FEAR OF SUCCESS:
The distribution, correlates, reliability and
consequences for fertility.of fear of success
among respondents iq a metropolitan survey
population
Kri8tin.A: Moore
The Univerei-ty:o£ Michigan
August
CRSO Working Paper /I111
19.74
.Copies'available through:
Center for Research on
Social Organization
The University of Michigan
330 Packard a214
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
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FEAR OF SUCCESS: The distribution, correlates, reliability
and consenuences for fertility of fear of
success among respondents in e metropolitan
survey population
Kristin A. Moore
Sociology Department
University of Michigan
August 1974
Paper presented at the 82nd Annual Meetings of the American
Psychological Association, August 31, 1974 in New Orleane.
;
Invaluable support is acknowledged from the NIMH Training
Program in Quantitative Reaearch on Social Organization,
. the University of Michigan Detroit Area Study,.theHorace
Rackham School of Graduate Studies also of the University
'of Michigan, and the Center for Research on Social Organization. .
In an effort to understand the complicated and often contradictory results of achievement research done with female subjects, Horner
has forwarded the concept of a motive to avoid success (Horner, 1968).
She contends that women are often conflicted in their achievement striving
because of a tendency to avoid success. Homer argues this is because
women's achievement strivings are cqnfounded with their affiliative desires:
"It may be that females are in fact more anxious than males in testing or
achieve--oriented
situations because for them not only are there negative
consequences,and hence anxiety, associated with failure, but also with
success and the implications of success in competitive achievement situations"
r
(Horner, 1968: 15-16).
Horner has supported her hypothesis with
data gathered for her dissertation:
of ninety female college students
presented with a written thematic apperception (TAT) cue describing a highachieving coed named Anne, two-thirds gave stories indicating affiliative
loss, unhappiness, or other negative outcome for "Anne."
The women telling
these "fear of success" stories subsequently tended to have impaired performance in a laboratory compe+itive situation. Hoffman's careful replication of Horner's procedure found no decline in fear of success imagergamong
the same student population six years later (Hoffman, 1973).
Despite the importance of the issue of the achievement orientations of women, the generalizahility of the work on fear of success to the
non-college population has received only sporadic and nonsystematic attention.
The current study was designed to extend disdussion of fear of success beyond
the college population, using Horner's original coding scheme to examine the
thematic imagery of TAT stories told by a cross-section of the public during
a eurvey interview.
Data collection has taken place in two dtstinct stages. In the
firststage,carried out in 1973, a large'survey sample of the residents of
the Detroit metropolitan area were interviewed. As part of the questionnaire,
respondents were administered a single TAT cue about a high-achieving college
student. In Stage Two, carried out this year, white married females aged 18-
55 from the first sample were re-interviewed. Three TAT cues about highachieving women were administered and extensive opinion and background
data were gathered. Most of the data presented here are based on the
Stage One interview, since the Stage Two data are not yet ready for
analysis.
STAGE ONE
As part of a large attitude survey conducted by the Detroit Area
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0
..
study during the summer of 1973, 576 persons were presented with a TAT cue
about a high-achieving college student. Respondents were chosen in amultistage probability sample to represent the economic, racial and geographic
communities of the greater Detroit metropolitan area. During the interview,
raspondents told stories to one of two cues, either "Anne has just graduated
at the top of her college class" or "John has just graduated at the top of
his college class."
Two-thirds of all respondents, xiales and females, were
randomly assigned the Anne cue, while the other one-third were assigned the
John version. The setting of the successful achievement was switched from
"med school" as Horner had it to simply 'lcollege"to.bring the etory situation more within the realm of reality for the non-academic survey respondent.
Use of Horner's non-pictoral type of cue, however, was retained; this style
is considered especially appropriate for a survey because it does not indicate the race or social status of Anne or John,
I
Since in an interview setting, respondents tell their stories
:
orally to an interviewer who records them, there exist many opportunities
for bias to enter the procedure.
Interviewers were carefully trained to
avoid biasing the stories: J ) no spontaneous probing or other remarks on the
part of the interviewer were allowed; 2) a standard set of instructions
was read verbatim to each respondent; interviewers were allowed to probe
only by repeating the question or repeating "Any kind of story is OK or
11
There are no right or wrong answers; and 3) all comments of both respon-
dent and Znterviewer were recorded verbatim. The desire to ensure a standard,
neutral atmosphere for collecting TATS conflicted with a corresponding need
t o train interviewers to be as warm and encouraging as possible in order to
assist respondents of all backgrounds in the novel task of telling a story to
r
a one-sentence cue.
Interviewers were encouraged to be accepting in their
manner, however, avoiding bias was the over-riding concern. Despite the
necessary rigidity, the stories gathered are very rich, their mean length
being twice that of TAT stories gathered in a previous survey (Veroff, et.al.,
1960), and only nineteen respondents were unable to come up with a codeable
story.
Coding. Once gathered, the stories were typed out so that coding
would be blind, that is, not affected by knowledge of the sex, age, race or
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any other information about the re-sponfientrecorded in the interview. All
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stories were coded by the author and a disinterested male coder. The
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author was trained.in Horner's coding system by Dr. Lois Hoffman, who was
herself exhaustively trained by.Horner;all ambiguous stories were referred
to Hoffman.
Coding was carried out according to the'presentlabsent scheme
originated by Homer.
That is, if any motive to avoid success theme appeared
in the story, the story was coded for fear of success.
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RESULTS:
STAGE ONE DATA.
Previous work (Weston and'Hednick, 1972), has suggestacj:.thqt r a c e of
respondent i s l i k e l y t o a f f e c t m o t i v a t i o n t o avoid. succass.
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Table,=Ope
'shows t h a t b l a c k s were l e s s l i k e l y t o r e 1 1 f e a r Bf sricceaa s t d r i e # , t h a p
.
This r e l a t i o n h o l d s i r r e s p e c t i v e of t h i $tqpondent'u -om-gender
whit.es.
o r t h e gender of t h e s t o r y v e r s i o n .
I t i s of i n t e r e s t that t h e h i g h e s t
p e r c e n t of f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s (50%)-was e l i c i t e d from white males
speaking of " ~ n n e , " while t h e lowest p e r c e n t (23%) was produced by
b l a c k females speaking of "John."
.
These d a t a , u n l i k e o t h e r r e s e a r c h
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d a t a , do not support t h e n o t i o n t h a t b l a c k males, rather t h a n females,
f e a r success'.
While t h e - sample s i z e i s very &all f o r b l a c k males; t h e
. p e r c e n t of f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s i s v i r t u a l 1 y : t h e same f o r b l a c k
.
..
. ..
,females speakitlg of Anne a s f o r b l a c k males speaking of John..
.
On t h e
o t h e r hand, w h i t e females a r e more l i k e l y . to. t e l l f e a r of eucccss s t o r l e e
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f o r John than f o r Anne; and w h i t e males. correspondingly t e l l more f e a r
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of iuc'cess s t o r i e s f o r Anne than f o r John..
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Tables Two and Three break down t h e ' d a t a i n Table b e by t h e l e v e l
of e d u c a t i o n a l a t t a i n m e n t of t h e respondent f o r w h i t e r and b l a c k s ,
'respectively.
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. .
.. .
Table Two shows a s t e a d y i n c r e a s e l n f e a r of s u c c e s s
imagery a s . education i n c r e a s e s among w h i t e mles speaking of Anne,
.whereas a s l i g h t d e c l i n e appears among w h i t e males who received t h e
.
. John cue.
White f e m l l e s speaking of Anne were most l i k e l y t o t e l l f e a r
of s u c c e s s ' s t o r i e s when they t h e q e l v e s were extremely well-educated.
...
..
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.
I t ' m a y a l s o be .noted t h a t t h e percentages who , f e a r succese a r e very
s i d i l a r f o r white males speaking of John and white ismalea speaking o f
Anne.
Only among respondents educated i n g r a d u a t e s c h o o l l s c t h e r e a'
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l a r g e d"iscrepancy.
I n T a b l e Three,. t h e r e is a n o v e r a l l tendency among .
b l a c k s f o r f e a r of s u c c e s s t o bci more common among t h e b e t t e r - e d u c a t e d ,
w i t h 47% of t h o s e r e s p o n d e n t s educated beyond h i g h s c h o o l t e l l i n g f e a r
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o f s u c c e s s s t o r i e s compared t o 25% of t h o s e w i t h l e s s e d u c a t i o n .
T a b l e s Four and F i v e r e p o r t i n g r e s p o n d e n t ' s o c c u p a t i o n c o n t i n u e
t h i s general p a t t e r n .
B l a c k s , shown i n ' T a b l e F i v e , a r e ' more - l i k e l y t o
t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s i f they a r e s k i l l e d o r w h i t e c o l l a r workers
t h a n i f they a r e b l u e c o l l a r workers, by 46% t o 26% o v e r a l l .
And, a s
shown i n T a b l e Four, w h i t e males i n p r o f e s s i o n a l o c c u p a t i o n s a r e more
l i k e l y t o t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s about Anne b u t l e s s l i k e l y t o
t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s about John.
Also p a r a l l e l i n g t h e r e s u l t s
concerning e d u c a t i o n , w h i t e females i n p r o f e s s i o n a l o c c u p a t i o n s a r e
c o n s i d e r a b l y more l i k e l y t o t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s a b o u t Anne
t h a n e i t h e r homemakers o r women i n lower s t a t u s j o b s .
Finally, white
females a r e more l i k e l y t o t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s about J o h n i f
they a r e homemakers o r lower s t a t u s workers.
T a b l e s S i x and Seven d e t a i l t h e i n c i d e n c e of f e a r of s u c c e s s
imagery c o n t r o l l i n g f o r t h e a g e of t h e respondent, i n d i c a t i n g a g e n e r a l
p a t t e r n i n which younger p e o p l e a r e more l i k e l y t o e v i d e n c e f e a r of
s u c c e s s t h a n o l d e r people.
O v e r a l l , t h e n , r e s p o n d e n t s who a r e young,
well-educa t e d and employed i n p r o f e s s i o n a l o c c u p a t i o n s t e n d most of t e n
t o i n d i c a t e a f e a r o f s u c c e s s i n t h e i r s t o r i e s about Anne, a f i n d i n g
which h o l d s o v e r a l l f o r b l a c k s and w h i t e s , a l t h o u g h t h e i n c i d e n c e of
f e a r of s u c c e s s i s g e n e r a l l y lower' f o r b l a c k s .
This suggests t h a t the
i n c i d e n c e of f e .a .r of s u c c e s s among women i n t h i s s o c i e t y i s p r o b a b l y
.
9 .
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exaggerated somewhat, s i n c e most s t u d i e s have a s s u b j e c t s t h o s e p e o p l e
most l i k e l y t o e v i d e n c e f e a r of s u c c e s s .
Fear of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s a b o u t
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,
,
,
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John, on rhe o t h e r hand, a r e t o l h more by t h o s e males w i t h l e k s e d u c a t i o n
and lower s t a t u s j o b s , though they a r e a l s o t o l d by t h e young..male.
Black females r a r e l y t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s about a s u c c e s s f u l
John f i g u r e , b u t w h i t e females t e n d more t o : t e l l t h e s e s t o r i e s i f t h e y
a r e well-educated,
young and e i t h e r s t a y i n g home o r working a t low
s t a t u s jobs--wo&en
who a r e p o s s i b l y under-employed.
I n ~ o r n e r ' so r i g i n a l s t u d y , s h e f o u n d ' g o t i v e t o : a v o i d s u c c e s e
p o s i t i v e l y a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e s t a t u s of t h e f a t h e r ' s o c c u p a t i o n . , A s
Table E i g h t i n d i c a t e s , w h i t e females i n t h i s sample a r e a l s o more l i k e l y
t o fear s u c c e s s d f t h e i r fathers a r e professionals, but a l s o i f t h e i r ,
f a t h e r s were s k i l l e d workers.
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The employment s tatU8 of t h e respondent 'a
mother makes no . d i f f e r e n c e i n t h e s e d a t a , which I s s u r p r i s i n g .
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.
More
d e t a i l e d i n f o r m a t i o n on mother 's o c c u p a t i o n h a s s i n c e been g a t h e r e d , s o
t h i s v a r i a b l e can b e analyzed with g r e a t e r s u b t l e t y .
The remaining t a b l e s p r e s e n t d a t a f o r women o n l y and f o r o n l y
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t h o s e women who r e c e i v e d t h e Anne cue and can t h e r e f o r e b e p r o p e r l y
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,
argued t o b e p r o j e c t i n g r a t h e r than simply t e l l i n g a s t o r y a b o u t a male
named John.
. .
I n some of t h e s e t a b l e s , f e a r of s u c c e s s w i l l b e t e n t a t i v e l y
coneidered a s a p r e d i c t o r v a r i a b l e .
.
.
The f i r s t of t h e s e , Table Nine, i n d i c a t e s t h a t women w i t h f e a r of
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succeee, b o t h b l a c k and w h i t e , a r e l e s s l i k e l y t o s a y they. would work i f
they d i d n l . t need t h e money. [The e e v e r a l s e x - r o l e i d e o l o g y i t e m s t h a t
were i n c l ~ d ~i dn .. t h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e were not c d r r e l a t e d w i t h f e a r . o f . s u c c e e e
. ..
. ..
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per s e [ s e e T a b l e s 1 8 and 191, a f i n d i n g which r e p l i c a t e s P e p l a u ' e work
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.
(Peplau, 1973) .I A s l i g h t tendency was found f o r f e a r of s u c c c s e t o be
morg pronounced among women r e l a t i v e l y a c t i v e i n formal o r g a n i e a t i o n e and
.
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a i e o among second-born women.
And, a s Table Ten shows, women who e r e
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c u r r e n t l y m a r r i e d , o r who have never been m a r r i e d a r e l e s s l i k e l y t o
f e a r s u c c e s s t h a n women whose m a r r i a g e s have been i n t e r r u p t e d by
divorce, death o r separation.
The e f f e c t of m a r i t a l s t a t u s i s a l s o s e e n i n Table Eleven.
Respondents were asked:
" I f you e a r n e d more money than your husband,
how l i k e l y i s i t t h a t t h i s would damage your r e l a t i o n s h i p - - v e r y
.
likely,
.
The r e s p o n s e s of m a r r i e d women
somewhat l i k e l y . o r n o t a t a 1 1 l i k e l y ? "
were r e l a t e d t o f e a r of s u c c e s s i n a d i r e c t i o n o p p o s i t e t o t h e p r e d i c t e d
d i r e c t i o n , whereas among non-married women, t h e response t o t h i s q u e s t i o n
is i n l i n e with the prediction.
Perhaps t h i s q u e s t i o n i s u n r e a l i s t i c
o r r i d i c u l o u s t o m a r r i e d women.. Perhaps, on t h e o t h e r hand, t h e r e a l i t y
of t h e i r f e a r i s b e t t e r tapped by a p r o j e c t i v e measure t h a n a d i r e c t
question.
For s i n g l e somen t h e d i r e c t q u e s t i o n i s r e a l l y a p r o j e c t i v e
and s o might s e n s i b l y b e b e t t e r r e l a t e d t o a n o t h e r p r o j e c t i v e measure.
T a b l e s Twelve and T h i r t e e n a l s o e x p l o r e t h e m a r i t a l i n t e r a c t i o n s
a s s o c i a t e d w i t h f e a r of s u c c e s s .
I n Table Twelve, a n o n - s i g n i f i c a n t
tendency can b e n o t e d such t h a t more women f e a r s u c c e s s when t h e i r
.1
e d u c a t i o n a l a t t a i n m e n t e q u a l s o r exceeds t h a t of t h e i r husbands, compared
' w i t h women who a r e l e s s well-educated
t h a n t h e i r husbands.
A stronger
r e l a t i o n s h i p is found when comparing t h e money e a r n i n g s of t h e w i f e
I n Table T h i r t e e n , i t can b e
r e l a t i v e t o h e r f a m i l y ' s t o t a l income.
s e e n t h a t when t h e w i f e e a r n s no money, 27% of t h e wives t e l l f e a r of
success s t o r i e s .
When s h e e a r n s a t e n t h t o urider s i x - t e n t h s of f a m i l y
income, 42% t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s .
.
.
When s h e e a r n s s i x - t e n t h s o r
.
more of t h e f a m i l y income, t h e n 61% t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s .
The n e x t s e v e r a l t a b l e s concern t h e consequences f o r f e r t i l i t y of
having a £.ear of s u c c e s s .
I t was o r i g i n a l l y hypothesized t h a t , women who
f e a r s u c c e s s would have more c h i l d r e n t h a n women who do n o t f e a r success.,
b e c a ~ s e ~ p r e g n a n cwould
y
be a r e l a t i v e l y easy and a v a i l a b l e e s c a p e r o u t e
from a t h r e a t e n i n g c o m p e t i t i v e a r e n a .
Table Fourteen i n d i c a t e s t h a t
f e a r of s u c c e s s i s s i g n i f i c a n t l y and p o s i t i v e l y r e l a t e d t o l a r g e r f a m i l y
. .'.
.
.
s i z e s among w h i t e s , a r e l a t i o n s h i p which h o l d s when. income and r e l i g i o n
a r e c o n t r o l l e d a s shown i n T a b l e s S i x t e e n and Seventeen.'
. :.
. .
.
,
,
..
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Interestingly,
..
among b l a c k s f e a r of s u c c e s s i s c o r r e l a t e d w i t h s m a l l e r f a m i l i e s , a
.
1
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- r e l. a t.$ o n s h.' l p .which a l s o h o l d s when income i s c o n t r o l l e d and which h o l d s
among n o n - C a t h o l i c b l a c k s when r e l i g i o n i s c o n t r o l l e d .
T h i s s i g n i f i c a n t i n t e r a c t i o n was unexpected and t h e e x p l a n a t i o n s
f o r i t a r e a t t h i s point highly speculative..
.may b e t h a t b l a c k males--not
One c o n j e c t u r e i s t h a t i t
b e i n g a s t h r e a t e n e d by female s u c c e s s a s
w h i t e males, i f we a c c e p t t h e d a t a p r e s e n t e d i n T a b l e One--do
not exert
t h e s u b t l e p r e s s u r e s t o withdraw from t h e c o m p e t i t i v e a r e n a on t h e i r
.;
wives, t h a t w h i t e males may e x e r t .
White c o u p l e s , w i t h t h e i r g e n e r a l l y
l a r g e r incomes, can a l s o b e t t e r a f f o r d t o a l l o w a p r e g n a n t w i f e t o leave
employment t h a n b l a c k c o u p l e s can, making pregnancy a more e f f e c t i v e
way t o e s c a p e c o m p e t i t i o n f o r w h i t e t h a n f o r b l a c k women.
F i n a l l y , p u r s u i n g P e p l a u l s f i n d i n g t h a t f e a r of s u c c e s s a f f e c t e d
c o m p e t i t i v e b e h a v i o r o n l y among women w i t h t r a d i t i o n a l s e x - r o l e a t t i t u d e s ,
,(Pepiau, 1973) t h e j o i n t e f f e c t of motive t o a v o i d s u c c e s s and t r a d i t i o n a l s e x - r o l e a t t i t u d e s was a s s e s s e d .
Tables E i g h t e e n and Nineteen
show s u p p o r t f0.r h e r f i n d i n g t h a t w h i t e women who b o t h f e a r s u c c e s s and
h o l d traditional a t t i t u d e s a r e d i f f e r e n t from o t h e r women.
I n t h i s case,
they have. s i g n i f i c a n t l y more c h i l d r e n t h a n do o t h e r women.
A n a l y s i s of t h e s e d a t a i s s t i l l proceeding, i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h
gssessment of t h e much more d e t a i l e d d a t a g a t h e r e d on w h i t e , m a r r i e d
f e m a l e s - d u r i n g t h e S t a g e Two i n t e r v i e w i n g .
STAGE TWO
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'
I
I n t h i s s t a g e , a subsample of t h e o r i g i n a l sample h a s been rei n t e r v i e w e d t o a s s e s s t h e r e l i a b i l i t y of t h e TAT measure and t o g a t h e r
.
more e x t e n s i v e d a t a on t h e b a ~ k g r o u n d ~ i d e o l o g yand
,
l i f e s t y l e of t h e
respondent.
Respondents i n S t a g e Two c o n s i s t of t h o s e
white married
f e m a l e s aged 18-55 from t h e f i r s t s t u d y who a s s e n t e d t o b e r e - i n t e r v i e w e d .
To i n c r e a s e t h e s i z e of t h e sample t o o v e r 140, wives of men i n t e r v i e w e d
i n t h e f i r s t s t u d y who f i t t h e c r i t e r i a a r e a l s o b e i n g i n c l u d e d i n t h e
sample.
s e v e r a l hypotheses r e g a r d i n g t h e e t i o l o g y of f e a r of s u c c e s s have
guided t h i s d a t a - g a t h e r i n g .
F i r s t , f e a r of s u c c e s s imagery might b e t h e
p r o d u c t of an e a r l y s o c i a l i z a t i o n i n which g i r l s were t a u g h t t o a v o i d
b e a t i n g males a t a l l b u t t r a d i t i o n a l l y f e m i n i n e t a s k s .
Second, i t might
b e a v e r y r a t i o n a l , r e a l i s t i c d e s c r i p t i o n on t h e p a r t of t h e s t o r y t e l l e r
of what happens t o f e m a l e s when they b e a t o u t males.
Third, s t o r i e s
f i l l e d w i t h unhappy, h o s t i l e , f r u s t r a t e d imagery may simply r e f l e c t t h e
d i s c o n t e n t e d , a g g r e s s i v e s t a t e of t h e s t o r y t e l l e r , i r r e s p e c t i v e of t h e
story cue.
And, f o u r t h , f e a r of s u c c e s s imagery might b e t h e p r o d u c t
of a well-developed
c o g n i t i v e capacity--the
t r u l y complex and two-sided.
a b i l i t y t o s e e t h e world a s
These f o u r h y p o t h e s i z e d "causes" of f e a r
7
:1
of s u c c e s s may a l l e x i s t , of c o u r s e , r e l a t i n g t o d i f f e r e n t segments o f
.
,
t h e p o p u l a t i o n and. t h e y a r e n o t m u t u a l l y e x c l u s i v e .
Another f o c u s of t h i s r e - i n t e r v i e w
e f f o r t i s examination of t h e
l i f e s t y l e consequences of having a tendency t o avoid s u c c e s s . T h i s
e n t i r e examination o f t h e motive t o a v o i d s u c c e s s a r o s e from an i n i t i a l
,
h y p o t h e s i s t h a t women who f e a r s u c c e s s would b e more l i k e l y t o
e x p e r i e n c e p r e g n a n c i e s . t h a t would s e r v e t o remove them from t h e competiI n g e n e r a l , i t i s h y p o t h e s i z e d t h a t b e i n g f e a r f u l of
t i v e arena.
t h e consequences of s u c c e s s w i l l l e a d t o s e v e r a 1 , p r e d i c t a b l e p a t t e r n s
of b e h a v i o r , f o r example, s e e k i n g low s t a t u s o r ' t r a d i t i o n a l employment,
q u i t t i n g work, b e i n g a c t i v e i n t r a d i t i o n a l forms of v o l u n t a r y o r g a n i z a t i o n s , a v o i d i n g p o s i t i o n s of l e a d e r s h i p , a s weld a s having planned
.
.
o r "accidental".pregnancies t h a t p e r m i t e s c a p e from t h r e a t e n i n g achievemen.t
contexts.
A s n o t e d , d a t a from S t a g e One i n d i c a t e s t h a t women who f e a r
s u c c e s s do indeed have more c h i l d r e n t h a n do women who do n o t f e a r
success.
A more d e t a i l e d examination of t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s s u r r o u n d i n g
t h e s e c o n c e p t i o n s i s now under way.
T a b l e Twenty r e p o r t s one e a r l y r e s u l t b a s e d on S t a g e Two d a t a .
I n t h i s t a b l e , t h e TAT s t o r y imagery from t h e S t a g e One i n t e r v i e w s i s
compared w i t h t h e s t o r y imagery from t h a t same cue i n S t a g e Two.
The
41 women a r e t h o s e women who r e c e i v e d t h e Anne s t o r y v e r s i o n i n S t a g e
One, who a r e w h i t e , m a r r i e d , aged 18 t o 56 and who were e v e n t u a l l y reinterviewed.
It c a n b e s e e n t h a t 73% of t h e 4 1 women t o l d t h e same
t y p e of s t o r y (one t h a t e i t h e r c o n t a i n e d o r d i d n o t . c o n t a i n f e a r of
s u c c e s s imagery) t h e second t i m e . t h e y were i n t e r v i e w e d t h a t they d i d
t h e f i r s t time.
SUMMARY
These d a t a from survey i n t e r v i e w s w i t h r e s p o n d e n t s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e
of t h e g e n e r a l p u b l i c c o n t r a s t i n s e v e r a l ways w i t h d a t a g a t h e r e d among
college students.
F i r s t , t h e p e r c e n t a g e s of r e s p o n d e n t s who t e l l f e a r
of s b c c e s s s t o r i e s a r e g e n e r a l l y lower among t h e non-college p o p u l a t i o n .
The groups t h a t have a h i g h i n c i d e n c e o f f e a r of s u c c e s s a r e t h o s e most
,.
.'.
s i m i l a r t o c o l l e g e s t u d e n t s : young, weir-educated,
occupations.
with high s t a t u s
Other f i n d i n g s of r e s e a r c h e r s s t u d y i n g c o l l e g e s t u d e n t s
a r e corroborated.
For example, b l a c k s a r e found t o b e s i g n i f i c a n t l y
l e s s ' l i k e l y t'o t e l l f e a r . of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s t h a n w h i t e s .
In addition,
r e c e n t f i n d i n g s t h a t males t e l l f e a r of s u c c e s s s t o r i e s i o a male c u e
a b o u t a s o f t e n a s females do t o a female cue a r e s u p p o r t e d .
And t h e
l a b o r a t o r y r e s u l t t h a t women who b o t h f e a r s u c c e s s and h o l d t r a d i t i o n a l
s e x - r o l e a t t i t u d e s a r e d i f f e r e n t from women n o t f e a r i n g s u c c e s s and
from t h o s e who may f e a r suc'cess b u t who a r e n o t t r a d i t i o n a l was upheld.
I n t h i s s t u d y women who b o t h f e a r s u c c e s s and who a r e t r a d i t i o n a l have
s i g n i f i c a n t l y l a r g e r f a m i l i e s t h a n women who e i t h e r do n o t f e a r s u c c e s s
o r who f e a r s u c c e s s b u t a r e n o t t r a d i t i o n a l .
Finally, a significant
main e f f e c t f o r f e r t i l i t y was h y p o t h e s i z e d and observed:
w h i t e women
who f e a r s u c c e s s have more c h i l d r e n t h a n w h i t e women who do n o t f e a r
s u c c e s s , even when r e l i g i o n and f a m i l y income a r e c o n t r o l l e d .
A sub-
sample o f t h e f i r s t p o p u l a t i o n was l a t e r r e - i n t e r v i e w e d and a more
d e t a i l e d a n a l y s i s of f e a r of s u c c e s s among t h e s e c u r r e n t l y - m a r r i e d
w h i t e f e m a l e s aged 1 8 t o 55 i s now under way.
Moore
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hoffman,T,ois. "Fear of Success in Males and Females: 1965 and 1971." '
Journal of.Consulting and.Clinica1 Psychology, Vol. 42,. No. 3 (1974),
353-58.
Horner, M a t i n ~ ."Toward.an Understanding of Achievement-Related Conflicts
in Women." The Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 28, No. 2 (1972), 157-75.
..
."
Horner, Matina. "F&ininity and Successful Achievement: a basic inconsistency
In Judith Bardwick, Ed., Feminine'Personality and Conflict. (Belmont,
Calif.: ~rooks/Cole, 1971), 45-74.
?
Horner, Matina. Sex Differences in Achievement Motivation and Performance in
Competitive and Non-Competitive Situations. Ph.D..Dissertation, Department
of Psychology, University of Michigan, 1968.'
:
Peplau, Letitia Ann. The Impact 05. Fear of Success, sex- ole Attitudes and
.
Opposite-Sex Relationships on women's Intellectual.Performance: an
experimental study of competition in dating couples. Ph.D. Dissertation,
Department of Psychology and Human Relations, Harvard University, 1973.
~ressemer,David. "Fear of Success: Popular but ~nproved." 1n.C. ~avrie,.
Ed., The Female Experience! (Del Mar, Calif.: CRM Books, 1973), 58-62.
Veroff, Joseph, John Atkinson, Shelia Feld and Gerald Gurin. "The Use of
Thematic Apperception to Assess Motivation in a.Nationwide Interview
Study." Psychological Monographs, Vol. 74, No. 12, Whole No. 499 (1960).
Weston, Peter and Martha Mednick. we ace, Social Class, and the Motive to Avoid
Success in,Women." In Judith Bardwick, Ed., Readings in the Psychology of
Women (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), 68-71.
:
FEAR OF SUCCESS: t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n , c o r r e l a t e s ,
r e l i a b i l i t y and consequences f o r f e r t i l i t y - o f
f e a r of s u c c e s s among r e s p o n d e n t s i n a m e t r o p o l i t a n
survey population
K r i s t i n A. Moore
Sociology Department
U n i v e r s i t y of Mich'igan
August 19 74.
Table One:
Per Cent of Respondents T e l l i n g S t o r i e s C o n t a i n i n g , F e a r of Succese
Imagery, by Sex,
and S t o r y Version
ace
White Respondents
ANNE
JOHN
VERSION
B l a c k Respondentq
Females
40%
(151)
Males
50%
(126)
Females
46%
(84)
23%
(30)
36%
(64)
30%
(10)
Males
Main e f f e c t f o r race:
,
'k
p
= 7.85
4
.01
Moore
Table Two:
P e r Cent of. White Respondents T e l l i n g . S t o r i e s Containing Fear of
Success Imagery, by Education, Sex of Respondent and S t o r y Version
- Anne
33% (30)
WM
Less t h a n
High School
WF - Anne
43% (42)
High School
:and V o c a t i o n a l
51% (41)
Some c o l l e g e
and c o l l e g e
grad
53% (40)
37% (35)
73% (15)
90% (10)
Graduate
school o r
.more
-
Table Three:
Greater than
High S c h o o l
N = 108
WF
-
77% (19)
33%
25%
(6)
.a.
y:
Y
=
2.56,
= 3.28,
(4)
NS
p<.10
'
- Anne
7% (14)
BF - Anne
19% (27)
BM
22%
John
(9)
(6)
48% (21)
100%
(1)
-
48
,
83%
20
NOTE :
WM - Anne means White Male Respondent,
WM
3.7% (18)
John
37% (19)
P e r Cent- of Black Respondents T e l l i n g S t o r i e s C o n t a i n i n g Fear
of Success Imagery, by E d u c a t i o n
BM
Less t h a n
High School
and High
School g r a d
-
WF
-
Anne v e r s i o n , Main e f f e c t f o r sex:
John v e r s i o n , Main e f f e c t f o r sex:
WF
'
-
- John
46% (11)
r e c e i v e d Anne v e r s i o n
Anne means White Female Respondent,
r e c e i v e d Anne v e r s i o n
John means White Male ~ & p o n d e n t ,
r e c e i v e d John v e r s i o n
John means White em ale Respondent,
r e c e i v e d John v e r s i o n
BM
BF
-
BF
.
BF - John
27% (22)
13%
10
- Anne
- Anne
- John
BM
-
(8) 47X
-
(36)
30
means Black Male Respondent,
r e c e i v e d Anne v e r s i o n
means Black Female Respondent,
r e c e i v e d Anne v e r s i o n
means Black Male Respondent,
r e c e i L e d John v e r s i o n
John means Black Female Respondent,
rec.eived John v e r s i o n
[Due t o s m a l l and uneven sample s i z e s among b l a c k s , ' s i g n i f i c a n c e t e s t s a r e
g e n e r a l l y reported only f o r whites.]
Moore
'
Per Cent of White ~ e ' s ~ o n d e n T
t se l l i n g S t o r i e s C o n t a i n i n g
Fear of Success Imagery, by Occupation
Table' Four:
Management;
~Professionalr
Technical
-
WM - Anne
58% (50)
WF
Anne
.69% (16)
.40% (53)
40%
WM - John
26% (23)
WF
-
20%
John
(10)
r
O t h e r . Employed
(45)
-MAIN EFFECT FOR OCCUPATION:
WM
WF
WM
- Anne
- Anne
- John
WF
John
-
Table Five:
P e r Cent of Black p e i p o n d e n t s T e l l i n g ~ k o r i e sC o n t a i n i n g
F e a r o f Success Imagery, by Occupation
25%
(4)
46% (26)
Blue C o l l a r
29%
(7)
30%
25%
'20%
5 )
26% (26).
31%
(16)
20% (34)
BM
Homemakers
-
- John
(8)
- John
33%. (3)
BF
50%
%F - Anne
54% (11)
BM
White 'Collar
and ~ k i i i e d
Anne
(lo).
11% (18)
(4)
*
.
Moore
Tab1e"Slx:
elli in^' S t o r i e s
Per Cent of White Relipondents
Fear of Success Imagery, by Age
WM.- Anne
71% (21)
'
Table Seven:
. WF
-
53%
Anne
(17)
-
WM
John
58% '(12)
Containing
WF
- John
59%
(17)
Per Cent.of Black Respondents T e l l i n g S t o r i e s Containing
Fear o f , Success Imagery, by Age
BM
-
44%
Anne
'.
(9)
BF
- Anne
32%
(25)
- John
BM .
.60X
'
'
75)
BF
36X
- John
(11)
Moore
T a b l e ~ i g h t : P e r Cent o f White Female Respondents T e l l i n g S t o r i e s
C o n t a i n i n g F e a r of Success Imagery, by Occupations o f
Parents
F a t h e r ' s Occupation
Management,
48% (29)
Professional,
Technical
Mother ' s occupation
White
42% (12)
Collar
31% (16)
Blue
Collar
38% (13)
Sales, Clerical
Skilled
49% (51)
Homemaker
39% (122)
Operatives,
Service,
Farm
27% (45)
T a b l e Nine:
Per Cent of Female Respondents T e l l i n g S t o r i e s C o n t a i n i n g
Fear of Success Imagery, by Race and Response t o Q u e s t i o n
WOULD-WORK (Anne Version)
I f you d i d n ' t need t h e money t h a t
E ~ e s t i o nWOULD-WORK:
you g e t when you work, do you t h i n k you'd work a n y w a y g
-
Yes, would work ( X w i t h M-S)
White
37% (90)
Black
28% (32) .
No, wouldn't (% w i t h M,S)
45% (60)
38% (16)
Moore
Table Ten:
Per Cent of .Female Respondents Telling Stories Containing
Fear of Success Iukgery, by Race and Marital Status
(Anne story version)
White. '36% (100)
Married
Black
20-5)
Single
,
~ivorced/~eparated
Widowed
N = 200
Table Eleven:
Per Cene of Female Respondents Telling Stories Containing
Fear of' Success Imagery, by Race and Marital Status, and
Response to Question MORE-$ (Anne version)
Questipn MORE-$: If you earned more money than your
husband', how likely is it that this would damage your
relationship--very likely, somewhat likely,or not at all
likely?
. Curiently Married
white
Black
18% 1
- .
.O% . (3)
' '..
.Very Likely
'
.
Somewhat or
Not at..all
Likely
.-
4
. ..
1,(81
.
.
.
!'.
'25% (12)
Not Currently Married
White
Black'
75%
(8)
64% (11)
43%
(40)
19X (21)
Moore
Table Twelve:
.
-'
uC
Per Cent of White Married Female Respondents Telling
Stories Containing Fear of Success Imagery, by Education
of Respondent Relative to her Husband (Anne version)
Respondent More Educated
than Husband
39%
(38)
WifejHusband Educational
Attainments Equal
38%
(37)
Respondent Less Educated
than Husband
29X
(24
*. - . A d
Table ~hirteen: Per Cent of White Married Female Respondents Telling
Stories Containing Fear of Success Imagery, by Ratio
of Wife's Income to Total Family Income (Anne version)
Ratio of Wife's Income
to Total Family Income
0.00 (wife unemployed)
0.10 to 0.58
.-
Moore
œ: able
Number of .Children Ever Borli or Adopted to White
~ o u r t ~ n Mean
x
lJomen who were Ever Mothers, by Motive to Avoaid Success
(Anne version)
Present
3.09
(46)
2.49
(72)
Motive to
Avoid Success
Absent
.
F Statistic = 2.93
02
p
(.
Table Fifteen8 Mean Number.of Children Ever Born or Adopted t o Women
Ever ~irried,by Race and Motive to Avoid Success
(Anne version)
Present
White
3.0m6)
Black
2.42 (12)
Absent
2.51
3.60
Motive to Avoid
Success
(71)
(25)
F Statistic = 2.93
P (-04
Moore
Table Sixteen: Mean Number of Children Ever Born to Females, Controlling
for Race and Family Income, by PresenceIAbsence of ~otive
to Avoid Success (Anne Version)
Income ( ~'$9,000)
Black
White
High Income d, $9,000)
Black
White
LOW
-
Motive to
Avoid Success:
Present 2.4
(9)
3.0
(12)
3.9
(17)
2.6
(25)
Absent
N = 160
(37)
(26)
Table Seventeen: Mean Number of Children Ever Born to Females, Controlling
for Race and Religion, by PresenceIAbsence of Motive to
Avoid 'Success (Anne Version)
Non-Catholics
Black
White
Catholics
Black
White
Motive to.
Avoid Success:
Present
4.0
(2)
3.5
(15)
2.0
(11)
2.9
(31)
Absent
2.0
(5)
2.5
(27)
3.7
(23)
2'.5
(45)
.
~ ~ b;.l a Bightaen
s.
...$.
. Ninetea$:
.< ...
.;...
.
.
. .
.
..
%. ;
. .
.
.
.
. . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
... ..
.
..
.
Femaleg Who Were Ever Mothers, by PresenceIAbsence of
Motive to Avoid Succese 8nd Sex Role Ideology (Anne Version)
..
.
...
.
(Cell One)
,
:H-q
.Absent
. .
. .
. .... ..... ,... . .
._. :' . . . . .
..
. .
-- ?
..
..
.
. ..
.
.
.
:
.
..
...much too fast, ...too elow,
'3.7
(14)
2.8
(32)
2.4
(25)
39
2.4
(44).. 69
76 N
115
-
'
-
.
.
.
.
.
.
t
.
,
.
TAT
,4 I
.
62
50
N = 112
F-Test for Cell One
against other cells:
F-Statistic 4.118
p = .045
'
.
.
much too
t'oo fast,
.
F-Teat for ,Cell One
againet other 'cells:
F-statistic 10.567
p = .002
.
Table Nineteen
Efforts to eliminate sex
discrimination in employment
are moving.
Table Eighteen
.,A' girl on a tennis
date should play.
. .
axi weil a's . ., ..as well
as .she
her partner,
or more poorly
can
.
..
. . ..
..
-..
~ek
Number of Children Ever Born or Adopted for White
-.
.
Table Twenty:. ~ e l i ~ b ~-4f
i . 1 ~measure
~~
from ~ i r ~Interview
t'
to Sgcond
Interview
for
.White,
Married
Females,
.Story
.cue,.
.e+r
1973:
.
.
. . ,:,
Anne' has juet . graduated at the top og . W r colle8e c%qae.
.
.
."'s..tory'
cue, 1974 re-interview: Mary 'tias jpst g:aduated
at
the top of .her,college class.
Mary Version (1974,)
'
'
'
,M-s
ARae
Veteion
(1973)
P;ieent
M-s 2l
Absent
~
M-s Preeent
M-e Absent
14
27
17
24
N = 41
Per Cent of ~ee~ondents
Telling Same Type of Story in 1974 as in 1973: 73 X
'
Moore
APPENDIX ONE:
page from S t a g e One Q u e s t i o n n a i r e
t h a t was r e a d t o r e s p o n d e n t s and on
which t h e i n t e r v i e w e r recorded t h e
respondent's thematic apperception
story
OK.'. T h i s n e x t s e c t i 0 n . i ~q u i t e d i f f e r e n t from t h e p a r t we've j u s t completed.
F i r s t , . I 1 m going t o read you a s e n t e n c e about someone and I ' d l i k e you t o t e l l a
s t o r y about t h i s person. For example, I might s a y t o you "David i s l o o k i n g o u t
t h e window," a n d you would t e l l me a s t o r y d e s c r i b i n g who David i s , what h e ' s
l o o k i n g a t , how h e f e e l s , and s o on.
--
Any k i n d of s t o r y i s OK
w e ' r e j u s t i n t e r e s t e d i n g e t t i n g a s complete a s t o r y
a s p o s s i b l e , one w i t h a b e g i n n i n g and a n end. There a r e no r i g h t o r wrong answers.
OK, I ' d l i k e you t o make up a s t o r y about (JohnIAnne). (HAND R CARD 25 AND READ ALOUD.)
(JohnIAnne) h a s j u s t g r a d u a t e d a t t h e t o p of ( h i s l h e r ) c o l l e g e c l a s s .
Make up a s t o r y a b o u t (JohnIAnne) -- who ( h e l s h e ) i s , how ( h e l s h e ) f e e l s , what w i l l
happen n e x t , and s o on. Remember, your s t o r y c a n b e of any kind and t h e r e a r e no
r i g h t o r wrong answers. You c a n t a k e a minute t o t h i n k , i f you l i k e , t h e n I ' l l a s k
you some q u e s t i o n s about your s t o r y .
(PAUSE A MOMENT, AS LONG OR SHORT A TIME AS
APPROPRIATE. )
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(JohnIAnne) h a s j u s t g r a d u a t e d a t t h e top of ( h i s l h e r ) c o l l e g e c l a s s .
(READ FIRST STORY PROBE.
Who i s (JohnIAnne)?
What went on b e f o r e ?
RECORD FULLY.)
How does ( h e l s h e ) f e e l ?
What h a s l e d up t o t h i s ?
What does ( ~ o h n / A n n ewant)?
What w i l l happen?
.
What i s ( h e l s h e ) t h i n k i n g ?
How w i l l i t a l l come o u t ?
.
Anything e l s e ?
\'
.
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SAMPLE TAT STORIES TOLD BY DETROIT RESPONDENTS
( ~ n s t r u c i i o n s , s t o r y c u e s , and s t o r y probes w i l l
b e found on the p r e v i o u s page.)
. .
-Anne i s t h e g i r l n e x t door..
She f e e l s v e r y happy because i t ' s a l l o v e r .
She was what you c a l l a bookworm, never d a t e d .
Anne st.udied v e r y h a r d , n e v e r went o u t .
She's t h i n k i n. g. about t h e f u t u r e , how s h e ' s going t o make i t i n t h e b u s i n e s s ' world.
S h e ' l l probably g e t m a r r i e d and n e v e r g e t a j o b .
That's it.
Anne i s j u s t a normal g i r l from an a v e r a g e f a m i l y . Had t h e advantage of going t o
c o l l e g e , d i d t e r r i f i c . Ambition is t o do h e r v e r y b e s t and make good of h e r c o l l e g e
career.
[How does s h e f e e l ? ] Very happy s i n c e s h e came from an a v e r a g e , normal
middle c l a s s f a m i l y
no money, e t c . Did i t a l l on h e r own.
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Lived a normal l i f e ; had u s u a l o u t s i d e a c t i v i t i e s , d a t e d , e t c .
g e t what s h e wanted.
Making t h e b e s t of h e r c o l l e g e caree;
h e l p o t h e r people.
.?
--
She s t r i v e d , had t o
t o b e a g o o d n u r s e , do what
is'
right,
A s h a r d a s s h e s t r i v e d , s h e ' l l make good of h e r l i f e and c o n t i n u e doing good.
No.
I
~ n n ei s j u s t a l i t t l e g i r l .
s h e ' s f i l l e d proud.
She had a h a r d l i f e .
The f u t u r e .
Comes o u t good i f s h e works h a r d f o r i t .
'
.
Have a happy l i f e i f s h e works h a r d .
.
L i f e i s so hard.
Anne i s a yovnger d a u g h t e r who had t o pay h e r own way through c o l l e g e .
e s p e c i a l l y proud because h e r work d i d n ' t h u r t h e r g r a d e s . She i s happy
s h e knows t h a t h e r f a m i l y w i l l b e proud of h e r , and s h e w i l l b e a b l e t o
now. She i s lucky t h a t s h e can r e a d e a s i l y . Some people r e a d h a r d and
t r o u b l e i n school.
She i e
because
h e l p them
s o have
She worked a s a w a i t r e s s and as a s e c r e t a r y f o r t h e whole time. I n h e r s e n i o r year
s h e money from t h e s c h o o l . It was a l i t t l e s c h o o l , though. She d i d n ' t g e t much
t i m e t o date.
.Anne wants t o b e a d o c t o r , and w i l l t r y t o go t o medical s c h o o l .
. i t is going t o t a k e s o much more time.
She i s s o r r y t h a t
'
She w i l l g e t t o b e a d o c t o r , b u t c w i l l b e unhappy because t h e man s h e m a r r i e s w i l l
. r e s e n t a l l t h e money s h e makes and t h e time s h e h a s t o spend w i t h q t h e r people.
She w i l l o n i y have one c h i l d , and i t w i l l g e t s p o i l e d .