Cognitive Information Processing
Theory
James P. Sampson, Jr.
Debra S. Osborn
Keynote Presentation for Asia Pacific Career Development Association
2015 Annual Conference
September 14-17, Tokyo, Japan
1
Aims of CIP Theory
• To help individuals become skillful career
problem solvers and decision makers.
• Emphasis on creating a learning event.
• Provide a framework for career decision
making that is easily explained to clients.
2
Common Career Concerns
•
•
•
•
•
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Making an initial choice of major/career
Identifying possible career options
Seeking career change
Need for specific career information
Understanding interests, personalities
Job searching advice, resume writing
3
CIP Theory Components &
Applications
4
Pyramid of Information Processing Domains
Metacognitions
Executive
Processing
Domain
Decision-Making
Skills Domain
CASVE Cycle
Self
Knowledge
Occupational
Knowledge
Knowledge
Domains
Pyramid of Information Processing Domains
Thinking about
my decision
making
Client Version
Knowing how I
make decisions
Knowing
about myself
Knowing about
my options
CASVE Cycle
Communication
Identifying the
problem - the gap
Execution
Analysis
Taking action to
narrow the gap
Thinking about
alternatives
Valuing
Synthesis
Prioritizing
alternatives
Generating likely
alternatives
CASVE Cycle - Client Version
Knowing I Need
to Make a Choice
Knowing I Made a
Good Choice
Implementing
My Choice
Choosing An
Occupation, Program
of Study, or Job
Understanding
Myself and
My Options
Expanding and
Narrowing My List
of Options
Translating Concepts for Client Use
• Pyramid
• The CASVE Cycle
– What’s involved in
career choice
– A guide to good
decision making
– The content of career
choice
– The process of
career choice
– What you need to
know
– What you need to do
– Careful choice
– Informed choice
9
Career Readiness
Readiness is the capability of an individual
to make informed and careful career
choices taking into account the complexity
of family, social, economic, and
organizational factors that influence career
development
10
Accurate Assessment of
Individual Needs
• Capability concerns internal factors that make
it more, or less, difficult to decide about
occupational, educational, training, or
employment options
• Complexity concerns external factors that
make it more, or less, difficult to decide, such
as the family, society, the economy, or
organizations
11
Accurate Assessment of
Individual Needs
• Readiness and Decision-Making Difficulty
• Differences in readiness for career decision
making explains why some individuals have
difficulty in making career decisions while
other individuals do not
12
Accurate Assessment of
Individual Needs
• Expanded Model of Readiness
• The original model was recently expanded to
include variables contributing to low readiness
for effective use of career interventions
– Personal characteristics
– Personal circumstances
– Limited knowledge of self, options, and decision
making
– Prior experience with career interventions
13
Accurate Assessment of
Individual Needs
• Personal characteristics
– Acute and/or chronic negative thoughts and
feelings
– Limited verbal aptitude
– Limited language proficiency
– Limited computer literacy
• Personal circumstances
– Acute and/or chronic external barriers
14
Accurate Assessment of
Individual Needs
• Limited knowledge of self, options, and
decision making
– Limited life experience
– Limited inclination to reflect on self-knowledge
gained from life experience
– Limited knowledge of occupations,
educational/training providers, or employers
– Limited knowledge about the decision-making
process
15
Accurate Assessment of
Individual Needs
• Prior experience with career interventions
– Limited prior experience with career resources
– Inappropriate expectations about career choice
and career services
– Negative prior experience with career interventions
16
Relating Readiness to Interventions
In the CIP differentiated service
delivery model, the level of service
delivery (self-help, brief staffassisted, individual case managed) is
directly related to the decisionmaking readiness of the individual
17
Relating Readiness to Interventions
Readiness of the user
Amount of staff
assistance provided
Who guides use of
resources and
services
Where services are
provided
Selection and
sequencing of
resources and
services
Self-help services Brief staff-assisted
services
High
Moderate
Little or none
Minimal
Individual casemanaged services
Low
Substantial
The user
A practitioner
A practitioner
Resource room
or at a distance
via the Internet or
telephone
Resource room,
classroom, group
settings, or at a
distance via the
Internet or
telephone
Individual office,
classroom, group
setting, or at a
distance via the
Internet or
telephone
Resource guides
Individual learning Individual learning
plans
plans
18
Assumptions of the Model
•
All young people and adults are greeted as
they enter the career resource room by a
trained staff member
•
Young people and adults can seek assistance
on a self-help basis
•
If problems occur with the use of self-help
resources, staff are available to reassess
needs and make further recommendations
about the use career resources and an
appropriate level of service delivery
19
Assumptions of the Model
•
Young people and adults and staff collaborate
in deciding on an appropriate level of service
delivery and appropriate resources
•
Resource guides and individual learning plans
are available to help young people and adults
select, locate, sequence, and use resources
•
No matter what the level of service delivery
provided (including self-help), staff periodically
check with all young people and adults to
determine if their needs are being met
20
Specific Elements of the CIP
Differentiated Model
Florida State University Career Center
21
Differentiated Service Delivery
• The three levels of service include
– Self-help services for young people and
adults with high readiness for decision
making
– Brief staff-assisted services for young
people and adults with moderate readiness
– Individual case-managed services for
young people and adults with low readiness
22
Differentiated Service Delivery Model
Individual Enters
Brief Screening
Self or Staff
Referral
Comprehensive Screening
Self-Help
Services
Brief
Staff-Assisted
Services
Individual
Case-Managed
Services
Complete differentiated model of delivering career resources and services
Moving Between Levels of Service
• Readiness for career decision making
can improve over time
• Persons can move between levels of
service delivery
• Or, some individuals have difficulty in
using resources and need more help,
and move to a higher level of service
24
A Generic Sequence for Services
1. Intake
2. Screening
3. Problem identification
4. Goal setting
5. Service delivery planning
6. Resource and service use
7. Problem review
25
Individual enters the center
Brief screening
Self-help services
Safety net for self-help services
“Are you finding the information you need?
Drop-in service – Brief staff-assisted services
Drop-in service – Brief staff-assisted services
Comprehensive screening – Readiness assessment
Individual counseling
Career course
Service Delivery Tools
• Signage/Map
• Resource Room & Resource Guides
• Handouts
• Diagnostic Assessment
• Individual Learning Plans
35
Resource guides
Resource guides
Information handout
Career Center Web site
Anticipated Challenges
• In CIP, self-help and brief staff-assisted
interventions provide a substantial proportion of
services delivered
• However, providing effective self-help and brief
interventions is not as easy as it might appear
• Self-help resources readily available on the
Internet vary greatly in quality
• Some individuals have difficulty in linking their
40
needs to specific self-help resources
Anticipated Challenges
• Brief staff-assisted interventions are not simply
shortened versions of individual case-managed
interventions
• Service delivery tools (such as resource
guides, diagnostic assessment, and individual
learning plans) and resources (such as
information handouts), as well as career
resource rooms and Web sites are crucial
elements in delivering self-help and brief staffassisted services
41
Recent Research
• What is the effect of a brief-assisted
career counseling model on general
outcomes?
• What are the attitudes of drop-in clients
regarding the effectiveness of a briefassisted career counseling model?
• What is the relationship between process
characteristics and changes in outcome
variables?
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ANOVA Pre/Post Test Results
Significant changes on each variable
Medium ES for knowledge & confidence
Small ES for anxiety
Process Indicators
Use and Impact of the CIP Approach
• The CIP differentiated service delivery
approach has been used at the Florida State
University Career Center for the past 42 years
• The approach has been applied to other
higher education career centers and school
career guidance programs in the United
States and other countries worldwide
45
Use and Impact of the CIP Approach
• The CIP approach guided the redesign of
one-stop career and employment services in
the states of Oklahoma and North Carolina,
as well as regional career services in central
England and national all-age career guidance
services in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• Organizations have implemented the CIP
differentiated service delivery approach to
varying degrees
46
Use and Impact of the CIP Approach
• Some organizations implemented the complete
approach
• Other organizations selected specific elements
that fit with other models already in use
• The approach can be implemented in a variety
of ways as long as services are based on
individual needs, as opposed to a one-size-fitsall method
47
Use and Impact of the CIP Approach
• In terms of impact, the CIP differentiated service
delivery approach has been shown to improve
- career decidedness
- vocational identity
- choice satisfaction
- self-knowledge
- career option knowledge
and to decrease
- negative career thinking
- anxiety
- goal instability
48
Use and Impact of the CIP Approach
• Clients perceived staff members as effective
• Clients had a clearer idea of next steps, were
more confident of next steps, and were less
anxious
49
Conclusion
• Differentiated service delivery models can be
effective in multiple settings
• The effectiveness of differentiated service
delivery models is dependent on:
– Reaching a shared understanding of how the
models work in practice
– Making integrated use of technology in all levels of
service delivery
– Carefully implementing the approaches
– Adopting a serious commitment to continuous
50
improvement
References
Sampson, J. P., Jr. (2008). Designing and implementing
learning programs: A handbook for effective practice.
Broken Arrow, OK: National Learning Development
Association.
Sampson, J. P., Jr., Reardon, R. C., Peterson, G. W., &
Lenz, J. G. (2004). Career counseling and services: A
cognitive information processing approach. Pacific
Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
For more information
www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter