This overview of the self-concept theory describes how people organize and interpret their personal existence. It discusses the beginnings and recent history of the self-concept theory, and presents three major qualities of self-concept: that it is learned, organized, and dynamic. It asserts that individuals have relatively boundless potential for…

Some experts were asked to summarize what they knew about career development in five short messages. What resulted is the "High Five" of career development: 1) Change is constant; 2) Follow your heart; 3) Focus on the journey; 4) Stay learning; and 5) Be an ally. Each of these messages is briefly described in this digest. Change, in the…

The Counseling and Human Development Foundation (CHDF) is the only national philanthropic organization whose sole purpose is the enhancement of individual human development by conducting and fostering programs of research and education in counseling and human development. A 1991 review decided future focus of resources should be on research,…

This book is intended for teachers and parents who want to give their students and children inspiring models to imitate in developing positive character traits and attitudes. In the book are individuals from today (like Bill Cosby) or people in the past (like Abraham Lincoln) who will inspire children. In all, the book portrays 75 people of…

Since culture provides a direction for discovering a sense of coherence between stability and change, therapeutic change can be established when clients become aware of their cultural rules. This digest examines techniques developed for ethnographic research that can be applied directly to the career counseling interview. Ethnography assumes that…

Aimed principally at educational professionals--teachers; counselors; administrators; and vocational, career, and adult educators--this monograph provides a framework for considering leisure as an integral part of life planning. The introduction, based largely on a literature review, presents historical perspectives on leisure, discusses its…

Highlights articles in the ERIC database on early childhood development. Topics of papers and journal articles annotated include early years language and literacy curriculum; children's temperaments; preschool mathematics; and a multilingual nursery class. (HTH)

The centric model of career counseling was developed for use in employment counseling and takes into account psychological, social, and economic factors. Four developmental phases are used to describe movement within the centric model. The initial phase, readiness, establishes the working alliance between the counselor and the client. Clients must…

Creating Self-Portraits is an individual and/or group career development tool designed to assess without testing. Researchers have found that testing can be counter-productive; once clients were labelled, they frequently stopped self-examination. A tool was needed that would help people understand themselves in a way that would encourage further…

A value conflict arises when one value can only be realized at the expense of another value. This digest describes the scope of career value conflict, its developmental significance, and some conflict resolution strategies. Several studies have shown that some career values are particularly prone to conflict, such as salary, freedom in the job,…

Temperament refers to basic dimensions of personality that are grounded in biology and explain individual differences in the developmental process rather than universal dynamics. Temperament is currently an active area of research with documented applicability to a variety of developmental and mental health outcomes such as conscience formation,…

During the past two decades, a convincing body of evidence has accumulated to indicate that unless children achieve minimal social competence by about the age of 6 years, they have a high probability of being at risk into adulthood in several ways. This digest presents a checklist of attributes of child social behavior that teachers are encouraged…

The theory of transformative learning, the process of making meaning of one's experience, emerged from the work of Jack Mezirow and has been explored through numerous research studies and critiques over the last 20 years. The purpose of this monographic is to provide greater insight into the transformative learning theory. The paper begins with an…

Focusing on parents' most persistent concerns about their children's growth and development, the 54 brief articles collected in this volume first appeared as monthly columns in "Parents Magazine." Section 1, "The Challenges of Parenthood," includes essays on alternative approaches to discipline, the limits of openness, teaching…

It is only natural for parents to wonder occasionally if the development of their preschool child is going well. Noting that psychologists have developed many normative scales to indicate how an individual child compares with others of the same age in similar populations, this parent brochure provides guidance for evaluating a child's behavior and…