Why a Rejection? Causal Attribution of a Career Achievement Event

Presidential Address on: Causal Attribution in Sociocultural Context: Toward a Self-presentational Theory of Attribution Processes

“…In support of this interpretation, Tetlock found that audience evaluations were lowest when a teacher offered an egotistical account. By contrast, a related occupational group-scholars-have been found to exhibit egotistical patterns of attribution (Wiley, Crittenden, and Birg 1979). Studying the reactions of professional peers to the attributional accounts of scholars, Crittenden and Wiley (1 985) found that egotistical attributions enhanced audience impressions of professional maturity and productivity, They concluded that we can expect an egotistical attributional pattern to contribute to public esteem in roles that stress competence and confidence over interpersonal skills (e.g., athlete, artist, performer, surgeon).…”

Women in Academia: Work‐Related Stressors

“…For example, Wiley, Crittenden, and Berg (1979) found women authors more often attributed their manuscript's rejection to defects in their research and writing, whereas men were more likely to attribute their rejection to external factors including reviewer bias. Male authors were found to resubmit manuscripts more promptly than female authors, who tended to wait longer or not resubmit.…”

Attribution Processes and Stages of Adult Life Development Among Adult University Students1

“…This finding is consistent with other attribution theory research, which has found an egoistic bias toward internal attributions for socially desirable behavior (Snyder et al, 1978). It is interesting to note that a related group, scholars, have also been found to show a bias toward egoistic attributions (Wiley, Crittenden, & Birg, 1979). Adult students may be biased toward internal attributions because seeing their attendance at the university as internally motivated promotes a positive self-image and enhances their own self-esteem.…”