Abstract
Vocational interests are traditionally conceived as stable preferences for different activities. However, recent theorizing suggests their intraindividual variability. This preregistered experience sampling study examined intraindividual variation in selected vocational interests states and related situation and person factors ( N = 237). Results indicate that the three interest dimensions Investigative, Artistic, and Social interests did vary intraindividually but less so than other phenomena’s dimensions (e.g., personality and happiness). At the within-person level, the focused interest states were related to specific situation characteristics, also after controlling for related personality dimensions and happiness. These relations were either specified a priori, based on the concept of congruence or person-environment fit, and tested in a strictly confirmatory manner, or identified using a more exploratory approach. Furthermore, aggregated states of the three selected interest dimensions mainly varied below their corresponding trait levels. This suggests that interest trait levels could represent an upper limit for aggregated interest states that could be due to method-related or construct-related reasons. The results demonstrate the situational character of interests and provide novel approaches for studying vocational interest in daily life.
Highlights
Imagine you have strong interests in helping other people, and——you work as a social worker
Based on the reasoning that interest states result from interactions with external cues, this study examines whether certain situation characteristics are related to selected interest states
We examined whether situation characteristics and selected interest states were associated at the within-person level
Summary
Imagine you have strong interests in helping other people, and——you work as a social worker. You do not feel inclined towards helping others—you are less interested in that activity than you normally are. In other moments, you might experience interest in activities you are generally not interested in. To what extent does such intraindividual variation in the manifestation of interests exist? If it does, which further situation and person variables are related to this variation? The overarching research question of this study specifies these matters and is whether certain situation characteristics are related to selected interest states. This paper contributes to answering this question by examining interest states and untangling their relations to situation perception using an experience sampling (ESM) design.
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