ABSTRACT
As a developmental psychologist who studies the influence of family experiences on socialization, it is somewhat embarrassing to approach the task of describing the factors that shaped my career development by skipping over the family influences. I see my career as shaped more by what Bandura (1982) has called "chance encounters" and "fortuitous events" and by influences at the societal level—particularly the prejudices of the times. Most of the important events that shaped my career were unplanned situations, and I chose the path of least resistance.
