| Abstract: | Career decision have a great significance for undergraduates’ career development. Nowadays, Psychological distance as an important effect factors of the individual decisions, also affect undergraduates’ career decision-making preferences. Nowadays,the psychological distance is mainly characterized by the four dimensions, spatial distance, temporal distance, social distance and probability distance ?respectively, this research use spatial distance, temporal distance, social distance and probability distance as independent variable respectively,career decision-making preferences as the dependent variable. This study using 2 (psychological distance: distant and near) * 2 (gender: male and female) mixed experimental design,the undergraduates as subjects,four experiment was carried out respectively, exploring the effects of psychological distance and gender on undergraduates’ career decision-making preferences.The psychological distance use participants in design,choosing 128, 147, 100, 104 undergraduates in the spatial distance, temporal distance, social distance and probability distance scenarios respectively,in four scenarios under two different level(distant and near) ,asking participants to make career decision judgment , the experimental results is as follows:(1) In the undergraduates' career decision-making preferences, the main effect of spatial distance (F(1,126)=26.894,p<0.001,η2=0.176),temporal distance (F(1,145)=20.361，p<0.001，η2=0.123), social distance (F(1,98)=4.309,p<0.05,η2=0.042) and probability distance (F(1,102)=4.421,p<0.05,η2=0.042) is remarkable.In the psychological distance scenarios under two different level(distant and near), participants prefer to choose the career of stability, high occupational prestige under the distant spatial distance (M=3.58,SD=1.52), distant temporal distance (M=3.69,SD=1.48), distant social distance (M=3.62,SD=1.50) and low probability distance (M=3.52,SD=1.42) condition;participants prefer to choose the career of high salaries, Professional counterparts under the the near spatial distance (M=2.97,SD=1.41), near temporal distance (M=3.16,SD=1.34), near social distance (M=3.25,SD=1.31) and high probability distance (M=3.21,SD=1.37)condition.(2) In the undergraduates' career decision-making preferences,the interaction of psychological distance and gender is remarkable under two different spatial distance (F(1,126)=7.798,p <0.01,η2=0.058) and temporal distance (F(1,145)=3.967，p<0.05，η2=0.027) condition(distant and near);the main effect of gender (F(1,98)=4.147,p<0.05,η2=0.041)is remarkable under two different social distance condition(distant and near).Boys prefer to choose the career of high salaries, Professional counterparts than girls under the near spatial distance, temporal distance , social distance condition; there is no significant difference between boys and girls undergraduates' career decision-making preferences under the distant spatially distance, temporal distance , social distance condition. In this study, four consecutive experiments were conducted by manipulating psychological distance in two occupational situations.The experimental conclusion is as follows:(1)Psychological distance influences career decision preference.College students prefer to choose the career of stability, high occupational prestige under the distant psychological distance, and prefer to choose career with high salary and professional counterpart in the situation of near psychological distance.(2)Gender influences career decision preference .In the context of near spatial distance,near temporal distance and near social distance, male college students prefer choose career with higher salary and professional counterparts to female college students.The innovation of this study lies in the background of career decision-making, fully discussed the influence of psychological distance (spatial distance, time distance, social distance, probability distance) on career decision preference, and add gender variables that affect career decision-making under the background of Chinese traditional culture. To explore how psychological distance and gender influence career decision preference together. Concurrently the study using materials is a self-designed questionnaire based on previous studies and social survey, therefore, it is more suitable for research purposes. |
