Self-Observation Generalization, Jade Pearson

Self-Observation Generalization
Jade Pearson
CSUN

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Self-Observation Generalization, Jade Pearson

In my lifeline, I decided to include environmental factors that affected my decision to

pursue an M.S. in Counseling. From the outline, my socioeconomic status and schooling did not

seem to directly impact my career decision. However, I have come to believe that because my

parents worked hard to provide me with a good education, and my mom was able to work with

me in my academics, I felt confident in my performance at school for much of my life. Besides

the time I struggled emotionally in high school, I wanted to be a professional with a doctoral

degree, namely, a medical doctor. Krumboltz (1996) states that a vast array of factors such as

social, cultural, political, and economic factors should be taken into consideration when looking

at an individual’s career decisions. I believe that because my parents believed in me, I had higher

aspirations for career goals. Also, because many of the kids around me at school were going far

in their education I felt it appropriate to do so as well.

My struggle with my body image along with other factors in school caused me to become

sad and influenced my confidence. Consequently, I decided that pursuing medicine wasn’t for me

because of the length of schooling and how difficult it would be on me emotionally (ref. number

thirteen in my lifeline). This was not an accurate view, as I projected my abilities in a future

profession based on my negative present-state of emotions. I believe that my self observation

generalization that I wasn’t going to be able to make it in medical school changed the course of

my decisions and world-view generalizations. I thereafter wrote off medicine as a feasible choice

for me and was disinterested in that career path. I believe that if I were able to have a positive

interaction with a doctor, that would have changed my decisions to shadow a doctor rather than a

physical therapist for my junior year interning assignment. I may have spent more energy

researching the career and finding out the facts rather than following my misconceptions.

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Self-Observation Generalization, Jade Pearson

There is current evidence that I am, in fact, “good enough” to go to medical school. Of

course, in the aforementioned statement, the connotation comes from my current world-view

generalization of the status of doctors in society. All this aside, though, I admire the work that

they do in saving lives. I have a good friend who was in my major and year at UCR who went on

to become a doctor and is currently in his first year of residency. Although him and I have

different life experiences and circumstances that influenced our career decisions, I am

comparable in intelligence to him. Notwithstanding, I have come to learn that medicine isn’t

about how “smart” one is, but how much one can persevere and manage time effectively.

Because I was able to persevere through college, post-undergrad, and now graduate school, I

have substantial evidence that I would probably be able to make it through medical school if I so

choose.

I could still test out the above self-observation generalization by working as a volunteer

at the local hospital and studying for the MCAT. I am still deciding how important this is for me

to do. I would certainly come to peace in my career choice knowing that I uncovered all the

information that I could. However, other factors come into play that affect my decision to

practice medicine such as wanting to have a family soon and speculating about how much

medicine is now influenced by Big Pharma (I worked in a pharmacy and left due to a conflict of

interest with the ethics of the pharmacy and my own values). There are still questions left

unanswered, but these questions are not of significant importance at this stage of my life. In all,

what matters is that I’ve come to the conclusion that I could do well in medicine if I put my mind

to it because I have found myself to be tenacious enough to persevere through medical school

and residency.

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Self-Observation Generalization, Jade Pearson

The question now is: will I be able to do well in a doctoral program for psychology, and

is this a good choice for me? Looking back on the months in high school when I was in a

depressed mood, I realized something essential about myself. I was so in touch with my feelings

that understanding them became important to me. At the age of fourteen, I noticed that other

students around me did things such as gossip and bully others, and I was interested in what was

going on at home to make them act in such ways. My budding interests in psychology

overshadowed my previous interest in medicine. My worldview generalizations about

psychology are being tailored by my task approach skills in asking questions and researching

more about how I would fit into the academic world of psychology. I have provided a

decision-making matrix according to Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory, but my lifeline

remains to be continued.

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Self-Observation Generalization, Jade Pearson

Works Cited

Sharf, R. S. (2013). Applying career development theory to counseling(6th ed.). Australia:

Brooks Cole.