At work, and especially when you are new you are at the mercy of others in several ways to an extent that usually eclipses almost anything we expose ourselves t

At work, and especially when you are new you are at the mercy of others in several ways to an extent that usually eclipses almost anything we expose ourselves to in our lives. Reviewing can thus be experienced as opening up yourself to critique by essentially anonymous "kingmakers", which at any time can make you look like a clown, if they want to. This experience might not be rational, but I believe it's still extremely common, as an experience. It's made worse by the fact, that if the review culture is anything else but great, it's not at all unlikely to try and take advantage of that - in one of many ways - in order to feel a bit better about themselves. At our core most of us are social creatures, and thus most of us easily pick up on that danger/risk, including most that are otherwise not socially adept, as they have usually suffered bullying of some kind and have learned to avoid those exposed situations.