CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND THE THEORY OF WORK ADJUSTMENT - A PROPOSAL FOR INTEGRATION AND A FAVOR RETURNED

The Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment is a psychological theory of work adjustment. A hallmark of the theory since its inception in the Minnesota Studies of Vocational Rehabilitation is that its major propositions have been clearly derived from research in the basic psychological sciences, especially individual differences and learning. It is the thesis of this paper that recent advances in psychological science may improve the theory′s predictive power and enrich it as a scientific theory of vocational psychology practice. I specifically review contemporary research in personality and, more briefly, cognitive psychology and suggest how the findings from this research may be incorporated into the Theory of Work Adjustment. No new propositions are proposed, but a few tentative hypotheses are offered for future study. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.