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Research on human cognitive abilities and jobs' aptitude demands reveals that the two domains have essentially the same structure. Counselor reluctance to use cognitive assessments may be overcome by addressing the following: Which cognitive abilities should be considered? How should occupations be classified for the purposes of assessing person-job match? and How should cognitive abilities be assessed? (Contains 49 references.) (SK)

Several hundred men who were dyslexic as high school students, and for whom considerable early test data were available, were surveyed as adults. Subjects included alumni from 1940 through 1977 of the Gow School, a private secondary school for dyslexic boys. Their occupations were compared to those of a control group, the fathers of both groups, and to some extent, to the jobs of men in the general United States population. Data on social background, educational performance, degree level, and intelligence, as well as on severity of reading disability itself, allowed an assessment of the degree to which dyslexia affects a man's occupational success. Among the findings were: (1) the Gow men were quite successful on the average, more successful than the average man--over 80% had white collar jobs and over 60% were professionals or managers; (2) their jobs were not as high level on the average, however, as those of their fathers or of the control men; (3) when Gow men are professionals, they are rarely lawyers or physicians, the two professional jobs that are most common among both their fathers and the control men; (4) when Gow men are managers, they are more often vice presidents, or chief executive officers than are the control men; (5) Gow men obtain considerably less education than do the control men; (6) these differences in education are associated with much of the difference in occupations between the Gow and the control men; (7) dyslexia appears to influence educational level by affecting reading comprehension and grades obtained in school; and (8) much of the variation in educational performance and degree level among the Gow men themselves is not explained by dyslexia. (HOD)

Previous work on job availability according to Holland's classification is examined in terms of the following variables: (1) the number of jobs in the U.S. in 1970 by prestige level as well as type of work, (2) the distribution of types of jobs in and out of government service, (3) race and sex differences in type and level of work, and (4) projections for future demand for kinds of labor. The questions raised include: (1) All things except labor demand being equal, what are the chances of getting high versus low level jobs if one enters a realistic rather than a social job? (2) When the distribution of job opportunities does not match the distribution of aspirations of job seekers, how can the counselor encourage realism about job opportunities while at the same time helping individual clients to pursue their aspirations? and (3) Where have women and blacks been most likely to find work in the past and where might opportunities be greatest in the near future? The composition of employment in the U.S. was examined using 1970 data for employed civilians, Holland's occupational typology, and a prestige scale. Results indicate areas where women and blacks are under and over represented. (Author/AM)

This report describes a study that examined three types of change that affect career development: (1) changes in jobs and behavior that occur as people mature and age, (2) cultural changes that alter the opportunities and attitudes of people born at different times in history, and (3) changes in the environment that affect the opportunities and behavior of people. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 reviews the major approaches to career development in sociology and psychology while chapter 3 outlines how the two approaches can be combined. Chapter 4 describes the development and validity of the occupational status and the occupational field classifications. The fifth chapter describes the National Longitudinal Survey data used in the study. The next three chapters describe patterns of career outcomes: the employment status and kinds of work held at different ages, the occupational aspirations men have at different ages, and the extent to which earlier aspirations and jobs determine later jobs held. Chapter 10 focuses on family and personal background variables that are associated with entering different fields and levels of work, while chapter 11 focuses on the influence of educational and economic environments. The final two chapters review the theoretical and practical implications of the study. (LRA)

All 437 census occupational titles were assigned scores from the following five systems for describing occupations: (1) Holland's (1973) occupational typology; (2) an occupational prestige scale; (3) an occupational self-direction scale; (4) the "Dictionary of Occupational Titles"; and (5) the Census Bureau classification. Occupational reinforcer pattern scores (measures of reinforcer characteristics of work environments) from the Minnesota Work Adjustment Project were also available for 120 of the titles. Comparisons of the classifications indicate that Holland's occupational typology has considerable validity for describing work activities, general training requirements, and rewards, particularly when it is supplemented by a measure of occupational level. Results also indicate that Holland's theory and future tests of it should take more account of level differences among occupations and specify more clearly the particular domains of job characteristics to which they do and do not apply. (Data tables are appended.) (Author/BM)

A study was conducted to examine race and sex differences in occupational aspirations and the role of these differences in perpetuating under- or overrepresentation of women and blacks in different occupations. The underrepresentation of women, especially blacks, in all levels of entrepreneurial jobs was stressed since these jobs constitute a large proportion of all jobs and pay better for less education than other fields. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress regarding occupational aspirations, values, and self-reported competencies of thirteen-year-olds, seventeen-year-olds, and adults aged twenty-six to thirty-five were used to examine race and sex differences in orientation to particular types of occupations. Based on these results, speculations were presented about how people adjust their occupational goals in ways that help perpetuate occupational segregation. The following five principles were formulated: (1) society-wide stereotypes about good jobs are mirrored in the occupational aspirations of children; (2) stereotypes about occupations appropriate for men are different from those for women; (3) these stereotypes are largely the same for all racial and ethnic groups; (4) as children go through adolescence their aspirations become more realistic; (5) and the races and sexes adjust their aspirations towards different sets of occupations. The data implied that strategies to decrease occupational segregation by decreasing educational handicaps will not eradicate all important differences and recommended that more attention be devoted to understanding the socialization processes that lead the races and sexes to seek different jobs. (Author/BM) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Secondary Analyses).

In order to learn how people may alter or reconcile their aspirations and jobs during their career development, this study examined the match between vocational aspirations and actual jobs of white young men and older men. Age trends in the match between vocational aspirations and actual jobs were studied in a nationally representative sample of 3,730 white men aged sixteen to twenty-eight who were interviewed yearly over a five-year period. Findings indicate that as the youth aged, higher agreement between jobs and aspirations (classified according to Holland's typology) occurred. In addition, the distributions of both aspirations and actual jobs differed with age. Larger proportions of the older men were engaged in enterprising work, and the distribution of aspirations, which at age sixteen diverged markedly from the distribution of jobs, resembled that distribution more closely by age twenty-eight. (Implications for changing strategies of vocational counseling and research are included.) (Author/LRA)

Data on a nationally representative sample of 3730 white men aged 15 to 24 in 1966 were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of the Labor Market Experience of Young Men. The men were interviewed every year from 1966 to 1971, and the surveys provide data on aspirations and employment experiences for each year. Three variables--job aspirations congruence, the categorical stability of jobs and aspirations over one year, and the predictive validity of jobs and aspirations over one to five years--were assessed in parallel fashion. Data revealed the following: (1) eventual congruence of category of job (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional) and apirations was achieved more often by men changing aspirations to match jobs rather than vice versa; (2) aspirations for category of work generally were not as useful as category of jobs for predicting category of jobs held from one to five years later; and (3) the aspirations of lower- and middle-class men were equally predictive of later jobs. Level of work is more important to men than is category of work, and differences between lower-class youth and middle-class youth in their level of job aspirations exist from the earliest ages studied. (MN)

A study examined the validity of using the Minnesota Job Description Questionnaire to measure occupational reinforcer patterns (ORPs). Although ORP profiles (twenty-one adjusted scales) were developed a decade ago to operationalize a key variable in the Theory of Work Adjustment (Lofquist and Davis, 1969), little validity evidence exists. An examination of the process by which adjusted ORP scores are created from the ipsative unadjusted scores suggested several threats to validity. In addition, correlations of the ORP scales with Census Bureau and Department of Labor Data on pay, education, occupational self-direction, and seventeen worker trait requirements show that (1) among the seven adjusted ORP scales for which there was good validation criteria, five were of questionable validity, (2) among the remaining fourteen adjusted reinforcers, several do not correlate in intelligible ways with the job characteristics data, and (3) the adjusted scores are no more valid than are the unadjusted scores. Discriminant analyses showed that the two sets of scales discriminate equally well among occupations, but different reinforcers are most important for separating the groups. The conclusion from the discriminant analyses is that whereas the unadjusted scales provide limited but useful information, the adjusted scores provide no new information and may be less interpretable than the unadjusted scores. Some specific recommended uses of the ORP scores should be examined. (Possible explanations for the failure of the scaling method to produce valid absolute ORP scores are discussed.) (Author/PV)

Nationally representative longitudinal data on 2548 white men and 822 black men aged 15-24 in 1966 were used to assess changes in aspirations and attainment between 1966 and 1971. Occupational as well as educational level was considered. Predictions that aspirations would be lowered when men failed to advance in educational level over a one year period and that they would increase on the average when men increased in educational level over a one year period were not borne out. There was little change and it occurred equally for all educational transition groups. When the men were classified according to three levels of ability and three levels of socioeconomic status, the following was observed: (1) low ability and low SES groups increased educational aspirations slightly over the five year period; (2) average differences between the SES and ability groups in aspiration and attainment levels were all large; (3) educational and occupational aspirations were higher among blacks than among whites of the same SES and ability level; (4) occupational attainments were slightly lower for blacks; and (5) the racial differences in apsirations, and particularly in attainments, were not large compared to the differences found by SES and ability. (Author/RLV)

This study examined the possibility that the large racial differences in income are partly the result of blacks and whites holding jobs in different Holland Fields of work, some of which might pay much better than others. Data from the 1970 U.S. census were used to determine the mean income of 27,067 white men aged 26-65 grouped by educational level and by Holland type of work and to determine the proportion of white and black men aged 36-65 falling within each of these educational and type-of-work groups. Enterprising work was found to provide higher incomes with less education than do other types of work. Although a large proportion of white men at all educational levels hold enterprising jobs, relatively few blacks were found in this type of work. Counselors and educators have traditionally tried to reduce the income gap between blacks and whites by increasing college attendance among blacks. These findings suggest that counselors also can help black youth find better-paying jobs by providing them more access to enterprising work. Such programs might be especially helpful to black high school students who will not be attending college. (Author)

The paper explores the differences in the relationship between educational background and income for black and white men in six different career areas. Previous research has assumed that the value of education is the same across all fields of work. In this study, the author analyzed educational and income data for 20,000 white men and 1,500 black men from the 1970 census reports. All the men's occupations were classified into six categories, including manual trades, scientific, sales and management, and clerical. Regression analyses were used to compare the returns to education for blacks and whites in each type of work. Results show that the income determination process may be similar for blacks and whites in blue-collar work, in science and medicine, and in social service and educational work. However, blacks in sales, management, and clerical work appear to be treated differently than whites in such work. The black men consistently receive lower income per years of schooling than do white men. The differences in these areas may be due to past discrimination against blacks or to differences in the types of job activities and occupational rewards preferred by blacks. (Author/AV)

Research was conducted to re-emphasize the importance of functional differences among jobs by showing how they help to better explain the income and status differences that are the main concern of recent stratification research. Status attainment, social class, and vocational psychological approaches to occupational and social differences were integrated into a multiple-market model, which suggests that the value of a determinant varies considerably by kind of work. Also the model's simultaneous use of situs as well as status of work provides a new perspective for developing a more comprehensive theory of social differentiation, for assessing social inequality more accurately, and for reducing inequality more effectively. A subsample of white men (black men, women, and men in artistic work were excluded) taken from a 1/1000 sample of the 1970 census was used to test the value of the multiple-market model in predicting income as opposed to the traditional one-market model. Results showed that the multiple-market model predicts statistical interactions between situs and other determinants of income. In contrast, the one-market predicts no interactions and no situs differences. (Author/TA)

The Skills Map, a comprehensive classification of occupations based on their competency requirements, was developed to assess the employability of individuals and of various groups of individuals in different types of occupations. The data on which it was based were the ratings of required worker traits as given by the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). The practical and theoretical usefulness of the classification was examined according to seven criteria: valid job descriptors, comprehensive occupational coverage, comprehensive aptitude coverage, a comprehensible map of job differences, parallel assessment of people and jobs, a link to demographic data, and multiple levels of analysis. Data for job descriptor validity were positive but inadequate. The DOT ratings provided quite comprehensive coverage of jobs and reasonable coverage of academic and motor, but not interpersonal, aptitudes. Map structure was readily comprehensible. A way to assess jobs and people in parallel ways was not provided. The Skills Map was readily linked to demographic data available according to the Census Bureau's 1970 classification of occupations. It provided a global classification of occupations according to their general differences and additional detail about the aptitudes and activities that individual occupations require. (Appendixes amounting to approximately one-half of the report provide materials and data used in the analyses.) (YLB)

To aid in assessing the employability of individuals and of various groups of individuals in different types of occupations, the general abilities and specific skills required of workers in different occupations were studied. Data on a comprehensive set of occupations were obtained from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) job ratings and from the archive of Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) research. Factor analyses of these data indicated that jobs can be characterized by three major competency dimensions: academic aptitudes, psychomotor aptitudes, and dealing with people. Occupations were classified into 36 groups according to their demands for each of these general competencies. The specific skills, activities, and working conditions of individual occupations were examined to show to what extent the jobs within the occupational groups vary in their more specific demands. Academic aptitude was found to be only one dimension distinguishing jobs; different jobs required very different combinations of abilities. Implications were derived for designing high school programs to further the employability of youth with only low to moderate academic skills. (Appendixes, amounting to approximately one-half of the report, include data and materials used in the study, including listings of abilities and activities related to various occupations.) (Author/YLB)

This paper suggests that the occupational hierarchy is based on functionally important differences among workers and their jobs and proposes a modified functional theory of occupational stratification. Section I examines the role of education in social stratification. Sections II, III, and IV review (1) functions of schooling, (2) evidence about the relation of intelligence to performance at work and in school, and (3) evidence for the multidimensional nature of job demands. Section V presents new evidence showing that cognitive and non-cognitive demands of work are related to the activities occupations actually require workers to perform and the more difficult jobs tend to be the most critical and prestigious. Section VI provides new evidence that educational requirements for jobs can be explained largely by intelligence demands. Section VII presents a theory of naturally occurring occupational hierarchies. A review of the contributions of previous sections to a modified functional theory is followed by speculations about how occupational hierarchies arise in response to differences in intelligence in a population. The issue of how education relates to these structural processes is explored. Section VIII discusses implications of the theory for educational policy and stratification research. Additional detail about data, tables and figures are appended. (YLB)

This statement signed by 52 researchers outlines conclusions regarded as mainstream among researchers on intelligence, especially on the nature, origins, and practical consequences of individual and group differences in intelligence. The survey from which the statement was developed is described. (SLD)

Focuses on score adjustment by racial or ethnic group (race norming) in employment testing, and provides a history of the original controversy. The author analyzes race-based adjustments in test scores and discusses how personnel-selection science is being compromised in an effort to reconcile contradictory legal demands. (GLR)

Social science today condones and perpetuates the egalitarian fiction that racial and ethnic groups never differ in average developed intelligence (general mental ability). Enforcement of this lie and avoidance of real research into these issues is aiding bigots more than the truth would and is degrading intellectual integrity. (SLD)