Effects of occupational information on occupational perceptions

Abstract

Although counseling issues have tended to monopolize vocational guidance research, an important study by Osipow (1962) examined the effect of occupational information on occupational perceptions. Osipow's study, together with a replication undertaken in Australia, indicated that the addition of occupational information had a leveling effect on occupational perceptions, and some differential effect which depended on the job considered. Osipow's study was extended so that a sample of 173 Subjects consisting of school students, university students and teachers provided ratings on the semantic differential for each of nine jobs, in the absence and in the presence of occupational descriptions. The results of the extension study provided evidence (a) to strongly support that occupational information influenced occupational perceptions; (b) that school students perceived some occupations differently from university students and teachers; (c) that the addition of occupational information affected school students, university students and teachers differentially in some cases; (d) that findings (a) and (c) varied for occupations of different status levels. Suggestions for further research were made.