"In short, some young people think that science is a good career for the same reason that they think being a musician or actor is a good career: "I can't decide if I want to be a scientist like James Watson, a musician like Britney Spears, or an actor like Harrison Ford."[0]
>choose to pursue things based on limited information.
I've pondered over this for a while and one workaround I've found is to: rather than ask people "what do you want to be when you grow up?", ask people " where do you want to be when you grow up?". The former question almost always returns a wish/pursue based on limited information and idealization. The latter often gives bland or blank answers, but can be answered from your current (less) limited information about your own preferences, rather than your own wish and idealization of others/other things
>choose to pursue things based on limited information.
I've pondered over this for a while and one workaround I've found is to: rather than ask people "what do you want to be when you grow up?", ask people " where do you want to be when you grow up?". The former question almost always returns a wish/pursue based on limited information and idealization. The latter often gives bland or blank answers, but can be answered from your current (less) limited information about your own preferences, rather than your own wish and idealization of others/other things
[0] http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science