The model of emergency decision making proposed by Janis and Mann (1977, p. 55) shows the individual who has just realized the existence of impending danger, first asking himself or herself if the risk is great if no action is taken. The decision maker who concludes there is little risk in no action moves to a stage of unconflicted inertia and dismisses the consideration of further action. Physicists would explain this phenomenon by referring to the accepted law of physics stating that a body at rest tends to remain at rest. Psychologists would refer to the tendency of individuals to maintain the status quo. High school and college teachers and counselors immediately would recognize many students who appear to be approaching crisis points but whose behavior is clearly that of unconflicted inertia. According to the model, only the individual who answers the question "Is the risk great if no action is taken?" with a yes or a maybe continues the search for the best coping action.
The client's coming to the counselor is de facto evidence that the person has reached the first step and has decided that further action is necessary. Some clients are also implying by that action that they accept responsibility for resolving the problem, and they are ready to get on with the process. Others, however, may be seeking someone who will take charge and solve the problem for them. As the counselor and client discuss the structure of the counseling relationship the counselor will be able to clarify that the client must accept responsibility. Clients who are unwilling or unable to assume a responsible role will usually discontinue counseling and, according to the model, assume a condition of defensive avoidance typified by wishful thinking, rationalization, and procrastination.
Having acknowledged the need to make a decision, and having assumed some responsibility for taking action, the client is ready to begin. When counselor and client agree that prevailing circumstances and behavior suggest that change counseling is not presently required, they can undertake the choice-counseling process. This process first requires self-knowledge on the part of the client. To be useful in the choice process, self-knowledge must be not only comprehensive but also sufficiently integrated so that the client sees and understands the "why" of his or her behavior. Crites (1976, 1981) also discusses these two aspects of client behavior by applying the label of differential diagnosis to the question "What is the client's career decision problem?" and the label of dynamic diagnosis to the question of "Why does the client have this problem?" It is important to recognize that our concern with the nature and development of the client's problem is not for diagnostic labeling but instead is to help the client progress through the decision-making process. Decision making starts with the recognition of risk and uncertainty. The client can determine whether that danger requires some defensive retreat or offers the challenge of new opportunity only when he or she knows self sufficiently well to be aware of the resources that can be applied to the situation.
One can argue effectively that the individual who understands self sufficiently to be able to match personal characteristics, values, and potentials, with the uncertainty or challenge being confronted and who is able to develop a plan of action that is cognitively and affectively acceptable is not in need of counseling, and likely will not seek it. Conversely, the individual who lacks that self-understanding or who is unable to develop an acceptable plan is in need of counseling.
Identifying Gaps
Information about the client begins to surface almost as soon as the client enters the counselor's office. The observant counselor recognizes many clues that provide insight into the client, even when the client is discussing other topics. The initial interview is usually highly productive of verbal and nonverbal information about the client and the client's world. In fact, the data volunteered about self during that first interview usually shape the format or the later discussion of self.
A reasonable rule of thumb is to have sufficient information to provide both counselor and client a good understanding of the client in his or her present world as well as enough background to answer some of the "why" questions. How much information is enough depends on many factors. It seems obvious that the client who comes for help in resolving a commitment problem consisting of choosing among two or three apparently appropriate choices has more self-understanding than the client who hasn't started the process at all. More time must be spent with the second client in exploring self and helping organize the data in useful forms. In this article we will assume that our client is of the second type and essentially is starting from scratch.
Who the client is today is the product of the interaction of the client, including biological inheritance, with the physical and social environments that have surrounded him or her in the past. This interaction of who and what produces the why of today's behavior. The who, what, and why of human behavior are thoroughly mixed together, and clients will sometimes experience difficulty in sorting them out. Fortunately, the career counselor is usually not too concerned about sorting each item into its exact pile. Instead, counseling's aim is to help the client clarify self-perception and how it evolved--including both the what and why. Of particular importance to client and counselor are those "whats" and "whys" that bear upon the different aspects of the career-choice process.
Questions related to several general topics relevant to self-understanding in the choice process include the following:
- Client's view of self
- Client characteristics, including ability, achievement, aptitude, interests, motivations, values
- Client's view of future, including aspirations, dreams, goals, hopes
- Health and physical status
- Family
- Educational experience
- Work experience
- Significant individuals in the client's life
- Significant experiences
The personal characteristics are almost always of significance because they often identify the outer limits or maximum goals that the individual might attain under ideal circumstances. The individual's view of self and attitude toward the future can provide essential indicators of how much effort the client will exert to move toward those maximum goals. Thus highly competitive occupations, the professions for example, may be appropriate goals if compatible client characteristics are supplemented by a high level of motivation, strong competitive drive, willingness to accept delayed gratification, recognition of the years of work and study that must be invested to attain the goal, access to the resources needed to pursue the goal and similar relevant factors. Another client with comparable personal characteristics may prefer goals that require less competition, can be attained in less time, or can be reached with less formal education.
Later in the decision-making process, as alternative choices are evaluated, the counselor will be responsible for assisting the client to relate knowledge of self to requirements of various occupations. At this time the counselor's attention is focused on helping the client answer global questions such as the following: Who am I? What am I really like? How am I similar to and different from others? What are the characteristics and experiences that have produced my uniqueness? What commitments am I prepared to make to attain career goals? What goals and aspirations that are unrelated to career are important to me, and how important are they?
Questions like these cannot be answered with broad generalizations. Instead they are answered in little pieces, a bit at a time. In some ways, the process is analogous to working a jigsaw puzzle--at first there are several distinctly separate aspects that can be seen, but as additional pieces are put in place the several parts are tied together into a total design or pattern. The counselor's task at this stage is to help the client find the pieces and fit them with others that have already been put together so that a clearer idea of the "big picture" is possible.
As is true with the puzzle, gaps and unidentified pieces may later prove to be significant parts of that total picture. Similarly, there may be gaps in the self-understanding of the client. Because the picture we are dealing with is more abstract and nebulous than a jigsaw puzzle, these gaps are harder to recognize, evaluate, and manage. Thus, in addition to helping the client find and put together the available pieces, the counselor is also responsible for helping the client become aware of gaps or missing pieces that leave the present picture incomplete.
Frequently, clients can report quite easily and assess accurately those aspects that are relatively objective in nature--family background, educational experiences, health, work, significant others, and important experiences. They often find more difficulty in self-reporting those matters that might be described as subjective-personal characteristics, self-concept, and view of the future. Not only are these matters more central to the individual's private world, they also are more difficult to evaluate, compare, and define. The sensitive and competent counselor can help the client explore these areas in ways that enhance both client self-esteem and self-understanding.
Counselors can help clients in the self-appraisal process by helping them evaluate known information not previously considered from this viewpoint. For example, some clients request an interest inventory to provide information about interests or an aptitude test to assess their abilities when discussion of their reaction to work and/or educational experiences, leisure activities, successes and failures, and other significant parts of their daily lives will provide a wealth of personally oriented information. Look beyond the client, or use other techniques, when the client is unable to assess self accurately or lacks confidence in that self-appraisal, but such devices may be unnecessary if the client has sufficient self-understanding. Clients often need encouragement to recognize that they already know far more about themselves than anyone else can possibly know. They may need some help in organizing that information and sometimes in evaluating it, but client self-knowledge is a rich vein that deserves careful mining before rushing off to other sources.
As gaps in client self-understanding are identified, the counselor has two responsibilities. The first of these is to help the client determine if the gap is an area that is important to resolve in light of the decision that the client is presently confronting. If the answer is clearly a no, further attention to this area, beyond ascertaining that the client is cognizant of his or her hazy knowledge, is unnecessary. The second responsibility arises when the answer to the question about relevance is either a yes or a maybe. The counselor is obliged to propose to the client methods by which accurate and sufficient data can be acquired expeditiously to satisfy present needs. Many counselors turn to tests almost automatically when clients need further information about themselves. There often are other techniques that will supply the information more easily and rapidly, and with more client under-standing and acceptance. In making recommendations, the counselor is answering the question "How can we obtain efficiently accurate and trustworthy information in a form that is most meaningful?"
Filling In Gaps
Because clients are usually not in the habit of asking themselves where they can acquire additional information about themselves, they frequently overlook rich reservoirs of data that can be used to expand self-understanding. Occasionally, individuals are simply unaware of possible sources; at other times, they may not have known that feedback was possible or how to obtain it, or even how to evaluate and use information when it was provided. One obvious supplementary source of information is observation of the client by the counselor. It is plain that the counselor has been watching the client since he or she first arrived at the counselor's office. The client's general appearance, including attire, size and body build, posture, can given to hands, face, and hair, smiling or serious countenance, and similar physical characteristics tell much about him or her. As soon as the client begins to speak, he or she reveals through language usage, diction, grammar, accent, slang, and other vocal properties much more than the meaning conveyed by the spoken words. Further, the use of gestures, mannerism: eye contact, what the client does with hands, how he or she sit: apparent poise or lack of self-control, and other nonverbal behaviors will also tell a great deal about the client. From these observed data the counselor can form tentative hypotheses about the client, or confirm or question self-descriptive statements made by the client.
Not to be overlooked are the observations made by others whose impressions are available to counselor or client. For example, where both are involved in an educational institution, there are numerous others, such as teachers, who will have had extensive contact with the client in non-counseling circumstances, and whose report may add significant supplementary data. In other settings, there are often individuals whose scrutiny of the client extends over a far longer period than that of the counselor, for ex ample, friends, relatives, spouse, or employer. When data from such outside observers appear useful to the counseling process, the counselor and client should develop a plan for acquiring that information. Many times in schools, employment situations, or social agencies an anecdotal record system may already be in place and accessible to an "inside" counselor. A counselor unaffiliated with the organization may need only a signed consent form to obtain access to client records.
The academic record or school cumulative file is a rich source for insight into clients who are still in school or who have only recently completed their educational activities. Information about the types of courses undertaken and completed, grades earned, attendance records, and participation in non-class activities can confirm or refresh client recollections and may often provide insight into broad patterns of behavior that the client only sees in piecemeal fashion. Obviously, the school record is of diminishing importance as the client is farther removed from that experience. Clients who are several years away from school may have employment records that will include similar data that are of greater usefulness.
In addition to observation and the academic work records that are available for practically every client, there often are other sources of client information that can be used to develop a more complete picture of that individual. Many of these are described in detail in other references, such as Shertzer and Stone (1976). Some of these other sources include questionnaires, socio-metric information, rating scales, case studies, and autobiographical devices such as logs and diaries.
