Interest and personality measurement: relationship between Self-directed Search and Eysenck Personality Inventory scores.

Abstract

Relationships between vocational interests and personality characteristics have long been a matter of concern in vocational psychology. Holland's (1966) theory of vocational choice and his development of the Vocational Preference Inventory (1965) and the Self-directed Search (1970) emphasize the central relationship between these variables. Haase (1971) in a canonical analysis of the inventory and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank extracted six canonical roots. The first root was given the conceptual label 0s. ~ntroversion-extraversion. It correlated positively with the social, enterprising and artistic scales of the inventory and the social service and sales oriented occupations of the Strong. It correlated negatively with the realistic and intellectual scales of the inventory and the Strong scientific occupations. As part of a college sophomore vocational counseling and testing program, data on the Search scales and the Eysenck Personality Inventory (Eysend & Eysenck, 1968), measuring extraversion-introversion (E) and neuroticism (N), were obtained. Summary (reflecting the three highest scores in order of preference) codes from the Search scales were compared with scale scores on the Eysenck for 113 males aged 18 to 20 yr. Individuals were categorized into high, middle and low on both the neuroticism and the extraversion scales. Categorization was on the basis of norms for American college students (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1968), with splits being made at the 33.3 and 66.7 percentiles as shown below.