Enjoying it and feeling capable: why the Map asks both

In the interest block, the instructions ask you not to think about whether you have the training or whether it would pay well: answer only whether you would enjoy doing the activity. That is on purpose. Mixing “I like it” with “I can do it” muddles the measure, and people who have never had contact with a field tend to say they dislike it just because they don’t feel prepared.

Confidence has its own block, with 6 statements, one per type, and a different question: “Today, how capable do you feel of doing this well?”, from “Not at all” to “Completely”.

In 1994, Robert Lent, Steven Brown and Gail Hackett proposed social cognitive career theory (SCCT). In it, self-efficacy (the belief that you can do something well) and outcome expectations (what you think you will gain from it) feed interests; and interests feed choice goals.

The model has been studied many times. A meta-analysis of 60 samples looked at the link between self-efficacy and interests and found them related, without being the same thing (Rottinghaus, Larson & Borgen, 2003). Another one tested the SCCT choice model separately across Holland’s six types (Sheu et al., 2010).

The Map crosses, type by type, your interest score with your confidence score. Both run from 0 to 4, and each counts as high from 2.5, halfway between the neutral point (2) and “Like” or “Very” (3). That gives four cells:

“You like it, but don’t feel capable yet” is the most useful cell in the quadrant. According to SCCT, this is where experience has the most effect: a short course, a small project or a talk with someone who works in the field can change your confidence, and with it the range of options you consider.

“You feel capable, but don’t enjoy it as much” is the opposite: skill that doesn’t come with interest. It doesn’t mean you should run from the field, only that the choice deserves other reasons besides “I know how to do it”.

Confidence doesn’t change the order of the occupations. It only enters the quadrant and the 30-day plan.

The 30-day plan in the member area comes from your profile. These are small tasks to try a field in practice, which is the path SCCT describes for building confidence:

• talk to someone who works in the field;
• take a free introductory course;
• build a weekend project;
• volunteer in work linked to the type.

• It is one statement per type: it gives an approximate reading, not a fine-grained measure of self-efficacy. The statements are IQNorth’s own and have no published validation study yet.
• Confidence is what you feel today, not measured ability. It changes with experience, and that is why it is on the map.
• If you took the IQ test, the fields where you did best appear as a strength, but they never exclude or downgrade an occupation.