Choosing, the third status in the I...

Choosing, the third status in the INCOME framework, is the status in which the individual integrates information about self and about the world of work and pick outs an occupation, job, or educational program from among those known to the living body at the time that the choice is made. This status, together with the nearest two statuses of the framework (Obtaining and Maintaining), derive from Danley and Anthony's (1987) Choose-Get-Keep design for employment of persons in psychiatric rehabilitation (Beveridge et al., 2002) The Choosing status incorporates the third of Parsons's (1909) three broad factors in choosing a vocation, "true reasoning forward the relations" (p. 5) between self-knowledge and knowledge about occupations. In more contemporary terminology, this involves the proces of career decision making (eg Mitchell & Krumboltz's, 1996 social learning theory of career decision making; Peterson et al.'s, 1996 cognitive information processing model; Tiedeman's, 1961 pioneering design of career decision making). Given the focus of this status forward decision making, the literature upon differences in decision-making style (Arroba, 1977; Harren, 1979; Herr & Cramer, 1996; Johnson 1978) and upon the validity of conscious decision making as a fabricate (Krieshok, 1998) is applicable to this status. This status also encompasses Ginzberg et al.'s (1951) Gottfredson's (1981) and Super's (1990) universals of compromise and Super's proces of synthesis in arriving at career decisions. Furthermore, Maslow's (1987) hierarchy of necessitys may affect the choice proces in that higher flat needs may enter into the choice sole if lower order needs have been sufficiently satisfied. Finally, because persons generally seek occupations that they believe will be congruent with their personalities, abilities, and requires trait and factor theory (Round & Tracy, 1990) the principally recent iteration of the theory of work adjustment (Dawis, 1996) and Holland's (1992) focus forward person-work environment congruence are particularly applicable to the choice made while in this status.