Psychological Needs in Career Development and Vocational Psychology

Introduction

In career development, three key constructs guide decisions: interests, needs/values, and abilities. These ideas took root in the early 1900s, thanks to Frank Parsons (1909), who stressed the importance of self-knowledge for choosing a career. His work led to the creation of standardized tools to measure these constructs accurately. These tools help turn theory into practical career guidance.

 Needs are a person’s requirements for reinforcers—things that keep them motivated and satisfied. These reinforcers come from three sources: the environment, social relationships, and the self. Because humans are social, social reinforcers often have the biggest impact. The idea of needs comes from Henry Murray’s (1938) need-press theory. He saw needs as internal forces driving emotions, actions, and reactions. Meanwhile, environmental press refers to factors that either help or block need fulfillment. Together, they explain many behaviors, including those in careers.

Some theories view needs and values as the same. For example, Abraham Maslow (1954, 1959) used both terms to describe human motivation. Others, like Milton Rokeach (1973) and Donald Super (1962, 1995), see needs as biological drives that turn into values through social influences. For instance, the need for sex might become a value like love. Super (1962, 1995) agreed, noting that needs start as survival instincts but become values through life experiences. These values guide career paths by shaping interests. In vocational psychology and organizational psychology, needs drive work motivation. They push people to direct their effort toward fulfilling goals, which helps explain career choices and job satisfaction.

This article explores how needs are defined, measured, classified, and used in career counseling. It focuses on frameworks like the Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA), which uses needs to understand how people fit into their work environments.

 Historical Roots of Needs in Career Theory

The push to measure needs began with Parsons’ (1909) idea of self-knowledge. He inspired the development of standardized tools to assess interests, needs/values, and abilities. A key milestone was Murray’s (1938) need-press theory, which defined needs as drivers of human behavior. Environmental press includes things that either support or hinder need fulfillment, shaping actions in careers and beyond.

 In organizational psychology, work motivation theories explain how needs fuel effort. Theories like Herzberg’s (1959) dual-factor model (separating hygienes and motivators), Maslow’s hierarchy, and Alderfer’s (1969) ERG model (existence, relatedness, growth) say unmet needs drive action. These ideas were popular in the 1960s and 1970s but lost favor due to weak evidence, as noted by Campbell and Pritchard (1976). Ruth Kanfer (1991) linked need theories to expectancy theories, pointing out that needs and values guide behavior through thinking processes. However, she criticized these theories for not explaining how motivation leads to specific actions. This critique applies to career models by Brown (1996) and Super (1995) too. Still, needs remain vital in vocational theory.

 Defining Needs in Vocational Contexts

Needs are a person’s requirements for reinforcers that keep them balanced and motivated. These come from the environment (external rewards), social relationships (interpersonal support), and the self (personal goals). Each reinforcer could define a unique need, creating a long list. To simplify, Person-Environment Correspondence (PEC) theory uses factor analysis to group needs into categories.

 In vocational psychology, needs are part of the work personality in TWA (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984). Alongside abilities and values, needs predict job satisfaction and adjustment. Vocational needs are conditions that make work fulfilling, supporting long-term success. Research focuses heavily on the person’s reinforcer needs (what they seek from work), while their response needs (actions they must perform) are less studied. The environment’s response needs (tasks assigned) are better explored than its reinforcer needs (rewards offered). This gap needs more research, as Dawis suggests.

 Needs and values overlap in tools like the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ; Rounds et al., 1981) and Work Values Inventory (Super, 1970), which measure what matters in work. Their terms differ due to theory: TWA builds on Schaffer’s (1953) job satisfaction and Skinner’s (1938) reinforcement, while Super draws from developmental ideas by Buehler (1933) and Ginzberg et al. (1951). Both see needs as key motivators in careers.

Measuring Needs

 Needs reflect personal requirements, so the best way to measure them is by asking people directly. Standardized self-report questionnaires use rating scales for accuracy, following methods by Guilford (1954) and Landy and Farr (1980). These ensure validity (truthful answers) and reliability (consistent results). Needs can be measured with one question or several, combined into scales using techniques from Dawis (2000).

To manage many needs, PEC and TWA use factor analysis to create key categories. TWA lists six: Achievement (using skills, feeling accomplished), Altruism (helping others), Autonomy (being independent), Comfort (low stress), Safety (stability), and Status (recognition). These help counselors match people to jobs that fit their needs.

 Classifying Needs

Need theories create categories to organize motivators. Maslow’s (1954, 1959) hierarchy includes five levels: physiological (basic survival), security (safety), social (belonging), self-esteem (respect), and self-actualization (personal growth). Needs are met from basic to advanced. Other classifications group needs by source (environmental, social, self) or type (reinforcer needs for outcomes, response needs for actions). Research often focuses on individual reinforcers and environmental tasks, leaving gaps in other areas. These categories, despite some flaws (Campbell & Pritchard, 1976), show needs as drivers of behavior.

Using Needs in Career Counseling

Needs are not always central in vocational theories, but TWA makes them key, combining needs, abilities, and values to explain work adjustment (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984). Tools like the MIQ reveal what motivates people, helping counselors pick careers that match reinforcers. Murray’s need-press idea shows that matching needs to environmental press predicts career success. Understanding need categories helps create plans to improve job satisfaction and commitment.

 Challenges and Next Steps

Need theories lost popularity due to weak evidence (Campbell & Pritchard, 1976). Combining them with expectancy theories adds thinking processes but lacks clear links to actions (Kanfer, 1991). Research focuses too much on individual reinforcer needs, ignoring response needs and environmental reinforcers. Future studies should balance these to strengthen person-environment models.

 Conclusion

Psychological needs shape career choices, motivation, and adjustment. From Murray’s need-press theory to TWA, needs are measured with questionnaires, organized into categories, and used in counseling. Their link to values and research gaps call for more work to fully understand their role in careers.

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