John L. Holland

Type of psychology: Counseling; Educational; Organizational; Social

A key figure in the fields of career development and counseling psychology, Dr. John L. Holland (1919–2008) is best known for his theory of vocational personalities and work environments. His useful and applicable theory has had broad impact on a variety of fields by offering a way to measure and describe interests and personality. The “Holland hexagon,” comprising realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional interests, is a commonly used framework in a wide array of counseling settings.

Introduction

In the offices of career counselors, academic advisers, and guidance counselors, a few key questions come up repeatedly: What are my interests? How do I find a career that best matches my personality? What careers would be a good fit for who I am? Counselors are often called upon to work with their clients on issues of career and workplace fit; they benefit from evidence-based, clear, and easy-to-use tools to help answer these questions. Dr. John L. Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments fits this need well. The “Holland hexagon,” comprising realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional personality types, is a common framework in a wide array of counseling settings. According to the theory, the six types within the hexagon can describe both individuals and work environments. A match of a worker to a similar work environment leads to a good fit, or satisfaction on the part of both the worker and the supervisor. While the widespread use of Holland's model speaks to its accessibility, the theory holds up to research scrutiny as well.

In addition to his theory of vocational personalities and work environments, Dr. John Holland was known for the development of career assessments, including the Self-Directed Search (SDS), which can be used in career counseling settings to help clients determine their “Holland type,” or vocational personality. Holland's consideration of the usefulness of his theory in applied settings is a major factor in its broad and varied use today.

Biography

Holland was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended college locally at the Municipal University of Omaha (now University of Omaha), graduating in 1942 and enlisting in the Army immediately after. Majoring in psychology, mathematics, and French, Holland's roles in the military included psychological administration and interviewing. After three and a half years of service, Holland enrolled in graduate school at the University of Minnesota, completing his doctoral work in 1952.

Holland's career was characterized by a strong focus on applied psychology. From his contributions to scientific literature to the positions he held, he sought to provide a useful approach to career development and vocational counseling. He worked in applied settings for several years including the Western Reserve University counseling center (1950–1956), National Merit Scholarship Corporation (1957–1963), and the American College Testing Program (1963–1969). He joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University in 1969, where he spent the remainder of his career.

Holland first released his most well-known contribution to the field, the theory of vocational personalities and work environments, in 1959. Over the course of his academic career, he was a prolific contributor to scientific literature in interest measurement and vocational psychology. Notably, he published the third edition of Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments in 1997, at the age of seventy-seven. Holland also provided many opportunities and tremendous personal support for junior colleagues who were eager to test and to understand the broad context of his theory. He received the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology in 2008.

Holland died on November 27, 2008, at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. He was eighty-nine years old.

Theory of vocational personalities and work environments

Holland's theory of vocational personality and work environments follows the tradition of person-environment fit models where a match is sought between aspects of the individual and characteristics of the environment; a good match is likely to be accompanied by positive workplace outcomes such as job satisfaction, tenure, and satisfactory work performance. In particular, Holland's theory seeks to answer three common questions:

• What personal and environmental characteristics lead to satisfying career decisions, involvement, and achievement, and what characteristics lead to indecision, dissatisfying decisions, or lack of accomplishment?
• What personal and environmental characteristics lead to stability or change in the kind and level of work a person performs over a lifetime?
• What are the most effective methods for providing assistance to people with career problems?

To that end, Holland's model characterizes people by their level of similarity, or likeness, to each of six personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. These types can be described as follows:

• Realistic: Characterized by technical and mechanical skills, a dogmatic and practical approach to work, and an interest in working outdoors, with machines, or with one's hands.
• Investigative: Characterized by scientific skills and interests, an intellectual and curious personality, and abilities in math and research.
• Artistic: Characterized by creative and imaginative traits and an interest and skill set in the arts, including visual and performing arts and creative writing.
• Social: Characterized by a sociable and agreeable demeanor, an interest in helping others in fields such as teaching or counseling, and interpersonal skills.
• Enterprising: Characterized by interests in sales, law, and business, an extroverted, ambitious, and dominant personality, and leadership skills.
• Conventional: Characterized by a methodical and practical approach to work, strong clerical and organizational ability, and conservative values.

In Holland's model, individuals can exhibit different levels of similarity to multiple types. With a high degree of similarity, an individual would endorse many of that type's traits and characteristics. Additionally, work environments can also demonstrate their likeness to multiple types. Similarity between worker and workplace can be explored using Holland's model where “congruence” is predictive of fit. That is, an individual with similarity to the realistic type would tend to experience a fit with a work environment aligned with the realistic type more so than with a work environment aligned with the artistic or social type. However, given that both individuals and work environments can resemble multiple types at once, “congruence” is rarely a straightforward consideration. Holland introduced the concept of “differentiation” to describe how well an individual or work environment can be described by the six types. A highly differentiated type is best described by one type and not well described by the others. A less differentiated type may be described relatively equally by all types or none.

Though the theory's vocational personalities prove highly useful in counseling and placement settings, this is much more than a simple taxonomy at play. Holland proposed a hexagon of the aforementioned types in which the six types are arrayed in an order (RIASEC) that reflects the relations among the types. In Holland's earliest model, each type is equal distance from the two adjacent types (e.g., enterprising, which is located between social and conventional, is the same distance from social as it is from conventional). In this configuration, types adjacent to each other are the most likely to co-occur in an individual or a work environment, while types across the hexagon from each other are least likely to co-occur. For example, finding a work environment that combines realistic and investigative types, which are next to one another on the hexagon, would be relatively easy (e.g., engineer, forester, auto mechanic). Finding a work environment that combines artistic and conventional types, which are diametrically opposite to each other on the hexagon, would be more difficult. A person who endorses types next to each other on the hexagon is said to have “consistent” interests, and, according to Holland, this individual is likely to experience greater ease in finding a work environment in line with her or his vocational personality.

Extensive research supports the hexagon configuration of interests (albeit an irregular hexagon rather than one that has an equal distance between types), both concerning the order of the six personality types and the level of similarity between types. The model holds in diverse populations and in countries around the world. In addition, a large body of work by Holland and others shows the ability of the model to predict occupational choice and membership, both in initial career choice and during transitions over the lifetime.

Assessments

Holland developed a career assessment (i.e., interest inventory) to encourage application of his theory. The Self-Directed Search (SDS) is a questionnaire that assesses an individual's fit with the Holland typology based on interests, aspirations, skills, and participation in activities. The resulting report includes 1) a “summary code” of three letters corresponding to the three types that best describe the individual and 2) occupations, fields of study (college majors), and leisure activities that would match the individual's code. Holland developed alternate forms of the SDS that are appropriate for different populations including the E form, which can be used with children or those with limited reading skills, and the Career Explorer, which can be used with middle school or junior high students to start the career exploration process. Holland and his colleagues also developed several guides (e.g., Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes, Educational Opportunities Finder, Leisure Activities Finder, and Veterans and Military Occupations Finder) that counselors and their clients can use to identify occupations and college majors that match the interests reflected by the client's “summary code.” Several other interest inventories like the Strong Interest Inventory and the Career Assessment Inventory use scales representing Holland's six types on their profiles.

Career counseling applications

Holland's theory and the RIASEC hexagon specifically have been used extensively in counseling and consulting contexts. Knowing their career “type” answers many questions for career counseling clients and provides a guide for seeking out additional information about the world of work. In addition, the model can be used in conjunction with other tools and theories to provide a more complete vocational picture. However, Holland's development of career types that incorporated information about interests, aptitudes, values, and personality provided a level of integration unique to the field at the time; still today, the six Holland types provide a holistic view of the career search and selection process.

Bibliography

Gottfredson, G.D. “John L. Holland's Contributions to Vocational Psychology: A Review and Evaluation”. Journal of Vocational Behavior 55 (1999): 15–40. Print.

Gysbers, N. C., M. J. Heppner, and J. A. Johnston, eds. Career counseling: Holism, diversity, and strengths. Alexandria: Amer. Counseling Assn., 2014. Print.

Hansen, J. C. “Remembering John L. Holland, PhD”. The Counseling Psychologist 39.8 (2011): 1212–217. Print.

Holland, J. L. “Exploring Careers With a Typology: What We Have Learned and Some New Directions”. American Psychologist 51.4 (1996): 397–406. Print.

Holland, J. L. Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments. 3rd ed. Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1997. Print.

Weinrach, S. G. “Have Hexagon Will Travel: An Interview With John Holland.” Personnel and Guidance Journal 58 (1980): 406–14. Print.