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Investigative Occupational Types

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Synonyms

Careers; Interests; Occupational types; Vocations

Definition

A category of occupations from Holland’s (1973) RIASEC (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional) model of vocational interests that involve the examination, prediction, and understanding of social and natural occurrences or phenomena.

Investigative Vocational Interests

According to Holland (1973), individuals with the investigative personality type prefer occupations that involve the investigation of physical, biological, and social phenomena (e.g., psychologist, scientist). These individuals typically avoid careers that are social, persuasive, enterprising, or business related. Investigative individuals tend to value science and see themselves as intelligent, scholarly, and academically gifted, but lacking in interpersonal skills. People with this vocational interest type are often described as introverted, careful, scholarly, pessimistic, self-reliant, curious, rational, and...

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References

  • Armstrong, P. I., & Anthoney, S. F. (2009). Personality facets and RIASEC interests: An integrated model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 346–359.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Christopher Marcin Kowalski

  2. Management and Organizational Studies, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Julie Aitken Schermer

Authors
  1. Christopher Marcin Kowalski
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  2. Julie Aitken Schermer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Marcin Kowalski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Western University, Canada http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8

    Julie Schermer

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Kowalski, C.M., Schermer, J.A. (2016). Investigative Occupational Types. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_771-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_771-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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