Educational and occupational choices may be considered, from a developmental point of view, as long-term problems whose solutions imply a number of tasks. These tasks sequentially might be called exploration, crystallization, specification, and implementation. What are the processes involved in these tasks? What are the abilities which make possible the realization of these tasks? In this article an attempt is made to conceptualize the relationships between creative thinking and exploration, convergent thinking and crystallization, evaluative thinking and specification, implicative thinking and implementation. From this approach, the potential contribution of cognitive psychology to theories of vocational development is examined, and a new methodology for guidance is outlined. (Author)