Decalage, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

(Horizontal) Decalage

The concept of horizontal decalage, drawn from the developmental psychological theory of Jean Piaget, refers to an individual's tendency to rely most heavily on the most developed abilities (at a given stage of development) to scaffold or support the development of other, less well-developed ones. Individuals do not only use a particular skill as the basis for more and more skills in that single area, leading toward focused expertise. People can also, through decalage, become generalists, although perhaps retaining a "profile" of abilities dominated by a leading area. Jepsen (1990) discusses the concept in reference to developmental career counseling. The concept is similar to that of developing one's shadow in Jungian psychology, at which point an individual stops focusing exclusively on building competencies associated with the dominant traits associated with the primary personality configuration and begins to develop traits associated with the complementary personality configuration.

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