Pike's article describes Holland's Theory. This theory says that students' personality type correlates with what major they choose. It details six different types of personality: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. These personality types are determined by a person's interests, behavior, and nature. Based on personality, the theory states that a student is likely to choose a certain major, but environment also comes into play.
"Holland's theory of vocational choice provides a powerful framework for studying students' college experiences. The theory links psychological factors (i.e. students' personality types) with sociological factors (i.e. the characteristics of academic disciplines) to create a model of person-enviornment fit that can be used to explain students' selection of academic majors, socialization into a major, and student learning and development during college" (801).
"In higher education, academic disciplines are model environments...Realistic environments, for example, include the disciplines of electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, whereas Investigative environments include the biological and physical sciences, mathematics, economics, and sociology. Artistic environments include majors in art, music, and drama, and Social environments include the disciplines of history, philosophy, psychology, and social work. Enterprising environments include business administration, management and journalism. Conventional environments include accounting, data processing, and secretarial studies" (803).
"The three components of Holland's theory give rise to three propositions about college students and their academic majors: (1) students actively seek out and select majors that are compatible with their personality types (self selection); (2) Academic majors differentially reinforce and reward student abilities and interests (socialization); and (3) Students are more likely to flourish in environments that are congruent with their personality types (congruence)" (805).
So can you succeed in a STEM field if you have a liberal arts personality? What if all the good jobs are in STEM areas? Should you follow your bliss or follow the money?
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