Charles B. Johansson

The application of Holland's vocational model to the strong vocational interest blank for women

Abstract To pattern recent research on the Mens form of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB), six scales were developed for the Womens form that mapped the vocational model of Hollands interest theory. The scales were free of item overlap, and within each scale, the items intercorrelated highly positive and represented a wide range of popularity. Concurrent validity for the scales consisted of rank order mean scores for 91 female groups, primarily occupational samples used in construction of the occupational scales on the SVIB. The groups were arranged in a meaningful and common sense order on each of the six scales. These data were consistent with the correlations of the Holland-based scales with the basic interest scales and occupational scales now in existence.

The inheritance of cognitive interest styles among twins

Abstract Through twin studies, research in behavioral genetics has demonstrated significant genetic components in many personality traits. Less research has been done on inheritance of vocational interest preferences, partially because of the lack of a wholistic conceptual model for understanding the relationships among diverse occupational interests. With the development of scales for the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) to measure the six cognitive interest styles propounded by Holland, a parsimonious and comprehensive mapping of the occupational world was available and lent itself to the study of measuring inheritance of vocational preferences among twins. Median intraclass correlations for 409 pairs of monozygotic males, tested with the SVIB, was r = .50; for 570 pairs of monozygotic females, r = .55; for 237 pairs of dizygotic males, r = .27; and for 370 pairs of dizygotic females, r = .27.

Assessment of an Experimental College.

Students at Macalester College were given the opportunity to participate in an experimental program, the Inner College, that permitted complete freedom in what they studied, how long they studied, and assessment of their studies. Prior to the onset of the program, and six months later, the participants and a matched control sample were tested with an achievement test, a personality test, and a values test. Participants in the project had different attitudes, values, and aspirations than the controls, and most seemed to be identifiable as persons who needed a learning and a living atmosphere better suited to their idiosyncratic needs and proclivities than provided within the traditional structure.

The Disadvantaged Student at a Liberal Arts College.

In the fall of 1969, a program to expand educational opportunities (EEO) for economically disadvantaged students was initiated at Macalester College. During the first three years of the program, the percentage of non-white students at the College rose from 3% to approximately 15%.Average grades for the EEO students were approximately one standard deviation below those of a random non-EEO sample, similar to the differences in high school grades between the two groups. However, the EEO students persisted at Macalester College at a slightly higher rate than non-EEO students. The EEO students also were more likely than non-EEO students to major in the behavioral/social sciences and less likely to major in the fine arts, humanities, and physical sciences.