New research examines how career dreams die
(Science Blog: Aug. 26th, 2009)

A new study shows just what it takes to convince a person that he isn’t qualified to achieve the career of his dreams.

Researchers found that it’s not enough to tell people they don’t have the skills or the grades to make their goal a reality.

People will cling to their dreams until they’re clearly shown not only why they’re not qualified, but also what bad things can happen if they pursue their goals and fail.

“Most people don’t give up easily on the dreams. They have to be given a graphic picture of what failure will look like if they don’t make it,” said Patrick Carroll, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University at Lima.

“We have a brilliant ability to spin, deflect or outright dismiss undesired evidence that we can’t do something,” Carroll said. “We try to find reasons to believe.”

Carroll said he sees the relevance of this research nearly every day, as students seek his input about career plans or the possibility of graduate school. Sometimes these students have not gotten good enough grades or shown the work ethic they would need to succeed at higher levels, he said.

Still, Carroll said he doesn’t often use what he knows to bring these students back to reality.

“I’m very cautious about using what I know with students,” he said. “You’re dealing with people’s dreams and hopes, and with that awareness comes great responsibility.

“The dreams of who you could become are a very important part of how you define yourself, yet they are very vulnerable given that they exist only in our mind’s eye as the best possible guesses from current evidence of what we could become in the future,” he said. “We need to learn more about how those career dreams are constructed and revised.”