Ginzberg and Super
Eli Ginzberg (1951) proposed that career choice moves through fantasy (to about 11), tentative (11–17), and realistic (17+) periods. Donald Super extended it across the lifespan with five stages—growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and decline—and saw career choice as implementing one's self-concept. His life-career rainbow shows roles like student, worker, and parent overlapping over time.
Gottfredson and applications
Linda Gottfredson described how children circumscribe options by ruling out jobs that don't fit their sense of gender or social status, then compromise with reality. Counselors use these ideas to match guidance to life stage, often alongside Holland's RIASEC theory and planned happenstance.
FAQ
- What are Super's key concepts?
- Self-concept, career maturity, and life roles.
- How is it different from trait-and-factor theory?
- Trait-and-factor matches person and job at one point; developmental theory tracks change over time.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 16(3), 282–298.
- Ginzberg, E., Ginsburg, S. W., Axelrad, S., & Herma, J. L. (1951). Occupational Choice: An Approach to a General Theory. Columbia University Press.
- Gottfredson, L. S. (1981). Circumscription and compromise. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28(6), 545–579.