Super's Theory

Super's Life-Span, Life-Space Theory of Career Development

beginning in the 1930's


Super says:
  • his theory is segmental, a loosely unified set of theories dealing with specific aspects of career development, taken from developmental, differential, social, personality, and phenomenological psychology and held together by self-concept and learning theory.
  • his theory originated in his interest in work and occupations, the developmental studies of Buehler, and the studies of occupational mobility by Davidson and Anderson.
  • his ideas were compiled in The Dynamics of Vocational Adjustment.
  • career choice is a process, not a single event. 
Elements of his theory of vocational development:
  • individual differences
  • multipotentiality
  • occupational ability patterns
  • identification and the role of models
  • continuity of adjustment
  • life stages
  • career patterns
  • the idea that development can be guided
  • the idea that development is the result of interaction
  • the dynamics of career patterns
  • job satisfaction, status, and role
  • work as a way of life
  • These were later organized in a series of 10 propositions called the "summary statement of a comprehensive theory."
Super relied on the following domains:
  • differential psychology
    • knowledge base of the various traits that individuals possess and the variety of occupational requirements
  • developmental psychology
    • insights into how individuals develop abilities and interests and the concepts of life stages and developmental tasks
  • occupational sociology
    • ideas about occupational mobility and the impact of environmental influences
  • personality theories 
    • concepts of self-concept and person-environment theory
Propositions emphasized or focused on:
  • people have different abilities, interests, and values qualifying them for various occupations
  • no person fits only one occupation
  • a variety of occupations are available for an individual
  • occupations accommodate a wide variety of individuals 
  • self-concept and the implementation of career choices
  • life stages with mini- and maxi-cycles
  • the concepts of career patterns and career maturity 
  • synthesis and compromise between individual and social factors and work and life satisfactions
  • personality organization
  • interplay of life roles as worker, student, leisurite, homemaker, and citizen
Super's theories tested:
  • Career Pattern Study, 1951
  • Middletown, New York
  • 138-eighth grade boys, 142 ninth grade boys
  • theorized that the movement of individuals through life stages was a typical process that could be loosely tracked according to an age-referenced timeline
Super's Life-Career Rainbow

  • 5 life stages (maxicycles) shown in relationship to age ranges
    • growth
    • exploration
    • establishment
    • maintenance 
    • decline
  • Minicycles 
    • transitional
    • revisiting old stages before moving on or mastering a stage
  • 6 life roles (will "wax and wane" over time)
    • worker
    • student
    • leisurite
    • homemaker
    • citizen
    • child
Career Maturity
  • the readiness to engage in the developmental tasks appropriate to the age and level at which one finds oneself
  • goal not reached but relative to one's current position at any given time
  • refined as career adaptability
  • contains:
    • maturity/adaptibility
    • planfulness (autonomy, self-esteem, reliance on time-perspective)
    • exploration
    • information
    • decision making
    • reality orientation
Super developed the career development assessment and counseling (C-DAC) model.
  1. assessment of the importance of the work role in realtionship to other life roles
  2. attention is given to determining the career stage and career concerns of the client
  3. identifying resources for making and implementing choices as well as assessing resources for adapting to the work world; interests, abilities, and values are assessed by following the trait and factor methodology 
  4. assessment of the trait and factor methodology 
Gysbers, N.C., Heppner, M.J., Johnston, J.A. (2014). Career Counseling: Holism, Diversity, and Strengths. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

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