The document summarizes a class session on career decisions. It discusses the goals of understanding why career decisions are important and difficult. Key points covered include how career choices influence fulfilling needs and society. Challenges in decision making like inaccurate forecasts of happiness and outside influences are explained. The assignment for next week involves analyzing a case study and answering questions about values and lessons.

1. Instructor Connie Noonan Hadley
Week 5: Why Career Decisions are So Important
(and So Difficult)
February 24, 2016

2. Agenda
• Goals for today
• Discussion topics
• Why career decisions are so important
• Why career decisions are so difficult
• Go over next week's topic and Week 6 assignments
• Class wrap-up

3. Agenda
• Goals for today
• Discussion topics
• Why career decisions are so important
• Why career decisions are so difficult
• Go over next week's topic and Week 6 assignments
• Class wrap-up

4. Goals for Today
 Pivot our thinking to decision-making, and why
career decisions are particularly important (and
difficult)
 Go over the case study analysis assignment due
next week

5. Agenda
• Goals for today
• Discussion topics
• Why career decisions are so important
• Why career decisions are so difficult
• Go over next week's topic and Week 6 assignments
• Class wrap-up

6. Agenda
• Goals for today
• Field trip! Quick tour of SBU Career Center
• Discussion topics
• Why career decisions are so important
• Why career decisions are so difficult
• Go over next week's topic and Week 6 assignments
• Class wrap-up

7. Why Are Career Decisions So
Important?
They influence the
fulfillment of a person’s
basic human needs

8. Why Are Career Decisions So
Important?
They influence the
fulfillment of a person’s
basic human needs
They influence the nature of
our society

9. Factors that Affect Career
Decisions
Career
Decision
Making
Situational
Factors
Familial
Factors
Societal
Factors
Socio-
economic
Factors
Psycho-
social
Factors
Individual
Factors
O’Neil, J. M., Ohlde, C., Tollefson, N., Barke, C., & Piggott, T. (1980). Factors, correlates, and problem areas
affecting career decision making of a cross-sectional sample of students. Journal of Counseling Psychology,
27(6), 571-580.

10. Societal Factors
Drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt

11. One Societal Factor That
Matters: Gender

12. STEM Career Decisions
“One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that
we need to have more girls interested in math, science,
and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is
way underrepresented in those fields and that means that
we’ve got a whole bunch of talent … that is not being
encouraged...”
President Barack Obama
February 2013
www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/women

13. Why Are Women Dropping Out
of STEM Careers?
Diekman, Brown, Johnston, & Clark (2010) article

14. Agenda
• Goals for today
• Discussion topics
• Why career decisions are so important
• Why career decisions are so difficult
• Go over next week's topic and Week 6 assignments
• Class wrap-up

15. Why Are Career Decisions So
Difficult?

16. What is Affective Forecasting?
Wilson & Gilbert (2005) article

17. What is Affective Forecasting?
…and Why are We So Bad at It?
“All students, from college freshmen to advanced
graduate students, have asked themselves,
‘Will this decision make me happy?’
The vast majority of them have been wrong.”
Kurtz, J. (2016). Affective forecasting: Teaching a useful, accessible, and humbling area of
research. Teaching of Psychology, 43(1), 80-85.

18. Blocks to Accurate Forecasts
• Impact Bias
• Focalism
• Sense-making
• Immune neglect

19. When Have You Inaccurately
Forecasted?

20. How Can We Make Hard
Choices Easier?
Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices

21. Why are Career Decisions So
Difficult?
Big decisions are stressful. There are a number of reasons
for this:
 The stakes are inevitably high.
 Since big decisions are relatively rare, you don’t have
much experience making them.
 You’ll probably overthink and overanalyze the
decision, which only adds to the stress.
Excerpted from Dubner & Levitt (2014), Think Like a Freak.

22. Agenda
• Goals for today
• Discussion topics
• Why career decisions are so important
• Why career decisions are so difficult
• Go over next week's topic and Week 6 assignments
• Class wrap-up

23. Next Steps for Week 6
Next week’s topic: The social science of decision-
making and judgment
Required prework
 Read Sanfrey (2007) article on decision neuroscience
 Complete the Case Study Analysis assignment and upload to
website by 2:30 pm March 2nd
Suggested prework
 Contribute to ITS 102.27 discussion forum
 Check out additional readings and viewings suggested for the
week

24. Case Study Assignment
1. Pick ONE case study to analyze:
Lawrence Carol Eric
2. Answer FIVE essay questions about the case

25. Case Study Assignment
1. Pick ONE case study to analyze:
2. Answer FIVE essay questions about the case
A. What are their most important values?
B. What are their least important values?
C. What do you think were the keys to their success?
D. How did challenges influence their careerdecisions?
E. What lessons can you draw from this case analysis for
your own career?

26. Agenda
• Goals for today
• Field trip! Quick tour of SBU Career Center
• Discussion topics
• Why career decisions are so important
• Why career decisions are so difficult
• Go over next week's topic and Week 6 assignments
• Class wrap-up

27. What Did We Learn Today?

28. Wrap-Up
Today’s session hopefully:
• Gave you a sense of the resources
available to you – when you are ready – at
the SBU Career Center
• Helped frame some key issues involved in
career decision making from a psychological
and sociological standpoint
• Clarified what you need to do for Week 6
assignment

30. Making Decisions Shouldn’t Be
This Hard
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ea4418a1b5/making-decisions-
shouldn-t-be-this-hard-the-lunch-
decision?_cc=__d___&_ccid=6e203b7552c53005