L23 - Choosing Career Paths: Can We Distinguish Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, & Ravenclaw?

Question 1

Sheldon and Kreiger’s description of the life of a lawyer

Answer 1

Depression
Anxiety
Substance Abuse
Career dissatisfaction

is the training environemnt of law school responsible?
what aspects of law education play a negative role?

Question 2

What is Krieger’s Hypotheses?

Answer 2

“What we’re not telling law students - and lawyers - that they really ought to know: some thought toward revitalizing the profession from its roots” 1998

“the hidden sources of law school stress: avoiding the mistakes that create unhappy and unprofessional lawyers” 2005

“intense pressure and competitive success norms reorient students away from positive personal interests and values and towards rewards and more image based values, leading to a loss of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and well-being”

Question 3

What is law school like?

Answer 3

Competition, rank, status
- for academic superiority
- for placements

excessively abstract, analytical teaching

teaching practices are isolative and intimidating

Question 4

A research design to examine the motivational effects of law school

Answer 4

follow over 600 students at two large law schools from early on intheir first year through until graduation

one school is top-rated and reputed to be intensely competitive (Slytherin) whereas the other is moderately rated and reputed to be more student-centered (Hufflepuff)

assess a host of motivational, academic, and well-being otucomes over the 3-year period

Question 5

Self-Determination Theory Constructs

Answer 5

Life goals:
- intrinsic vs. extrinsic aspirations

Motivational for Law School goals
- intrinsic, identified, introjected, extrinsic

Need satisfaction
- autonomy, competence, and relatedness
– “I felt my choices were based on my true interests and values”
– “I feel capable in what I did”
– “I felt close and connected to other people who are important to me”

Perception of Autonomy Support
- “Most instructors provide me with choices and options”
- “Feel able to share my feelings with most of my teachers”
- “Generally listen to how I would like to do things”

Question 6

Outcomes

Answer 6

GPA

Career choices
- high $ and prestige - coporate, tort, medical malpractice
- high idealism - legal services to poor, public defender

Licensing exam

Well-being
- positive and negative affect
- life satisfaction

Question 7

Are law students different from other students to begin with?

on well-being and on aspirations?

Answer 7

yes
they have higher well-being AND higher life goals than others

Question 8

How does well-being, life values, motivation, and need satisfaction change in law school?

does the well-being change persist over year2 and 3?

Answer 8

SLIDE 13

their levels in these concepts lower

Question 9

Do the changes in motivational variable mediate the drop in well-being? Do these varaibels relate to GPA? Does GPA relate to career choices?

Answer 9

correlations with decrease in well-being

decrease in intrinsic values, r = .17
decrease in autonomous motivation, r = .19
decrease in need satisfaction, r = .21

Question 10

Does the motivational climate of the law school affect well-being?

Answer 10

School differences were mediated by perceived autonomy support and need satisfaction

control for LSAT’s and college GPA

Question 11

But is it possible that Slytherin students learn more and shine in the future?

Answer 11

mutli-state Bar exam
- Hufflepuff has a higher % of passes

Question 12

Are the high prestige lawyers happier in the future?

Answer 12

level of job satisfaction

do you want your children to go into this profession?
- “I feel like I am working in a nicely decorated sweatshop”

Question 13

How school climate impacts

Answer 13

Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin
-> perceived autonomy support
- enhanced autonomy satisfaction
– greater self-determined career motivation
– better SWB
– higher graded achievement
- enhanced relatedness satisfaction
– greater self-determined career motivation
– better SWB
– higher graded achievement
- enhanced competence satisfaction
– greater self-determined career motivation
– better SWB
– higher graded achievement

Question 14

But what do you do if you only get into Slytherin?

Answer 14

Chapter 13 of Deci’s book: Being Autonomous Amidst Controls:
- Causality orientation:
- promoting one’s own development
– finding support; managing your manager (Professor Snape example)
- managing one’s own experiences
– emotion regulation - awareness + flexibility
– behavior regulation – feedback and flexibility (My Prof Dumbledore example)
– The Happy Lawyer

Question 15

Happiness and Lawyers

Answer 15

lawyers with lowest pay report more happiness

the factors most frequently associated with success in the legal field, such as high income or a partner-track job at a prestigious firm, had almost zero correlation with happiness and well-being
- lawyers in public-service jobs who made the least money, like public defenders or Legal Aid attorneys, were most likely to report being happy

Question 16

Prevention Programs

Answer 16

in 2012: a voluntary program at George Washington University that aims to help law students make better decisions about what kind of law - if any - they want to practice
- students in the program meet with practicing lawyers to learn about their day-to-day lives
- the program also has a metnal health component, providing techniques for handling stress and remaining positive

“We’re helping students figure out why they’re in law school and where they want to be. So instead of just working to get the best possible grades so they can send out 500 resumes in their third year and hope that some law firm hires them, they are learning about themselves and why one part of the law”