Rorschach patterns among groups of college majors at two New England universities.

Abstract

The incidence of dissatisfaction with occupation, of failure in one's chosen field, of occupational change after years of preparation, and, frequently, experience, as reported in the literature, poses a serious problem to workers in vocational counseling. Traditional tools used in this field--the interview, general ability or intelligence tests, special aptitude tests, interest inventories--while contributing greatly to efforts to improve our guidance processes, have been evaluated as insufficient by themselves. [TRUNCATED]

A first sample of two hundred upperclass and first year graduate students among the four fields of forestry, mechanical engineering, psychology, and agriculture, were taken in equal numbers from the University of New Hampshire and the University of Maine. A second sample was taken similarly the next year, with no subject from the first sample included in the second one. A small sample of eight freshmen who had declared their intention to major in one of the four fields was taken at the University of New Hampshire. A small sample of eighty professional workers, all possessing at least a bachelor's degree in their field and a minimum of five years experience in the field was taken. [TRUNCATED]

In the first three groups it was shown that there was no significant difference among the four major fields in regard to age, scholastic aptitude as measured by the American Council on Education Psychological Examination, socioeconomic status of the father, or residential area. It was not possible to gather this kind of information for the professional workers since many preferred not to give one or another form of personal information or identification. All subjects were male; both veterans and non-veterans were used. [TRUNCATED]