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.