By Anne-Viviane Maus

The roots of Donald Super’s extensive writings on vocational development are in the Self Theory of Carl Rogers. According to Super, when an individual is making vocational choices, they act in relation to their understanding of themselves. Psychologically, career choices are “driven” by Self-Concepts. What would follow is that making satisfying vocational choices requires a good understanding of Self. Understanding self is then the key to making a successful vocational choice. But it is also necessary, however, to understand the requirements and work activities of different occupations. If knowledge of any occupation or its demand is wrong, that occupation is not going to be well evaluated in relation to one’s Self-Concept.