The Case of Mandy: Applying Holland's Theory and Cognitive Information Processing Theory

In this article the authors discuss the application of Holland's theory (Holland, 1997) and cognitive information processing theory (CIP; Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991) to the case of a college student named Mandy who was deciding about a major and a future career. The authors also describe how a career planning class, the Self‐Directed Search (SDS; Holland, Powell & Fritzsch, 1994), the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Reardon, & Saunders, 1998), and Improving Your Career Thoughts: A Workbook for the Career Thoughts Inventory (Sampson, Peterson, Lenz, Rearson, & Saunders, 1996) were used as interventions to allow Mandy to become aware of her negative thinking patterns and to begin the process of reframing these thoughts. The outcome of Mandy's case, her personal reactions to this article, and practical implications for other service providers, are discussed.