Journal of Counseling Psychology 1999, Vol. 46, No. 2, 207-217 Copyright 1999 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. O022-0167/99/$3.0O Applying Vocational Interest Models to Naturally Occurring Occupational Perceptions Victoria A. Shivy Virginia Commonwealth University James Rounds and Lawrence E. Jones University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The authors examined the structure of naturally occurring occupational perceptions. They first assessed the stability of individuals' perceptions of 18 occupational titles, both across time and 2 samples. They then tested whether J. L. Holland's (1992) spatial model, D. J. Prediger's (1982) dimensional model, or I. Gati's (1979) classificatory model could be identified in the data. Findings are discussed in light of previous research and suggest the marked stability of the occupational perceptual structure as well as support for Gati's (1979) classificatory model. Structural studies of occupational titles have resulted in two distinct research literatures that are rarely synthesized or even considered in tandem (Rounds & Zevon, 1983). The literature most familiar to vocational psychologists involves structural studies of occupational preferences. Another litera- ture, less well-known, reflects the efforts of sociologists, and focuses on the examination of individuals' occupational perceptions. Individuals' occupational perceptions encom- pass their cognitions concerning specific jobs, whether these cognitions arise from observation or direct experience with those jobs (e.g., Tinsely, Bowman, & Ray, 1988). This study operationalized occupational perceptions by way of the method of paired comparisons (Thurstone, 1927) and exam- ined the structure of occupational perceptions in light of the models that have emerged from the study of occupational preferences. Given that vocational theorists continue to speculate on the importance of acquiring a cognitive structure for organiz- ing information about the self, the world of work, and one's relation to that work world (Gati, 1984; Holland, Magoon, & Spokane, 1981; Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991), it is Victoria A. Shivy, Department of Psychology, Virginia Common- wealth University; James Rounds, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Lawrence E. Jones, Department of Psychology, Division of Quantitative Methods, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This study was designed and the data were collected while Victoria A. Shivy was a postdoctoral trainee in the Department of Psychology, Division of Quantitative Methods, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and was supported by a National Institute of Mental Health/National Research Service Award. We benefited from the expert assistance and helpful comments of Brad Crouch, Laura Koehly, Lawrence Hubert, and Jacqueline Meul- man. Thanks are also due to Ev Worthington, who offered comments on a draft of this article; Brigitte Seraphin who carried out much of the data collection and coding; and Carlton Gallagher who helped with manuscript preparation. A copy of all proximity matrices and ratings taken on unidimensional attribute scales can be obtained from Victoria A. Shivy. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Victoria A. Shivy, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 842018, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284- 2018. Electronic mail may be sent to vshivy@vcu.edu. surprising that all but a few vocational researchers (Gati & Nathan, 1986; Shivy, Phillips, & Koehly, 1996) have neglected the study of occupational perceptions. In contrast, researchers from outside mainstream vocational psychology have shown considerable interest in individuals' occupa- tional cognitions. These investigators have not only hinted at the role that organized occupational information might play in various aspects of the career development process, but they have also conducted substantial empirical research (e.g., Burton, 1972; Coxon, Davies, & Jones, 1986; Coxon & Jones, 1974a; Magana, Burton, & Ferreira-Pinto, 1995; Reeb, 1959, 1971, 1974, 1979; Rowell, 1985; Shubsachs & Davison, 1979). Their reasoning is typified by Rowell's (1985) statement that "if mental organization is conceptual- ized as playing a causal role in action, it would seem desirable to produce representations of this organization to aid our understanding of both existing situations and their potential for change" (p. 201). Most of these researchers used the method of paired comparisons to understand occupational perception, and then considered occupational perception with regard to individuals' behavior. Hence, they explored individuals' judgments regarding the similarities and dissimilarities among various occupations, instead of their stated occupational preferences or expressed voca- tional interests. Nearly all vocational researchers who conduct structural explorations of occupational phenomena (Gati, 1991; Reeb, 1979; Rounds & Tracey, 1996) have acknowledged the purported relationship between individuals' occupational cognitions, their vocational preferences, and subsequent career behavior. Most have either tacitly or explicitly (Gati, 1979) adopted Holland's (1976a, 1985, 1992) position that individuals' occupational perception structure resembles their occupational preference structure. From Holland's (1976a, 1992) perspective, both structures are organized according to his RIASEC model, which posits that individu- als behave in ways that reflect their resemblance to his vocational interest types of realistic (R), investigative (I), artistic (A), social (S), enterprising (E), and conventional (C). The structural relations among the types, when taken together, are often termed the hexagonal model. Holland's spatial model specifies that types that are more proximate on 207