The History Of John Holland, PhD

The Self-Directed Search is a direct product of a theory of personality types and environmental models developed by John Holland.

 

1919

John Lewis Holland is
born in Omaha, Nebraska.

1942

Holland receives a BA in psychology from the Municipal University of Omaha.

1942-1946

Works for the U.S. Army as a test proctor and psychological assistant, among other duties.

1952

Earns a doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Minnesota.

1953

Creates the Vocational Preference Inventory, which includes occupational lists and organizes items into scales—the predecessor to the RIASEC hexagonal model.

1953-1970

Hones his theory based on the latest research while working at a VA psychiatric hospital, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the American College Testing Program, and Johns Hopkins University.

1970

Publishes the Self-Directed Search and the Occupations Finder (OF).

1977

Publishes the first revision of the Self-Directed Search, which includes major changes to scoring and increases the number of occupations in the OF.

1980

Holland retires, but doesn’t stop working on his theory.

1985

Publishes the third edition of the Self-Directed Search. It improves instructions, revises items, reduces item overlap across scales, and doubles the number of occupations in the OF.

1991

Publishes the Position Classification Inventory, which allows Holland’s theory to be applied to existing positions and organizations.

1994

Publishes the Self-Directed Search Form R, 4th Edition, which features revised items and more occupations in the OF; Holland receives the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Professional Contributions to Knowledge award.

2008

Receives the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology. Holland dies at age 89 years in Baltimore, Maryland.

2010

The OF is revised to include Occupational Information Network (O*NET) codes.

2013

The Self-Directed Search Form R, 5th Edition, is published, along with the Veterans and Military Occupations Finder (VMOF).

2017

StandardSDS and StudentSDS are published; SDS Web site is revised to include standard, student, and veteran reports.

Sources

American Psychologist staff (2008). Award for distinguished scientific applications of psychology: John L. Holland. American Psychologist, 63, 672-674.

Gottfredson, G. D. (1999). John L. Holland’s contributions to vocational psychology: A review and evaluation. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 55, 15-40.