Roger A. Myers

Training and Accreditation in Counseling Psychology

The training and accreditation section of the Third National Conference for Counseling Psychology addressed the following issues: (a) models of training and curriculum, (b) context of training, (c) cultural diversity, (d) identity and accreditation, (e) practicum and internship, and (f) career development and employment. This report presents the major components of these discussions and summarizes the deliberations and recommendations of the participants. Many of the principles articulated at the Northwestern and Greyston conferences are reaffirmed. The role, criteria, and purposes of APA accreditation are endorsed. The division leadership is encouraged to promote counseling psychology and the career development of counseling psychologists.

Effects of educational and career exploration system on vocational maturity

Abstract An experimental group of 792 tenth graders spent from 1 to 17 hr (average 3 hr) on ECES, a computer-based educational and occupational exploration system. Gains on a test of vocational maturity administered at the beginning and end of the school year were compared with a control group of 1453 tenth graders, matched on relevant variables. ECES users showed larger gains than nonusers in (1) degree of planfulness and (2) knowledge and use of resources for career exploration, as measured by the Career Development Inventory, not in information about education, occupations and career decision making. Gains were related to amount of time spent on ECES but male-female differences were not exhibited.

Career Development and Vocational Behavior, 1987: A Review.

Abstract This article contains a review of literature relevant to career development and vocational behavior available during 1987. The two major review segments (vocational choice and career development, and vocational behavior in organizations) cover the literature on theory, research, and practice related to the individual and his or her preparatory and actual work experiences. Concluding comments on the reviewed literature and recommendations for future research are provided.

Effects of Computer-Mediated Vocational Guidance Procedures: Accuracy of Self-Knowledge.

Abstract To assess the effectiveness of vocational guidance procedures proposed for inclusion in a computer-based vocational exploration system, 128 11th-grade male subjects were randomly assigned to three experimental groups and a control group. One group was given a computer-generated accuracy of self-knowledge feedback, another group was taught on occupational classification scheme, a third group experienced both. Measures of self-knowledge showed increased accuracy about intelligence, but not about interests, after treatments that included the feedback. Increases were largely due to changes in subjects who originally underestimated their intelligence. A delayed posttest indicated that the increases did not persist.

Albert S. Thompson A Man of the World of Work

Albert S. Thompson has been witness to nearly the entire development of the specialty of counseling psychology. A student of the famous industrial psychologist Morris Viteles, Dr. Thompson received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1943. After 4 years at Vanderbilt, where he started the student counseling service, he moved to Teachers College, Columbia University, to replace the retiring Harry Dexter Kitson, a leader in the vocational guidance movement. Dr. Thompson remained at Teachers College until 1988. In many ways, his life and work mirror the growth of applied psychology, and an examination of his career provides a unique perspective on the history of counseling psychology and its possible future directions.

Conferring as a Way of Knowing

The authors of “Houston, 2001: Context and Legacy” (Fouad et al., 2004 [this issue]) have created a document that will be cited frequently and respectfully for some time to come. The excellence of the conference it describes and the clarity of the description will serve the specialty well, as have the conferences that preceded it, that is, Northwestern, Greyston, and Georgia. As it certainly should be, the Houston Conference is by far the best and most useful conference that counseling psychologists have organized in service of energizing, defining, and directing the future of the specialty. Furthermore, the resulting report far surpasses those of the previous conferences in a variety of ways.

Computer-based career planning for adults

Abstract The Career Information and Planning System is described. Designed for officers of the United States Army, it is a computer-based counselling and guidance system which aims to enhance the career planning skills of adults.