Stress Discussion

This is a discussion post for my Communication Theory Class. We had to research and then apply a theory or concept studied or each module.

This semester, I applied for a competitive internship that aligned with my long-term goals in the field of public relations. I spent countless hours revising my resume, editing my cover letter, and meticulously choosing writing samples that I believed to demonstrate skill. Honestly, I felt cautiously confident that I would at least move forward in the selection process. A couple of weeks ago, I received a notification saying I was not selected. I was rejected. My initial reaction to this particular notification was extreme disappointment, but the deeper stress emerged in the hours that followed. I began to interpret the rejection as evidence that I was not good enough. Rather than thinking about the number of applicants or limited openings at the company, I focused on what the outcome suggested about me. I felt waves of embarrassment for believing and thinking I had a strong chance. I found myself constantly comparing my progress to that of my peers who were posting about their own internship offers. For several days, I avoided looking at other opportunities because I assumed the same result would simply recur. My stress was not just about losing one opportunity; it was about what I believed that rejection revealed about my ability and my future.   

This experience can be analyzed through Attribution Theory. This theory explains that individuals interpret outcomes by assigning causes, and Bernard Weiner’s extension of this theory to achieve motivation specifies that these causes can be understood along three dimensions. These three dimensions are locus of control, stability, and controllability. After receiving the rejection of my internship, I interpreted the outcome as something caused by my own deficiency, something likely to persist over the course of time, and something out of my ability to change. Essentially, I viewed the rejection as internal, stable, and largely uncontrollable. These causal dimensions are powerful because they shape emotional expectations and responses for the future. Weiner discusses that when failure is attributed to an internal and stable cause, individuals anticipate repeated failure. This then intensifies stress. This pattern accurately describes my reaction since I believed that the rejection reflected a fixed limitation in my ability. I then began expecting similar results for future internship and job applications. This type of attribution produced a sense of shame rather than guilt. As Weiner explains, “It also has been documented that shame-related emotions give rise to withdrawal and motivational inhibition, whereas guilt-related emotions promote approach behavior, retribution, and motivational activation” (Weiner, 1985, p. 563). This important distinction clarifies why my response was avoidance rather than renewed effort. My interpretation led to motivational inhibition. I withdrew from applying to other internships, and I hesitated to pursue other opportunities. The stress I experienced was not only disappointment, but it was a result of the meaning that I assigned to the rejection. Attribution Theory demonstrates that it was my causal interpretation rather than the rejection itself that shaped my behavior and intensified my stress. 

Reference

Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92(4), 548–573. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.92.4.548