ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the optimal functioning in venues of living such as working and learning. It also focuses on the importance for both theory and practice of using interests, self-efficacy, and personality in combined and multivariate ways. An individual's distinctive personality, the circumstances of his or her life, and the decisions he or she makes are all inextricably interwoven, mutually and reciprocally impacting one another. Individuality is the distinctiveness of the individual person on the many dimensions relevant to life satisfaction and success. Such life outcomes are more likely when the distinctiveness of the person is well matched to an environmental niche. Three major domains of individuality that counseling psychology has emphasized are interests, self-efficacy, and personality. Self-efficacy has proven to be an important element in the understanding of optimal human functioning, because of its capacity to predict whether an individual will attempt a task, how much effort will be exerted.
