A Social Psychologist, Guided by Attribution Theory, Explores the Components and Structure of Some Myths

Abstract

Two prevalent motivation domains, help giving and achievement striving, portrayed respectively in The Cinderella Myth and The Little Engine Who Could, have been central to the experimental testing of attribution theory. In this article, I explore the relation between these myths and attribution theory and suggest that they provide speculative evidence for the universality of that conception. Specifically, The Cinderella Myth depicts the hypothesized relation between uncontrollable causality (an orphan with an evil family) and help giving, while The Litle Engine Who Could captures the relation between controllable causality (effort) and achievement striving. In addition, the emotions of sympathy and anger are proposed as mediators between attribution and action.