa Jeana L.Magyar-Moe Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti Jamie A.Ryder University of Kansas
Counseling psychology’s designation as a specialty within the field of psychology indicates that it makes unique contributions to science and practice. Hence, its promise, or potential, as an important branch of psychology has been duly noted. The specialty status also carries with it an implicit obligation, or promise, to the field that our uniqueness will be borne out in the work we do and that we will pursue answers, from our perspective and through our scientific approaches, to questions that others in psychology are posing and attempting to answer. Indeed, counseling psychology is poised and obligated to contribute to the understanding of positive psychological phenomena, and to the promotion of healthy living. Counseling psy chologists, along with members of other applied and scientific specialties, can work toward helping people fulfill their personal promises—to realize their potential, and to enhance the quality of life for others.
a
Denotes equal authorship for second through fifth authors.
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Counseling psychology and optimal human functioning and its contributors emphasize how programmatic research lines, counseling practice, and policy development have examined and promoted the “good life” for all people. Directly and indirectly, this book reminds us that our traditions, perspective, and professional foci position us as experts on optimal human functioning. In essence, we have the benefit of a professional infrastructure on which we can build a science and practice focusing on optimal functioning. The contributions also suggest that we have accepted the obligation to realize our potential by working with other members of the psychology professorate. Certain preemptive factors that hold us back from fully engaging in the work we have charged ourselves with accomplishing also were revealed in the volume. Indeed, limited complexity of conceptualizations, definitional variance, “turf talk,” and professional isolationism stymie our efforts to generate a science and practice focused on human strength and optimal human functioning. By continuing to build on our professional strengths we will be able to demonstrate and fulfill our promise as a specialty and play an integral role in the field of psychology.
THE PROMISE OF OUR SPECIALTY Counseling psychology’s scientist-practitioner perspective and traditional foci undergird the tremendous promise we have as specialty contributing to positive psychology discovery and practice. Hence, we are poised to take on a leadership role in psychology’s effort to understand and promote optimal human functioning. The Scientist-Practitioner Model: Our Distinctive Perspective Scientist—practitioner trained counseling psychologists are well-equipped to respond to Seligman’s (1998) call for an emphasis on research to empirically ground strengths-based, mental-health practice. According to Gelso and Fretz (2001), though the scientist-practitioner model of training has become less prominent in applied fields of psychology in general, within counseling psychology the model is “as prominent as ever” (p. 11). This unique focus distinguishes the counseling psychology specialty from many other fields within the profession, thus allowing for balanced and integrated views of human functioning and change processes. Counseling psychologists identify and test hypotheses to develop a “body of specialized knowledge needed to make contributions to the welfare of all individuals and society” (Gelso & Fretz, 2001, p. 41). It is the iterative nature of this process that helps to ensure that our models are not solely based on our own
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biases. Furthermore, the application of findings to practice serves to test the relevance and utility of interventions. The skills and knowledge necessary to both conduct research and apply the findings to practice, as well as to implement experiences from the practice setting to drive future research, is a foundation upon which counseling psychologists can continue to build. The Five Foci: Our Professional Infrastructure Counseling psychologists subscribe to five major themes that serve to unite the many roles and activities of members within the specialty (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). It is our contention that our firm commitment to these unifying themes in both research and practice activities bolsters counseling psychologists’ leadership role in the scientific and practical pursuit of optimal human functioning. The hygiological philosophy (Super, 1955) that has served to ground our specialty since its inception needs to be extended beyond rhetoric, however. Counseling psychologists, and those with whom we work, would benefit from uncovering more of an empirical foundation of these five major foci. Such scholarly evidence would firmly guide the application of positive psychology for many practicing professionals. Within each of the chapters in this book, one or more of the five unifying themes of counseling psychology can be implied. In addition, each specific unifying theme is represented in an illustrative fashion within several of the chapters. The first unifying theme is a focus on intact personalities. Although many counseling psychologists have worked with clients with severe psychopathology (Corazzini, 1997), they more often work with clients in the normal range of functioning (in comparison to practitioners in other specialties, such as clinical psychology). In our specialty, more energy is devoted to the issue of psychological health and wellness than to illness and pathology. This holds true, not only in counseling and therapeutic interventions, but also for other activities in which counseling psychologists engage; such as consultation, training, teaching, supervision, advocacy, and research. Exemplars of this unifying theme at the client level are found in chapter 1 on the healthy personality by Day and Rottinghaus, and in chapter 10 on the complexities involved in the assessment of the healthy self by Frazier, Oishi, and Steger. Bingham’s work regarding fostering human strength through diversity and public policy in chapter 11 represents this theme within the realms of advocacy, outreach, and education. The second unifying theme of counseling psychology is a focus on individuals’ assets and strengths and positive mental health, regardless of the degree of disturbance. Counseling psychologists have an outlook of hopefulness and optimism regarding individual’s abilities to change and lead satisfying lives through being self-directing and finding ways to use their resources (Jordaan, Myers, Layton, & Morgan, 1968). The philosophical emphasis on the positive, and on assets and strengths, is put into practice by counseling psychologists via
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“an assumption and attitude that we carry with us and convey to our clientele” (Gelso & Fretz, 2001, p. 7). This second theme is the general focus of this entire text, as all authors focused on positive mental health. Gelso and Woodhouse, in chapter 7, specifically outline how counseling psychologists can assess, address, and foster strengths within the therapeutic context and Harris and Thoresen define forgiveness as a salutatory life force in chapter 8. These two chapters also exemplify the third unifying theme of counseling psychology—an emphasis on relatively brief interventions. Typically, interventions up to 12 to 15 sessions are considered counseling, whereas interventions lasting more than 15 sessions often are referred to as psychotherapy. When counseling psychologists conduct psychotherapy, it tends to be short-term; in general, lasting up to 6 months. The fourth unifying theme is an emphasis on person—environment interactions. Counseling psychologists consider the influence and role of the situation on their clients’ lives. This person-environment focus holds true not only for work with individual clients, but also when working with groups, organizations, and communities. Consultation, outreach, and environmental modification represent the interest in person-environment interactions of counseling psychologists. Chapter 4 on person—environment psychology and well-being by Walsh and chapter 2 on fostering the development of gifted individuals via a focus on educational environments by Achter and Lubinski, provide examples of the utility of attending to person-environment interactions. An emphasis on the educational and career development of individuals and on educational and vocational environments is the final unifying theme. Counseling psychologists devote much time and energy to the study of academic and work performance, career choice and vocational development, and educational and vocational assessment; especially those who work in educational settings such as counseling centers. Exemplars of this theme are found in Borgen and Lindley’s work in chapter 3 on creating opti-mal environments for vocational development and Savickas’ work on the role of counseling psychologists in promoting human strengths within the career counseling process in chapter 9. Although not classified as a unifying theme of counseling psychology, Gelso and Fretz (2001) reported that counseling psychologists have emerged as the strongest leaders, in all of psychology, of multicultural research and practice due to the attention given to both individual differences in assets and strengths and person-environment interactions. Attention to the diversity of clientele and to the research and development of effective strategies for working with multicultural populations “has earned the profession recognition by other specialties in psychology as a national leader in the development of effective standards and strategies for multicultural counseling” (Gelso & Fretz, p. 153). The work of Sue and Constantine in chapter 6 on optimal human functioning in people of color and the work of Leong and Wong in chapter 5 on the
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examination of optimal human functioning from a cross-cultural perspective embodies this diversity focus. The aforementioned chapters provide an excellent guide in the quest of counseling psychologists to empirically examine optimal functioning from a counseling psychology perspective. There are, however, several issues that remain to be addressed. For example, within a given intervention, all of the unifying foci need to be given equal attention so that the complex nature of the human experience is not overly simplified. The diverse clientele encountered by counseling psychologists requires viewing individuals through a lens with a wider focus. Such a perspective allows practitioners to fully capture the unique aspects that comprise the life experiences of those with whom they work, for the purpose of providing services of the highest quality.
OUR PROMISE TO THE FIELD As members of a psychological specialty, counseling psychologists are viewed as having unique professional strengths that can be built on for the greater good of psychology and all the people we serve. Indeed, our collective decisions to affirm our commitment to the scientist- practitioner model, and to focus on the needs of all people position us perfectly to examine questions related to optimal human functioning. Unquestionably, our status as important contributors to the psychology addressing positive aspects of being is well-established. Only preemptive factors such as promoting theories of limited complexity, increasing definitional variance, and engaging in turf talk and professional isolationism will keep us form fulfilling our promise to professional and lay stakeholders. Enhancing the Complexity of Our Conceptualizations Implicit and explicit psychological theories are created within contexts that fit with our own personal value systems and cultural environments; all theories are therefore value-laden and culture-bound. As such, the term, optimal human functioning, is only relevant within a more idiographic framework. Questions such as, “What is optimal within the cultural context?” must be asked before true optimal functioning can be defined. In addition, it is most likely the case that there is not only one set of constructs that can be defined as optimal for all humans. For example, self-reliance and independence are qualities that are valued in individuals in American culture. The western-based viewpoint of American culture suggests that the individual is to be valued above the group. Being independent and placing oneself above the group in a collectivist culture (e.g., Asian culture or Hispanic cultures) would not be optimal behavior, however, as it goes against the cultural norms for the group. The environment is another aspect that must be examined closely in terms of optimal functioning.
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Being very trusting in a dangerous environment would not be viewed as optimal behavior, though being open and trusting may be a beneficial quality in a nonthreatening environment. Thus, the cultural context and environmental factors must be taken into account when discussing optimal behavior and functioning. In past years, theorists have been more comfortable making broad statements about that which is healthy and that which is dysfunctional. These definitions are also culture-bound and value-laden. The idea, for example, that a healthy person is oriented toward the present as opposed to the past negates the value systems of many people whose cultures are deeply rooted in history. Behaviors may be viewed as “pathological” in one context, and as “beneficial” in another. This is evident in the evolution of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) in terms of the number of disorders in the current edition (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, 2000) as compared to past editions. The number of clinical diagnoses has increased from 106, in the initial edition of the DSM, to 297 in the current edition of the DSM (Clark, Watson, & Reynolds, 1995; Wright & Lopez, 2002). Different types of behavior are delineated and reified as disorders, as defined by what is appropriate behavior within our society at a particular time (Snyder et al., in press). The fact that homosexuality was once classified as a mental disorder is evidence for societal, historical, and cultural contexts affecting diagnostic classification. The acknowledging of culture-bound phenomena has occurred in the realm of optimal human functioning, as well as many behaviors viewed as beneficial in earlier times are not embraced today. In looking at the individual as part of a cultural context, and as existing within a unique environment, we create a more complex process of theorizing about behavior in general. The unique aspects of a particular culture create a web of factors that cannot be easily separated and pared down. Theoretical parsimony, which has been deemed a necessary characteristic of a “good theory,” must be balanced with generalizability, and our current diversity of population often requires more idiographic means of conceptualizing behavior. Thus, our job as theorists becomes more complicated. We must be comfortable dealing with the level of complexity that permeates human experience, and acknowledge this complexity as we attempt to generalize theoretical models to different populations. This calls for us to deal with ambiguity, to form working hypotheses, and to think flexibly about humans in general when describing optimal functioning. Because of the complexity inherent in defining and describing optimal functioning, our scholarly investigations must reflect this complexity. Rather than being satisfied with simple explanations for behavior, counseling psychologists can begin to incorporate several aspects that have been previously neglected in conceptualizations of human behavior; including strengths, the environmental and cultural context, and diverse methods of inquiry. By attending to these factors, it is likely that richer descriptions of functioning as
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they relate to the individual within his or her unique environment can be developed. Balanced models of human functioning must include portrayals of strengths as well as weaknesses. Counseling psychology has sought to achieve this balance, as noted by the chapters in this book dedicated to the exploration of optimal human functioning. Our field has historically incorporated strengths in behavioral conceptualizations, and also continues to conduct further research in the identification and development of assets. In a parallel vein, models of human functioning must balance descriptions of individuals with descriptions of environmental and cultural contexts. It is not enough to understand an individual’s personal strengths and weaknesses—a complete understanding also includes a description of resources and deficiencies in the environment. As such, Wright (Wright, 1991; Wright & Lopez, 2002) provides a useful assessment framework, the Four Front Approach, which asks psychologists to consider four questions of human functioning: (a) What are the strengths and assets of this individ-ual? (b) What are the deficiencies and undermining characteristics of the person? (c) What resources and opportunities exist in the individual’s environment? and (d) What are the lacks or destructive factors in the environment? The Four Front Approach can serve as a heuristic to remind us to look more complexly at human behavior and situations. Another way to acknowledge and apply the complexity of human experience lies in the methodology employed to explore optimal functioning. Although our research about human behavior and psychological processes traditionally has viewed differences as deficits, recent research, particularly studies that include individuals from nonmajority backgrounds, has been designed to acknowledge differences and explore how they facilitate or hinder growth. As an example of research that investigates an aspect of optimal functioning in a more complex manner, Chang’s (1996; 2001) work explores coping strategies in Chinese American and Caucasian individuals. His studies first describe the different types of strategies reported by Chinese Americans as compared to those used by Caucasian individuals to cope with problems. Some of the strategies utilized by the Chinese American sample, in particular, were coping techniques that traditionally have been considered dysfunctional. Chang does not stop at this level of analysis, however. Instead, he continues to investigate the complexity of coping strategies by adding an element of well-being to the equation of optimal functioning. With this added criterion, Chang found that though Chinese Americans and Caucasian individuals employed different coping strategies, they exhibited relatively equal levels of well-being, as assessed by a measure of life satisfaction. This provides support for the importance of viewing culture as a central piece in understanding the functioning of any individual. Balanced conceptualizations of human functioning, which include strengths in both individuals and their cultural environments, allow for more complexity and a deeper understanding of psychological processes. Just as the methodology
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employed in studies investigating optimal functioning continues to account for complexity, so should the fields of study about optimal functioning become more integrated. The coming together of various areas of philosophy, psychology, education, and anthropology, for example, allows for a more complex investigation of optimal functioning. Integrating Knowledge in Pursuit of Great Gains The pursuit of knowledge regarding personal strengths and optimal human functioning has been fueled by the dedication and passion of psychologists and other behavioral and social scientists. Discovery of conditions that con-tribute to and characterize optimal human functioning has been stymied by numerous professional practices that preempt the integration of knowledge that would lead to great gains for all. These practices, which include promoting definitional variance, contributing to turf talk, and remaining professionally isolate, may be engaged in by counseling psychologists committed in philosophy to the scientific and practical pursuit of optimal human functioning. We will discuss each of these preemptive factors and their remedies, in turn, in subsequent paragraphs. Increasing definitional clarity. Promoting definitional variance is a subtle practice of referring to psychological phenomena or processes in vague terms or in terms inconsistent with well-accepted definitions of the constructs and mechanisms. For example, the discussion of “hoping” in chapter 9 and “positive psyschotherapy” in chapter 7 in vague terms and in absence of references to and detailed discussions of established opera tionalizations of this construct and approach may lead readers (researchers and practitioners) to build on a faulty foundation in their scientific or practical pursuit of healthy functioning. Precise description of constructs (and therapeutic approaches) and reference to the work of our fellow scholars would highlight the conceptualizations of strengths and functioning (and changes strategies) that have been empirically examined, thereby, promoting definitional clarity and amassing information about positive aspects of the human experience. Toning down turf talk. The pursuit of knowledge sometimes becomes a competition, which may even lead to somewhat unappealing turf talk. When scholars, who naturally expect to be credited for their efforts in scientific discovery, consider that the value of their work or that of their specialty has gone unrecognized, turf talk may become prevalent. Indeed, this volume, and many professional discussions of the interface between counseling psychology and positive psychology, are rife with mention of how the specialty has not received proper acknowledgment for our work done on optimal human functioning. Ownership of the scholarly turf associated with the quest for
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information about optimal human functioning could be debated at length—if this were a productive exercise. Indeed, counseling psychology has been committed to the hygiological perspective for 50 years …but our science, practice, and training models are not necessarily reflective of our commitment to understanding and promoting human strength and associated positive life outcomes (Lopez, Magyar-Moe, Petersen, & Ryder, 2002). Irrespective our ownership of this turf, turf talk does not facili-tate the collaboration that is needed to further our understanding of psychology positive side. Beyond professional isolationism and toward professional collaboration. Review of the chapters in this volume suggests that we may engage in professional isolationism whereby we do not survey research outside of counseling psychology and closely related fields. This is indicated by the paucity of references to articles in journals, such as the Journal of Personal and Social Psychology and Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, which have devoted a great deal of space to research examining optimal human functioning. This isolationism is counter to the collaboration that is needed to answer complex questions related to human functioning. The “scholarship of integration” (Rice, 1995; Walsh, 1999) may provide us with the answers to important questions about optimal human functioning. As Walsh points out, this integration requires “a divergent approach to knowing, one that reaches across disciplinary boundaries and pulls different views and information together in creative ways” (p. 123). Professional collaboration leading to integration of knowledge may lead to a consilience effect, or a jumping together of knowledge. This unity of knowledge specific to optimal human functioning (not as far-reaching as Wilsonian [1998] consilience) could reveal some necessary, but nonsufficient precursors to optimal human functioning.
PROMISES KEPT Gelso and Fassinger (1992) reminded us of one of our unfulfilled professional promises. We, as a specialty, failed, to some extent, to define and promote healthy personality during the first 50 years of our scholarship. Now, we are given another chance to pursue this vital area of inquiry. We are poised to realize our promise as a specialty, and we will use our strengths to work with professionals in other psychological specialties and disciplines to understand and promote optimal human functioning.
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REFERENCES American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th text revision), Washington, DC: Author. Chang, E.C. (1996). Cultural differences in optimism, pessimism, and coping: Predictors of subsequent adjustment in Asian American and Caucasian American college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 113–123. Chang, E.C. (2001). A look at the coping strategies and styles of Asian Americans: Similar and different? In C.R.Snyder (Ed.), Coping and copers: Adaptive processes and people (pp. 222–239). New York: Oxford University Press. Clark, L.A., Watson, D., Reynolds, S. (1995). Diagnosis and classification of psychopathology: Challenges to the current system and future directions. Annual Review of Psy-chology, 46, 121–153. Corazzini, J.G. (1997). Using research to determine the efficacy and modes of treatment in university counseling centers. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44, 378–380. Gelso, C., & Fassinger, R.E. (1992). Personality, development, and counseling psychology:Depth, ambivalence, and actualization. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 39, 275–298. Gelso, C., & Fretz, B. (2001). Counseling psychologist (2nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt. Jordaan, J.E., Myers, R.A., Layton, W.C., & Morgan, H.H. (1968). The counseling psychologist. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Lopez, S.J., Magyar-Moe, J.L., Petersen, S.E., & Ryder, J.A. (2002). Beyond hygiology and toward fulfilling a promise. Counseling psychology’s focus on human strengths. Unpublished manuscript. Rice, R.E. (1995). The new American scholar. Scholarship and the purposes of the university. In D.M.Johnson & D.A.Bell (Eds.), Metropolitan universities: An emerging model in American higher education (pp. 135–146). Denton: University of North Texas Press. Seligman, M.E.P. (1998). Positive social science. APA Monitor, 29, 3. Snyder, C.R., Lopez, S.J., Edwards, L.M., Pedrotti, J.T., Prosser, E.C.Walton, S.L., & Spalitto, S.V. (in press). Measuring and labeling the positive and negative. In S.J.Lopez & C.R.Snyder (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: Handbook of models and measures. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Super, D.E. (1955). Transition: From vocational guidance to counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2, 3–9.
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Walsh, W.B. (1999). 1998 Presidential Address: Toward a broader view of knowing. The Counseling Psychologist, 27, 120–128. Wilson, E.O. (1998). Conscience: The unity of knowledge. New York: Knopf. Wright, B.A. (1991). Labeling: The need for greater person- environment individuation. In C.R.Snyder & D.R.Forsyth (Eds.), The handbook of social and clinical psychology (pp. 469–487). New York: Pergamon. Wright, B.A., & Lopez, S.J. (2002). Widening the diagnostic focus: A case for including human strengths and environmental resources. In C.R.Snyder & S.J.Lopez (Eds.), The handbook of positive psychology (pp. 26–44). New York: Oxford University Press.
Author Index
Note: f indicates figure, n indicates footnote, t indicates table
A Achter, J.A., 29, 33, 36, 37, 38f, 50 Ackerman, P.L., 34, 47, 50, 51, 73, 86 Adams, E.P., 161, 168 Adkins, W.R., 234, 247 Adler, A., 2t, 3t, 7, 11, 14, 19 Affleck, G., 216, 225 Ahuvia, A., 154, 165 Ajamu, A., 154, 167 Albom, M., 208, 223 Allen, G.D., 216, 224 Allen, N.J., 233, 248 Allport, G.W., 2t, 5, 8, 11, 12, 19, 37, 50, 172, 196 Almond, R., 261, 262, 265, 274 Anderson, K., 14, 22 Anderson, N.B., 157, 162, 166 Andrews, F.M., 255, 274 Ankenmann, R.D., 264, 274 Antonovsky, A., 261, 274 Armeli, S., 266, 267, 270, 274, 275 Armstrong, K.L., 155, 167 Arrendondo, P., 283, 295 Asante, M., 154, 165 Aspinwall, L.G., 14, 18, 19 Astin, A.W., 100, 117 August, R.H., 111, 112, 114, 116, 121 Avants, S.K., 192, 196 Axelrad, S., 234, 248 Azar, B., 223 B Bacigalupe, G., 152, 165 Bagiella, E., 215, 218, 226
Bahr, G.R., 212, 225 Bailey, S., 14, 22 Balatsky, G., 257, 274 Baltes, M.M., 3t, 19 Baltes, P., 253, 274, 274 Baltes, P.B., 3t, 12, 19, 19, 20 Bandura, A., 2t, 3t, 20, 64, 65, 67, 76, 78, 80, 86, 285, 294 Barker, R.G., 95, 110, 111, 116, 117 Barnet, S., 11, 20 Barón, A., 161, 165 Baron, R.M., 109, 117 Barongan, C., 156, 165 Barrick, M.R., 70, 80, 86 Bartholomew, K., 233, 247 Battista, J., 261, 262, 265, 274 Baumeister, R., 142, 148, 215, 223 Belcourt-Dittloff, A., 157, 165, 292, 294 Benbow, C.P., 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38f, 40, 42, 43f, 44f, 45f, 47, 48f, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 Bennett, K., 15, 20 Bentler, P.M., 142, 148 Berenson, B.G., 182, 197 Bergin, A.E., 3t, 20, 215, 216, 217, 221, 223, 226 Berkman, L.F., 210, 223 Berman, M., 11, 20 Bernal, G., 156, 165 Bernier, J., 283, 295 Bernier, J.E., 127, 149 Bernstein, B.M., 212, 225 Berreth, J.M., 66, 89 Berry, J.W., 125, 148, 204, 205, 227
306
Betz, N.E., 2t, 20, 57, 64, 66, 67, 68, 71, 73, 77, 78, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 239, 246, 247, 285, 291, 294 Bieschke, K.J., 65, 67, 68, 71, 90 Binet, A., 27, 51 Bingham, R., 156, 168 Bingham, R.P., 283, 286, 294, 295 Blaine, B., 160, 166 Blocher, D.H., 172, 196, 230, 247 Blustein, D.L., 235, 247 Bohart, A.C., 152, 165, 180, 196 Bolden, M., 161, 168 Bond, L.A., 124, 148 Bond, M.H., 143, 148 Bonebright, C.A., 264, 274 Borgen, F., 76, 82, 85, 88 Borgen, F.H., 56, 57, 58, 61, 63, 66, 67, 68, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 100, 118 Borman, W C., 73, 83, 88, 90 Bosson, J.K., 271, 274 Boudieau, L.A., 109, 117 Bowers, K.S., 95, 117 Bowman, P.J., 161, 165 Boyd-Franklin, N., 160, 166 Bozarth, J.D., 175, 196 Bradburn, N.M., 258, 274 Bradley, H.S., 64, 87 Brasfield, T.L, 212, 225 Brennan, K.A., 261, 275 Brislin, R.W., 143, 148 Brisssette, I., 210, 211, 223 Broadnax, S., 160, 166 Broken Nose, M., 154, 168 Broman, C.L., 160, 165 Brown, D., 164, 165 Brown, J.D., 2t, 14, 22 Brown, S.D., 14, 21, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 76, 78, 85, 89, 90 Brunhart, S.M., 18, 19 Brunstein, J.C., 113, 117 Brunswik, 94, 110, 117 Bugental, J.F.T., 132, 148 Buckingham, M., 62, 87 Burisch, M., 56, 87 Burns, D.P., 191, 196 Burto, W., 11, 20
Author Index
Buss, D.M., 109, 117 Byars, A.M., 286, 294 C Cacioppo, J.T., 210, 227 Caldwell, C.H., 161, 167 Caldwell, D.S., 216, 225 Calhoun, L., 252, 267, 274, 278 Cameron, A,, 267, 276 Campbell, D.P., 75, 77, 80, 83, 87, 88, 253, 274 Campbell, D.T., 273, 274 Campbell, J.P., 30, 51 Campbell, N.K., 64, 65, 67, 68, 73, 80, 87, 88 Cancelli, A.A., 160, 168 Cantor, N., 113, 117 Carroll, J.B., 34, 37, 51 Carroll, J.M., 79, 90 Carter, R., 283, 294 Carter, R.T., 136, 140, 148, 153, 161, 165 Carver, C.S., 2t, 3t, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20, 22, 113, 117 Catalano, M., 102, 121 Cattell, R.B., 2t, 6, 20 Chamberlain, K., 142, 149, 264, 265, 274, 278 Chang, E.C., 304, 306, 307 Chartrand, J.M., 58, 77, 87 Chazin, R., 192, 196 Chirban, J.T., 221, 223 Chorney, K., 42, 51 Chorney, M.J., 42, 51 Christopher, J.C., 98, 117 Cimbolic, K., 266, 275 Clance, P.R., 193, 196 Clark, L., 259, 260, 275 Clark, L.A., 3t, 23, 258, 260, 278, 302, 307 Clark, R., 157, 162, 166 Clark, V.R., 157, 162, 166 Clay, D.L., 264, 274 Clifton, D.O., 62, 87 Clore, G.L., 259, 271, 276, 277 Cohen, L., 266, 268, 270, 274, 275, 276 Cohen, L.H., 267, 277 Cohen, R.D., 205, 224 Cohen, S., 210, 211, 212, 214, 223, 224 Cole, N.S., 64, 87
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
Cole, W.O., 141, 148 Coleman, H.L.K., 127, 149 Collins, A., 259, 276 Comas-Diaz, L., 155, 156, 165, 167 Conlon, A., 269, 270, 275 Conner, L.C., 163, 166 Constantine, M.G., 160, 161, 162, 163, 166, 286, 291, 294, 295 Cooley, W.W., 32, 51 Cooper, H., 105, 118 Cooper, S., 163, 167 Corazzini, J.G., 299, 307 Costa, P.T., 69, 70, 74, 76, 80, 87 Cousins, J.B., 263, 264, 277 Coyle, C.T., 203, 223 Craik, K.H., 59, 91, 96, 112, 114, 116, 117, 121 Crites, J.O., 230, 234, 237, 247 Crocker, J., 160, 166 Cronbach, L.J., 29, 51 Crumbaugh, J.C., 261, 262, 275 Csikszentmihalyi, I.S., 113 , 17 Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2t, 5, 20, 22, 25, 28, 53, 58, 87, 90, 113, 117, 132, 149, 151, 152, 155, 168, 226, 252, 274, 277, 290, 291, 295 Cutrona, C.E., 213, 223 D D’Andrea, M., 160, 163, 166, 168 Daniels, J., 42, 51, 163, 168 David, J.P., 16, 23 Davis, N.L., 193, 196 Day, S.X., 34, 51, 63, 83, 88, 90 Dawis, R.V., 3t, 20, 26, 34, 36, 47, 51, 52, 57, 60, 63, 88 Deaux, K., 162, 166 Debats, D.L., 262, 263, 264, 265, 275 Deci, E.L., 2t, 20, 97, 98, 105, 113, 114, 115, 116, 120, 161, 168 Decker, A, R., 57, 72, 91 De Fruyt, F., 75, 88 Delle Fave, A., 290, 294 Demick, J., 96, 121 DeNeve, K.M., 105, 117, 118 de St. Aubin, E., 274, 276 Detterman, D.K., 42, 51
307
Diener, E., 3t, 11, 12, 15, 20, 97, 113, 118, 151, 162, 164, 166, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 272, 274, 275, 276, 277 Digman, J.M., 69, 80, 88 Dinoff, B.L., 15, 22 Doctors, S.R., 176, 196 Dong, N.J., 163, 168 Donnay, D., 66, 73, 76, 82, 83, 87, 88 Donnay, D.A. C., 71, 77, 78, 85, 88, 89 Donne, J., 11, 20 Dovidio, J.F., 285, 294 Doyle, W.J., 210, 223 Draya, R., 11, 20 Drew, J., 216, 225 Duran, B., 160, 162, 166 Duran, E., 160, 162, 166 Durran, A., 127, 149, 283, 295 Dyck, M.J., 262, 265, 275 E Eagleston, J.R., 226 Edwards, L.M., 156, 157, 167, 302, 307 Eftekhari-Sanjani, H., 29, 30, 35, 36, 37, 40, 38f, 47, 50, 52 Egert, J., 216, 225 Eid, M., 261, 275 Ekehammar, B., 93, 94, 118 Ekman, P., 271, 275 Eley, T.C., 42, 51 Elliot, A.J., 113, 114, 118, 120 Ellison, C.G., 219, 224 Emmons, R.A., 113, 118, 255, 257, 273, 275 Endler, N.S., 95, 97, 118, 119 Enright, R.D., 203, 204, 206, 207f, 223, 224 Ericcson, K.A., 30, 46, 47, 51 Erikson, E., 230, 247 Erikson, E.H., 1, 2t, 3t, 7, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 233, 235, 236, 238, 240, 241, 247 Essex, M.J., 255n, 277 Ethier, K., 162, 166 Everson, S.A., 205, 224 Exline, J.J., 216, 224 Eysenck, H.J., 30, 46, 47, 51 F Fahey J.L., 14, 22
308
Farnham, S.D., 271, 276 Farren, C., 242, 247 Fassinger, R.E., 171, 172, 195, 196, 306, 307 Feagin, J.R., 159, 166 Feinberg, I., 283, 295 Feinberg, L., 127, 149 Fine, M., 267, 276 Finney, J.W., 96, 106, 121 Fisher, R., 268, 276 Fiske, D.W., 254, 274 Fitzgerald, L.F., 57, 86 Fitzgibbons, R.P., 203, 204, 206, 207f, 224 Flanagan, J.C., 32, 51 Flanigan, B., 208, 224 Fleischman, E.A., 83, 90 Floyd, R.K., 151, 167, 173, 181, 197 Flum, H., 235, 247 Folkman, S., 2t, 21, 151, 166 Foreman, M.E., 6, 20, 172, 196 Fouad, N.A., 286, 294 Fraley, R.C., 261, 275 Frame, M.W., 193, 196 Frankl, V.E., 2t, 12, 20, 142, 148, 261, 275 Franklin, A.J., 160, 166 Frazier, P., 269, 270, 275 Fredrickson, B.L., 224, 258, 276, 289, 294 Freedman, S., 204, 224 Fretz, B., xi, xi, 171, 173, 175, 176, 195, 196, 298, 299, 300, 301, 307 Fretz, B.R., 28, 51 Freud, S., 2t, 20 Friesen, W.V., 271, 275 Fritz, H.L., 210, 224 Fry, P.S., 142, 150 Fryer, D., 160, 166 Fujita, F., 113, 118, 258, 259, 260, 272, 275 Fuller, B.E., 72, 88 G Gable, S.L., 105, 120 Gaertner, S.L., 285, 291, 294 Gailis, A.X, 193, 196 Gainor, K.A., 161, 162, 163, 166 Galanter, M., 221, 224 Gallup, G., 218, 224 Galton, F., 27, 46, 51
Author Index
Gardner, H., 30, 46, 47, 51, 133, 148 Garfield, C., 266, 275 Gariglietti, K.P., 151, 167 Garrett, M.T., 162, 163, 166 Gartner, J., 216, 224 Gasser, C.E., 77, 88 Gelatt, H.B., 3t, 16, 20 Gelso, C., xi, xi, 298, 299, 300, 301, 306, 307 Gelso, C.J., 28, 51, 171, 172, 173, 175, 176, 180, 195, 196, 197 Germanous, G.K., 263, 276 Gibson, J., 216, 225 Gibson, J.J., 109, 118 Gilbert, R.B., 162, 166 Ginsburg, S.W., 4, 20, 234, 248 Ginzberg, E., 234, 248 Giordani, P., 257, 276 Glaser, T., 269, 270, 275 Glass, T., 210, 223 Gloria, A.M., 161, 166 Goff, M., 47, 51 Gohm, C.L., 46, 51 Goldberg, D.E., 205, 224 Goldberg, L.R., 69, 80, 88 Goldman, L., 60, 88 Goldstein, H.W., 96, 120 Gottfredson, L.S., 34, 51, 102, 118 Gottier, R.F., 73, 88 Gottlieb, B.H., 213, 214, 223, 224 Gottman, J.M., 271, 275 Gough, H.G., 63, 88 Grässmann, R., 113, 117 Green, E.L., 193, 196 Green, M.A., 79, 90 Green, R., 258, 276 Greenberg, L.S., 178, 180, 196, 197 Greene, B.A., 193, 197 Greening, T., 132, 148, 152, 165 Greenwald, A.G., 271, 276 Griffin, S., 255, 275 Guindon, M.H., 157, 159, 166 Guion, R.M., 73, 88 Gunthert, K., 267, 270, 274 Gupta, S.M., 141, 148 Guthrie, R.V., 153, 158, 166 Gwaltney, J.M., 210, 223
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
H Hackett, G., 2t, 14, 20, 21, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 76, 78, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 285, 291, 294 Haldane, B., 239, 248 Hall, C.C., 156, 165 Hall, G.C. N., 156, 165 Halper, C., 78, 81, 85, 86 Halvorson, M.B.J., 36, 52 Hammer, A, L., 61, 63, 75, 76, 81, 82, 83, 89, 100, 118 Hanna, F.J., 157, 159, 166 Hansen, J.C., 61, 63, 73, 74, 75, 76, 81, 82, 83, 88, 89, 100, 118 Hansen, T.A., 77, 89 Hanson, M.A., 73, 88 Hardin, E.E., 235, 248 Hargrow, A.M., 286, 294 Harlow, L.L., 142, 148 Harmon, L.W., 61, 63, 66, 67, 71, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89, 100, 118 Harren, V.A., 234, 248 Harris, A.H.S., 203, 205, 215, 217, 224, 226, 227 Harris-Bowlsbey, J., 241, 248 Harrison, L.E., 147, 148 Hartmann, H., 176, 197 Hathaway, S.R., 63, 89 Havinghurst, R.J., 230, 248 Hayes, J.A., 176, 180, 196, 197 Hazan, C., 233, 248 Heath, S.R., 171, 197 Heatherton, T.F., 15, 20 Heggestad, E.D., 34, 50, 73, 86 Hegelson, V.S., 210, 212, 214, 224 Heller, K., 213, 225 Heller, K.A., 46, 51 Helms, J.E., 152, 166, 283, 294 Helson, H., 94, 98, 118 Helson, R., 98, 118 Hendricks, F., 286, 294 Herma, J.L., 234, 248 Hershenson, D.B., 230, 248 Hervig, L.K., 14, 21 Hettler, T., 266, 275 Hightower, E., 7, 20 Hill, P.C., 214, 224
309
Hirsch, B.J., 210, 224 Hirsh, W., 242, 248 Hobbs, N., 27, 31, 32, 33, 51 Hofer, K.E., 77, 88 Hofstede, G., 135, 148 Hoffman, R.R., 18, 19 Hogan, R., 96, 112, 113, 114, 116, 118, 240, 248 Holahan, C.K., 29, 51 Holland, J.L., 3t, 101, 20, 34, 36, 37, 51, 63, 64, 66, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 81, 87, 88, 89, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101f, 102, 114, 117, 118, 121, 231, 241, 248 Hollingworth, L.S., 27, 28, 29, 32, 51 Holman, E.A., 9, 21 Hood, R.W., 214, 224 Horowitz, L.M., 233, 247 Hough, L.M., 80, 89 House, J.S., 210, 219, 224, 225 Howard, A., 285, 294 Hoyt, M.F., 193, 197 Hoyt, W.T., 216, 225 Hsu, S., 160, 165 Hubbard, J.M., 263, 276 Hughes, M., 160, 168 Hummer, R.A., 219, 224 Humphreys, L.G., 29, 30, 33, 46, 51, 52 Hunt, J.M., 95, 118 Hunter, J.E., 29, 30, 34, 53 Huntington, S.P., 147, 148 Hwang, K.K., 143, 148 Hyne, S.A., 73, 77, 80, 83, 87 I Imhoff, A.R., 66, 90 Ironson, G.H., 216, 227 Isaacs, J., 77, 89 Ivey, A.E., 158, 168 J Jackson, C., 242, 248 Jackson, J.S., 161, 167 Jahoda, M., 3t, 4, 11, 19, 21, 172, 197 James, W., 2t, 14, 15, 21 Jarvis, P., 234, 248 Jeaneret, P.R., 83, 90 Jeffries, D., 193, 197 Jenkins, J.J., 32, 52
310
Jenson, A.R., 46, 47, 52 Johnson, B., 285, 294 Johnson, C., 285, 294 Johnston, J.A., 72, 88 Jones, J.M., 153, 166 Jordaan, J.E., 300, 307 Judge, T.A., 68, 89 Jung, C.G., 2t, 3t, 11, 21 K Kabat-Zinn, J., 155, 166 Kagitcibasi, C., 125, 148 Kalichman, S.C., 212, 225 Kanitkar, H., 141, 148 Kantor, J.R., 93, 118 Kaplan, G.A., 205, 224 Kaplan, S., 192, 196 Kasser. J., 114, 121 Kasser.T., 114, 118 Katz, M.R., 241, 248 Kawachi, I., 211, 224 Kawakaming, K., 285, 294 Kay, G.G., 70, 87 Kaye, B., 242, 247 Keating, D.P., 33, 35, 52 Keefe, F.J., 216, 225 Kelly, J.A., 212, 225 Kemeny, M.E., 14, 22 Kennedy, B.P., 211, 224 Kent, M.W., 124, 148 Keough, K., 273, 276 Keyes, C.L.M., 255n, 256, 277 Kidd, J.M., 242, 248 Kielcolt-Glaser, J.K., 210, 227 King, J.C., 66, 89 King, L., 151, 152, 168, 252, 261, 276, 277, 289, 295 King, S., 160, 167 Kitayama, S., 154, 161, 166, 167 Klaassen, D., 142, 150 Klein, K.L., 68, 86 Kleiwer, W., 255, 277 Kleiwer, W.L., 113, 114, 120 Klinger, E., 273, 276 Klonoff, E.A., 160, 167 Kluckhohn, C., 125, 148 Kluchhohn, R.R., 123, 135, 138, 148 Knasel, E.G., 3t, 22
Author Index
Kobasa, S.C., 3t, 21 Koenig, H., 141, 148 Koenig, H.G., 214, 216, 219, 225, 226 Koepping, G.R., 193, 197 Koffka, K., 93, 103, 118 Kohut, H., 176, 180, 197 Kolligian, J., 124, 149 Koob, J.J., 212, 225 Korman, M., 282, 294 Kramer, P.D., 16, 21 Krieger, N., 159, 167 Krumboltz, J.D., 3t, 16, 21, 237, 248 Kubisiak, U.C., 73, 88 Kuder, G.F., 56, 89 Kuhn, T S., 35, 52 Kulik, J.A., 211, 225 Kuo, W.H., 210, 225 Kurtz, R.R., 239, 248 Kurusu, T.A., 216, 217, 227 Kusulas J.W. 14, 21 Kwee, M., 155, 167 L LaDue, R. A,, 156, 165 LaFromboise, T.D., 163, 167 Lakey, B., 213, 225 Landis, K.R., 210, 224 Landrine, H., 160, 167 Larkin, K.C., 64, 66, 68, 71, 89 Larsen, R.J., 255, 258, 275, 276 Larson, D.B., 216, 217, 224, 225 Larson, L.M., 74, 75, 76, 84, 89 Laske, O.E., 242, 248 Lawler, K.A., 160, 169 Lawrence, D.H., 10, 21 Layton, W.C., 300, 307 Lazarus, R.S., 2t, 15, 21 Lease, S.H., 66, 67, 91 Lee, C.C., 155, 167 Lee, Y.H., 255n, 277 Lefebvre, J., 216, 225 Leibowitz, Z., 242, 247 Lemke, S., 104, 119 Lenox, R.A., 78, 89 Lent, R., 14, 21 Lent, R.W., 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 76, 78, 85, 89, 90
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
Leong, F.T. L., 125, 126, 128, 148, 149, 235, 248 Lepper, H.S., 255, 257, 276 Levin, A.S., 3t, 16, 21 Levin, J.S., 214, 216, 225 Levine, M., 145, 149 Lewin, 93, 95, 106, 119 Lewis, E.L., 161, 162, 163, 166 Lewis, M., 95, 120 Ligon, E.M., 237, 248 Lindley, L.D., 66, 67, 68, 71, 79, 90 Lindzey, G., 37, 50 Little, B.R., 2t, 10, 14, 15, 21, 96, 112, 113, 116, 119, 261, 264, 265, 276 Liu, D., 145, 149 Lobel, M., 216, 224 Lochner, K., 211, 224 Locke, E.A., 64, 91 Lofquist, L.H., 3t, 20, 36, 47, 51, 52, 60, 88 Lopez, F.G., 65, 67, 68, 71, 90 Lopez, S.J., 151, 156, 157, 167, 173, 181, 197, 200, 226, 302, 303, 305, 307 Lovinger, R.J., 220, 225 Lowe, W.C., 263, 276 Lowman, R.L., 58, 70, 90 Lubinski, D., 26, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38f, 40, 42, 43f, 44f, 45f, 46, 47, 48f, 49f, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 Lucas, J.L., 73, 77, 83, 90 Lucas, R., 255, 259, 276 Lucas, R.E., 97, 118, 256, 260, 275, 276 Luhtanen, R., 160, 166 Lupien, S.J., 160, 167 Luskin, F., 205, 227 Luskin, F.M., 203, 227 Luthans, F., 64, 91 Lyubomirsky, S., 255, 257, 276 M MacFarlane, R., 213, 223 Maddux, J.E., 68, 90 Magnusson, D., 95, 97, 118, 119 Magyar-Moe, J.L., 156, 157, 167, 305, 307 Mahler, H.L., 211, 225 Maholick, L.T., 261, 262, 275 Malony, H.N., 218, 226 Mann, J.A., 285, 294
311
Marcoen, A., 264, 278 Margolin, A., 192, 196 Markides, K.S., 216, 225 Marko, K.W., 234, 248 Markus, H., 2t, 21, 167, 273, 276 Markus, H.R., 154, 161, 166 Marsella, A.J., 127, 130, 149 Marshall, G.N., 14, 21 Martin, L.L., 272, 277 Maslow, A.H., 2t, 12, 21, 131, 149, 172, 197 Massey, S., 267, 276 Massimini, F., 290, 294 Masten, A.S., 292, 294 Matsui, K., 67, 90 Matsui, T., 67, 90 Matthews, D.A., 141, 149 Mavaddat, R., 160, 165 Maw, I.L., 234, 248 Mays.V.M., 161, 167 McAdams, D., 274, 276 McAdams, D.P., 2t, 3t, 7, 21 McCaulley, M.H., 62, 69, 90 McCrae, R.R., 69, 70, 74, 76, 80, 87 McCullough, M.E., 202, 203, 204, 216, 217, 224, 225, 227 McDavis, R.J., 283, 295 McDermott, D., 151, 167 McDonald, M., 142, 146, 147, 150 McEwen, B.S., 160, 167, 202, 225 McGregor, I., 113, 119, 261, 264, 265, 276 McGuffin, P., 42, 51 McKinley, J.C., 63, 89 McKinnon, J., 282, 294 McMahon, K., 214, 225 McMillan, J.C., 268, 276 McRae, M.B., 163, 167 Meaney, M.J., 160, 167 Meara, N., 286, 289, 295 Meichenbaum, D., 3t, 21 Meir, E.I., 102, 121 Mendelsohn, G.A., 258, 277 Menninger, K.A., 4, 21 Mervielde, L., 75, 88 Meyer, J.P., 233, 248 Meyers, R.A., 300, 307 Miller, W.R., 214, 215, 218, 225 Mischel, W., 95, 96, 119
312
Mitchell, K.E., 3t, 16, 21 Mitchell, K.M., 182, 197 Mitchell, V., 98, 118 Mohatt, G.V., 162, 167 Mönks, F.J., 46, 51 Moos, B., 104, 119 Moos, R., 96, 104, 119 Moos, R.H., 96, 103, 104, 105, 106, 109, 115, 119, 121, 268, 277 Morelock, M.J., 26, 40, 42, 43f, 52 Morgan, H.H., 300, 307 Morgan, M.G., 212, 225 Moskowitz, J.T., 151, 166 Mount, M.K., 70, 80, 86 Multon, K.D., 66, 90 Mumford, M.D., 83, 90 Murch, R.L., 267, 277 Murphy, D.A., 212, 225 Murphy, G., 94, 119 Murray, C., 29, 52 Murray, H.A., 2t, 21, 40, 52, 94, 103, 106, 119, 125, 148 Musick, M.A., 219, 225 Musick, M.A.K.P., 216, 226 Myers, D.G., 105, 119, 154, 167 Myers, I.B., 62, 69, 90 Myers, R. A, 286, 289, 295 N Nam, C.B., 219, 224 Napa, C., 252, 261, 276 Nasar, J.L., 96, 119 Neufeld, J.E., 156, 157, 167 Newcomb, M.D., 142, 148 Nichols, P.A., 15, 20 Nilsen, D.L., 73, 77, 80, 83, 87 Norcross, J.C., 173, 181, 197 Nowlis, V., 258, 276 Nurius, P., 2t, 21 O Ocampo, C., 283, 292, 295 Oden, M.H., 29, 30, 32, 54 Oettingen, G., 14, 23 O’Hara, R.P., 230, 234, 249 Ohnishi, R., 67, 90 Oishi, S., 154, 167, 257, 259, 272, 276, 277
Author Index
Oman, D., 214, 215, 225, 227 Ortony, A., 259, 276 Ory, M., 216, 226 Osborn, Z.H., 72, 91 O’Shea, M.V., 27, 52 Osipow, S.H., 235, 248 Ostrom, R., 217, 226 Ouellette, S., 267, 276 Overstreet, P.L., 234, 249 Owen, M.J., 42, 51 P Pace, C.R., 95, 103, 120 Pai, S., 141, 149 Pane, N., 266, 275 Pargament, K.I., 202, 203, 204, 216, 221, 225, 226 Parham, T.A., 154, 156, 165, 167, 282, 286, 287, 295 Park, C., 268, 276 Park, C.L., 267, 277 Parsons, E., 2t, 21, 67, 90 Parsons, F., 36, 52 Paterson, D.G., 26, 32, 36, 49, 52 Paulsen, A,, 77, 78, 81, 85, 86, 88 Pavot, W., 257, 277 Peacock, E.J., 142, 149, 261, 263, 264, 277 Pedersen, P., 127, 149, 283, 295 Pedersen, P.B., 127, 149, 156, 158, 165, 168 Pedrotti, J.I., 302, 307 Pennebaker, J.W., 271, 272, 274, 277 Perez, L., 216, 226 Perman, S., 239, 248 Pervin, L.A., 95, 96, 106, 107, 109, 112, 114, 115, 116, 120 Pesechkian, N., 173, 197 Petersen, S.E., 305, 307 Peterson, C., 14, 21, 23, 162, 167 Peterson, D.R., 96, 120, 151, 167 Peterson, N.G., 83, 90 Phelps, R.E., 286, 295 Phillips, S.D., 66, 90 Pilisuk, M., 162, 167 Plato, 26, 53 Plomin, R., 42, 51, 53 Pope-Davis, D.B., 127, 149 Ponterotto, J.G., 160, 168
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
Porche-Burke, L., 283, 295 Porche-Burke, L.M., 156, 165, 168 Powell, L., 216, 226 Powell, L.H., 215, 226 Powell, T., 215, 218, 226 Prediger, D.J., 37, 53, 73, 90 Pressey, S.L., 27, 28, 30, 33, 46, 49, 53 Price, R.H., 59, 91, 96, 121 Prochaska, J.O., 173, 181, 197 Propst, L.R., 217, 226 Prosser, E.C., 156, 157, 167, 302, 307 Prothrow-Stith, D., 211, 224 Pucik, V., 68, 89 Putnam, R., 211, 215, 217, 226 Q Quinn, A.C., 72, 91 R Rabin, B.S., 210, 223 Ramos-McKay, J.M., 155, 167 Rand, K., 151, 167 Rasmussen, H.N., 156, 157, 167 Rather, D., 10, 21 Ray, L.A., 216, 225 Reichelt, K.L., 145, 149 Reis, H.T., 105, 120 Reker, G.T., 142, 149, 261, 263, 264, 277 Renard, G., 193, 197 Resnick, S., 186, 197 Reynolds, A, L., 160, 168 Reynolds, S., 302, 307 Rhodes, S.C., 15, 20 Rice, R.E., 306, 307 Rich, G.J., 124, 149 Richards, P.S., 215, 217, 221, 226 Richardt, J., 234, 248 Richter, L., 18, 19 Rique, J., 204, 224 Rivera, L.A., 155, 167 Rives, K.S., 287, 295 Robbins, S., 255, 277 Robbins, S.B., 113, 114, 120 Roberts, B.W., 96, 112, 113, 114, 116, 118 Robinson, J.P., 255, 274 Robitschek, C., 2t, 21 Roe, A., 36, 53 Rogers, C.R., 2t, 3t, 4, 11, 12, 21, 172, 197
313
Rogers, R.G., 219, 224 Rokeach, M., 135, 149 Roland, A., 163, 167 Rolf, J.E., 124, 148 Rollock, D., 156, 165 Root, M.P.P., 156, 165 Roscoe, J., 105, 120 Rosen, J.C., 124, 148 Rosenhan, D.L., 59, 90 Rosenberg, M., 238, 248 Ross, M., 272, 277 Roth, P.L., 80, 91 Rotter, J.B., 2t, 21, 94, 120 Rottinghaus, P.J., 74, 75, 77, 78, 79, 81, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90 Rounds, J., 34, 51, 63, 83, 88, 90 Rounds, J., B., 36, 53 Rubin, D.D., 107, 120 Rudestam, K.E., 68, 90 Russell, J.A., 79, 90, 258, 277 Ryan, J., 36, 52 Ryan, R., 114, 120 Ryan, R.M., 2t, 20, 97, 98, 105, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 120, 161, 168 Ryder, J. A, 305, 307 Ryff, C.D., 98, 102, 105, 114, 115, 116, 120, 226, 251, 252, 255, 256, 261n, 273, 277 S Sager, C.E., 73, 88 Sampson, J.P., 241, 248 Sanchez, D., 163, 166 Sandage, S.J., 204, 205, 216, 217, 227 Sanderson, C.A., 113, 117 Sanderson, W.C., 216, 224 Sandvik, E., 259, 277 Santiago, G.B., 282, 286, 287, 295 Sapyta, J.J., 256, 275 Saraswathi, T.S., 141, 149 Savickas, M.L., 2t, 3t, 10, 21, 22, 34, 53, 64, 80, 90, 234, 243f, 245f, 248 Schaefer, J.A., 268, 277 Schauer, D., 66, 89 Scheier, M.F., 2t, 3t, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20, 22, 113, 117 Schein, E., 135, 149 Schimmack, U., 257, 272, 276, 277
314
Schippman, J.S., 80, 91 Schlessinger, H.S., 193, 197 Schlossberg, N.K., 3t, 22 Schmidt, D.B., 29, 36, 52, 53 Schmidt, F.L., 29, 30, 34, 53 Schmutte, P.S., 255n, 277 Schneider, B., 96, 120 Schneider, S.L., 2t, 3t, 7, 8, 17, 18, 22 Schulman, P., 14, 22 Schultheiss, O.C., 113, 117 Schulz, R., 212, 214, 224 Schwartz, B., 151, 168 Schwartz, S., 2t, 22 Schwarz, N., 271, 272, 277 Seagal, J.D., 272, 277 Sears, R.R., 29, 51 Seashore, C.E., 30, 31, 33, 53 Seeman, T.E., 210, 211, 223, 226 Seese, N., 42, 51 Segall, M.H., 125, 148 Segerstrom, S.C., 14, 22 Seidlitz, L., 257, 259, 277 Seligman, M., 132, 149, 252, 277 Seligman, M.E., 290, 291, 295 Seligman, M.E. P., 2t, 5, 14, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 53, 58, 59, 90, 151, 152, 155, 168, 226, 229, 230, 247, 248, 298, 307 Selin, I.A., 186, 197 Sells, S.B., 95, 120 Shafranske, E.P., 215, 218, 221, 226 Shahabi, L., 215, 216, 226 Shakespeare, W., 10, 22 Shapiro, D., 179, 197 Shaver, P.R., 233, 248 Shea, D.L., 30, 35, 36, 40, 42, 44f, 45f, 47, 50, 52, 53 Sheldon, K., 252, 277 Sheldon, K.M., 105, 113, 114, 118, 120, 121, 151, 152, 168, 289, 295 Sherwin, E.D., 151, 167 Shimabukuro, K.P., 163, 168 Shinar, O., 211, 213, 227 Shizgal, P., 97, 121 Shostrum, E., 6, 22, 263, 277 Sidney, S., 160, 167 Siegelman, E.Y., 193, 197 Silling, S.M., 2t, 22 Silver, R.C., 9, 21
Author Index
Simon, T., 27, 51 Simonton, D.K., 30, 46, 47, 53 Singer, B., 98, 102, 105, 114, 115, 116, 120, 252, 261, 273, 277 Singer, B.H., 226 Sinha, J.B.P., 142, 149 Skoner, D.P., 210, 223 Slanger, E., 68, 90 Sloan, R.P., 215, 218, 226 Smith, B.W., 216, 226 Smith, D.B., 96, 120 Smith, E., 127, 149, 268, 276, 283, 295 Smith, H., 255, 258, 259, 260, 272, 275 Smith, S.H., 107, 120 Smith, T.W., 215, 219, 226 Snyder, C.R., 2t, 15, 22, 151, 167, 173, 181, 197, 200, 207, 226, 302, 307 Sommer, D., 144, 149 Spalitto, S.V., 302, 307 Spokane, A.R., 34, 53, 57, 72, 80, 90, 91, 102, 121 Stajkovic, A.D., 64, 91 Standard, S., 205, 227 Stanley, J.C., 26, 27, 29, 33, 35, 51, 52, 53, 54 Staudinger, U., 253, 274, 274 Staudinger, U.M., 3t, 12, 19, 20 Steele, C.M., 157, 159, 168, 284, 295 Steinberg, L., 272, 277 Stern, G.G., 95, 103, 120, 121 Sternberg, R.J., 3t, 22, 46, 51, 124, 149, 159, 168 Stevenson, H.C., 193, 197 Stevenson, L., 212, 225 Stewart, J., 157, 165, 292, 294 Strack, F. 272, 277 Strickland, B.R., 157, 159, 168 Strodtbeck, F.L., 123, 135, 138, 148 Strong, E.K., 26, 54, 62, 63, 73, 74, 91 Subich, L.M., 78, 89 Subotnik, R.F., 46, 51 Sue, D., 127, 149, 154, 156, 162, 163, 164, 168 Sue, D.W., 127, 149, 152, 154, 156, 158, 162, 163, 164, 168, 181, 197, 282, 283, 286, 287, 295 Sue, S., 152, 154, 164, 168, 173, 197, 283, 295
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
Suh, E., 256, 259, 260, 275, 276 Suh, E.M., 255, 275 Suhr, J.A., 213, 223 Sundberg, N.D., 57, 91 Super, C.M., 2t, 10, 22 Super, D.E., 2t, 3t, 5, 6, 10, 22, 26, 54, 171, 197, 230, 234, 249, 299, 307 Suls, J.P., 16, 23 Suramuniyaswami, S.S., 141, 149 Sutton, C.T., 154, 168 Swann, W.B., 271, 274 Swanson, J.L., 66, 67, 71, 73, 91 Sweeney, P., 14, 22 Swindle, R.W., 96, 106, 109, 121 Switzer, F.S., 80, 91 T Talley, W.B., 157, 159, 166 Tan, S.Y., 163, 168 Taylor, K.M., 68, 91 Taylor, S.E., 2t, 14, 19, 22 Tedeschi, R., 252, 267, 274, 278 Tellegen, A., 3t, 23, 76, 78, 91, 258, 259, 278 Terio, S., 192, 196 Terman, L.M., 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 54 Thomas, M.E., 160, 168 Thomas, T.K., 77, 88 Thomason, T.C., 161, 168 Thompson, D.A., 163, 167 Thompson, L. A,, 42, 51 Thomson, J.A. K., 4, 16, 22 Thoresen, C., 216, 225, 226 Thoresen, C.E., 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 212, 214, 215, 217, 218, 221, 224, 225, 226, 227 Thoresen, C.J., 68, 89 Tiedeman, D.V., 230, 234, 249 TilIey, B.P., 72, 91 Timko, C., 96, 106, 109, 121 Tipton, R.M., 68, 91 Tolman, E.C., 94, 121 Tracey, T.J., 36, 53 Tracey, T.J.G., 71, 91 Triandis, H.C. 135, 149, 154, 168 Trickett, E., 104, 119 Trimble, J.E., 162, 167 Tsai, Y., 210, 225
315
Tucker, K.L., 257, 276 Tuel, B.D., 71, 91 Tyler, A., 1, 22 Tyler, L., 230, 249 Tyler, L.E., 2t, 5, 18, 22, 26, 27, 32, 33, 49, 54, 56, 57, 58, 83, 91 U Uchino, B.N., 210, 227 Ujimoto, K.V., 143, 144, 150 Ulven, J.C., 173, 181, 197 Umberson, D., 210, 224 Underwood, L., 216, 225, 226 Utsey, S.O., 160, 161, 168 V Vaillant, G.E., 2t, 5, 14, 21, 22 Valliant, G.E., 240, 249 van der Lubbe, P.M., 262, 263, 264, 265, 275 Van Ranst, N., 264, 278 Vasquez, M., 156, 168, 283, 295 Vaughan, F., 155, 169 Vazquez-Nutall, E., 127, 149, 283, 295 Vernon, P.E., 37, 50 Vickers, R.R., 14, 21 Vinchur, A.J., 80, 91 Viteles, M.S., 26, 54 Vosvick, M.A., 237, 248 W Wachtel, P.L., 176, 182, 183, 184, 187, 197 Walker, E.F. 59, 90 Waller, N.G., 261, 275 Walsh, R., 152, 155, 169 Walsh, W.B., 57, 59, 91, 95, 96, 102, 111, 121, 291, 295, 306, 307 Walton, S.L., 302, 307 Wanberg, C.R.,73, 77, 83, 90 Wapner, S., 96, 121 Warburton, L A., 192, 196 Ward, C.C., 66, 89 Ward, C.M., 286, 295 Warmoth, A., 186, 197 Watkins, C.E., 4, 23 Watkins, P., 217, 226
316
Watson, D., 3t, 16, 23, 78, 91, 258, 259, 260, 274, 275, 278, 302, 307 Webb, R.M., 26, 30, 35, 36, 40, 42, 43f, 52, 54 Weber, M., 141, 149 Weiss, A, 258, 277 Welbourne, T.M., 68, 89 Wezeman, F.R., 262, 263, 264, 265, 275 White, J.L., 154, 167 White, R.W., 4, 6, 15, 19, 23, 124, 126, 132, 149 Whitney, D.R., 64, 87 Wicker, A.W., 111, 112, 114, 116, 121 Wilbur, M.P., 163, 166 Williams, C.B., 193, 196 Williams, D., 157, 160, 169, 216, 226 Williams, D.R., 162, 166, 219, 225 Williams, R., 205, 227 Williams, V., 205, 227 Williamson, E.G., 26, 27, 31, 36, 49, 54 Wills, T.A, 210, 211, 213, 223, 227 Wilson, E.O., 306, 307 Wilton, L., 161, 162, 163, 166 Witty, P., 31, 54
Author Index
Wong, P.T. P., 134, 138, 142, 143, 146, 147, 149, 150, 261, 266, 278 Wood, R.E., 64, 91 Woods, T.E., 216, 227 Wordsworth, W., 7, 23 Worthington, E.L., 68, 91 203, 204, 205, 216, 217, 225, 227 Wortman, C.B., 13, 21 Wright, B.A., 302, 303, 307 Wubben, M. A, 72, 91 Y YaIi, A.M., 216, 224 YaIom, I.D., 142, 150 Yamhure-Thompson, L., 207, 226 Yao, G., 33, 46, 51, 52 Yasko, J., 212, 214, 224 Young, R.A., 237, 249 Z Zavalloni, M., 136, 150 Zhang, W., 154, 169 Zika, S., 264, 265, 274, 278 Zullow, H.M., 14, 23 Zytowski, D.G., 57, 73, 77, 83, 90, 91
Subject Index
Note: f denotes figure, t denotes table
A Adaptability, 71–72 Alpha press, 94 Applied psychology’s contribution to talent development, 26–34 Assessment contrasted-groups method of, 63 of optimal human functioning, 251–274 specific domains of, 254–256 of personality strengths, 69–70, 85 of strengths, 177–179, 242–247 of vocational interests, 63–64 placement model, 60f, 83 selection model, 60f B Barker’s behavior setting theory, 110– 112 Wicker’s amendments to, 111 Basic Interest Scales (BIS), 61, 63 Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality Being stuck, 9 Beta press, 94 Big Five personality model (Costa & Mc-Crae), 64, 69–70, 74f, 75–76 Big Six interest model (Holland), 63– 64, 74f, 75–76, 98–100, 101f Biosocial theory, 94 Biosphere, 94
C California Psychological Inventory, 63 Call to love and work, 10–12 Career adaptability model, 243f Career counseling and career commitment, 240 and career competence, 238–239 and career concern, 233–234 and career connection, 241 and career control, 235–236 and career convictions, 236–237 and confidence building, 239 and developing career choices, 239– 241 psychosocial strengths of, 231–242 Cognitive ability in the intellectually gifted, 45–46 flexibility, 16 reframing, 9 Competence (defined), 124–125 Conception of effective coping, 15 Confidence, 15 Cross-cultural perspectives activity orientation, 138 actualization of, 290–291 existential orientation, 142–146 human nature orientation, 136
318
man-nature orientation, 136–137 relational orientation, 139–140 religious orientation, 140–142 time orientation, 137–138 value orientations of, 135–136 psychology and the three major dimensions of human personality, 125 and universal laws of behavior, 126 approach to studying cultures, 130–131 as it relates to competence, 126–127 counseling implications of, 146–147 etic versus emic approach, 130 versus multicultural counseling, 127–130 D Death of a Salesman, 11 Diversity and public policy, 286–289, 291–292 counseling psychology’s perspective of, 282–284 counseling psychology’s role in, 281 discussions at National Multicultural Conferences, 284 educational training in, 292–293 research in, 283, 291 Domains of individuality, 56, 57–58 E Educational-vocational achievement, 34 Emotion focused coping, 15 Empathy of client, 180–181 of therapist, 180 Environmental Assessment Technique, 100 Ethnocentricity, 157 Even the Rat Was White, 158
Subject Index
F Feelings of competence, 14 Five features of a person’s work, 10 Forgiveness, 202–209 current model of, 206–208 importance of, 204–205 interpersonal, 203–204 intervention, 205–206 Fortunate deviates, 28 Furtherance concept, 31, 33 G General Confidence Themes (GCTs), 72 Generavity vs. stagnation, 18 Gifted Children: Their Nature and Nurture, 27 Goal setting, 14–15, 112–114 H Healthy functioning, 4–5 personality, 1, 2–3t and future orientation, 9 and orientation to the future, and occupation, 10–12 13–18 and orientation to the past, 7–8 and orientation to the present, 9–12 Holland’s theory of personality types and model environments, 98–102 I Individuality assessing, 56–57, 85 placement model, 60f selection model, 60f defining, 83 domains of, 56, 57–58, 72–80 psychological definition, 57 Integrity vs. despair, 18–19 Intellectual giftedness ability pattern of, 42–45 and acceleration, 29 and personal qualities, 29, 36 and spacial ability, 45–46
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
and traditional education, 28–29 awards and accomplishments, 41f development over lifespan, 30 measuring, 27 modern empirical advances in, 34– 49 myths about, 27 perpetuation of, 28 Seashore’s philosophy of, 31 Williamson’s philosophy of, 31 Intelligence equality in men and women, 29 predictive power of, 30 Terman’s study of, 29–30 Interactional psychology, 97, 116 Interest inventories, 64 L Life Attitude Profile (LAP), 261 Life Regard Index (LRI), 261 Listening to Prozac, 16 M Mental Health as a state, 4 as a trait, 4 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, 63 Monoculturalism, 156–157 Moos social ecological perspective environmental perceptions of, 103– 104 general principle of, 103 influence of, 103 inventories of, 104 Multicultural conferences, 284 counseling 127–130 27–130 guidelines as APA policy, 283–284 Murray need-press interaction model Mutual usefulness of opposites, 69 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), 62, 69 N NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PIR), 69
319
Niche psychology, 59 O Objects of comparison, 8–9 Optimal Human Functioning and coping strategies, 9 and domains of individuality, 56 and happiness, 12–13 assessment for, 60–61 balanced models of, 303 cultural competence model of, 124–126, 131–135 dimensions of, 153–155, 164 definitions of, 58–59, 251–252 focus of, 299–301 in adolescents, 10 of African Americans, 163 of American Indians, 162–163 peak profiles, 61–62 pursuit of knowledge in, 304–306 social desirability of, 271 sociopolitical dimension of, 156–157 ten concepts relating to, 2–3t the role of cultural values in, 161–163 Whiteness dimension of, 157–159 value system of, 302 Optimism, 14–18 construct of, 162 learned, 58 P Past events and healthy personality, 7–8 significance of, 8 People of color and monoculturalism, 156–157 and society’s acceptance of cultural diversity, 156 socioeconomic issues of, 160 their representation in mainstream psychology, 152–155 Person Environment (PE) fit, 58, 59, 84 and congruence with personality, 100–102, 114–115 career model, 59
320
consistency, 102 differentiation, 102 Person Environment (PE) Psychology, 96 alpha press, 94 and behavior as a function of the whole, 94 and physical environment, 94 and psychological environment, 94 Barker’s theory of, 110–112 behavioral settings, 95 beta press, 94 biosocial theory, 94 biosphere, 94 classical interactionists, 93 life domains model, 106 modern interactionalists, 93 need-press interaction model Pervin’s theory of, 106–110 social learning theory, 94 Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), 6–7 Personality five effective qualities of (Blocher), 172 focus in counseling psychology, 299–300 four aspects of (Dawis and Lofquist), 47 measures, 70 types, 100 Pervin’s PE theory, 106–110 Planned happenstance, 16 Plato’s Republic, 26 Positive psychology, 5, 28, 58, 132, 199– 200, 289–290 and identifying human strengths, 59, 62 geography of, 200 three levels of, 252 psychotherapy and strength, 174 cognitive-behavioral vision of, 174 empathy of therapist, 180–181 history of, 172–173
Subject Index
humanistic-experiential vision of, 174–175 psycoanalytic-psychodynamic vision of, 175–177 research in, 194–196 uncertainty, 16 Problem focused coping, 15 Project TALENT, 32–33 Psychology ideographic, 57 nomothetic, 57 of possibilities, 5 vocational, 63–64 Purpose in Life Test (PIL), 261 R Racism legacy of, 157 Realistic General Occupational Theme (GOT), 61 S Satisfaction, 37 Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), 255 Satisfactoriness, 37 Scientist-practioner model of training., 298–299 Scholarship of integration, 306 Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG), 261–262 Self-actualization, 4, 12–13 Self-Directed Search (SDS), 64, 73, 100 Self-efficacy, 14, 64–69 and gender differences, 67–68 and dispositional variables, 70–71 and vocational behavior, 65–68 and personality variables, 71, 78–80 as a generalized dispositional variable, 68 career, 65–66 in women, 66–68 expectations as related to occupation, 71 generalized, 68–69 Self-esteem
Counseling Psychology and Optimal Human Functioning
and well-being in the United States, 162 collective, 160–161 Skills Confidence Inventory, 72, 77, 78 Social Learning Theory, 94 Spacial ability of the intellectually gifted, 45–46 Standardized intelligence tests, 29 Strength and cognitive-behavioral therapies, 174 and humanistic-experiential therapies, 174–175 and psychoanalytic-psychodynamic therapies, 175–177 and the therapist, 193–194 assessment, 177–179, 242–247 based health psychology, 199–202 forgiveness, 202–209 religious and spiritual factors, 214–222 social integration and support, 209–214 embedded, 179–180 in defenses, 189–191 in case conceptualization, 178–179 noting in psychotherapy, 182–187 positive reframing, 187–189 profiling inventory, 62 role of culture in, 181, 191–193 Strong Interest Inventory (SII), 30, 61, 63, 100 Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY), 33, 35–36 follow-up questionaire, 48f Study of Values (SOV), 3 7
321
T The Concept of Healthy Personality: What Do We Really Mean?, 19 The Gifted Child, 31–32 Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA), 36–40 The Rocking Horse Winner, 10 Trivariate means for conferred bachelor-degree groups, 44f for occupational groups at age 33, 45f Typical intellectual engagement, 47 U Understanding Human Nature, 14 V Vail Conference, 282 Venues of living, 58, 84 Vocational behavior, 65–68 identity, 10–11 interests, 63–64 Vocational Preference Inventory, 64, 100 W Well-being (definition), 97–98, 105 and self-esteem, 162 yin and yang, 162 Wisdom with age, 18–19 Wish for intimacy, 11
