Individualism, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Individualism

In psychology, an emphasis on psychological aspects of the individual, such as a person's personal goals, preferences and interests, and thoughts. Such a focus on individual-level constructs may be contrasted with a focus on interpersonal or group constructs, such as the qualities of relationships, collective behavior, and in general the subject matter of social psychology.

One may further distinguish psychological from philosophical individualism. The latter presupposes that the concerns of the individual outweigh the claims of the collective, and that the moral requirements to develop the individual's gifts and potentials ought to be the priority when a conflict exists with the possible need-based claims of others.

Typically, advocates of the importance of self-determination and individual career advancement in career development and career counseling argue for tilting the balance in the direction of philosophical individualism. Such a philosophy may advocate against such social practices as affirmative action, for example. According to Peterson and Gonzales (2005), such an individualistic perspective is strongly influenced by culture, which may also be a way of saying that it is philsophical in nature.

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