Fear of success revisited
Master Thesis
1996
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
The unresolved question of whether Fear of Success is a motive or a measure of gender-role stereotypes is at the centre of the confusion about this construct. The purpose of the present study was to re-explore the nature of Fear of Success through the relationship of this construct to other theoretically related variables. The list of variables included Self-Efficacy, Autonomous and Social Achievement Values, Attitudes Towards Women, Positive and Negative Affect and Age. Cronbach and Meehl's (citedin Tresemer, 1976a) statement that the nomological net of propositions in which a construct is embedded must show predicted relationships with that construct, fostered the expectation that at least some of these variables would predict Fear of Success. It was anticipated that establishing a relationship with either the sociological or the personality constructs would clarify the nature of Fear of Success. The sample consisted of 240 white, English-speaking Capetonian women. The sample was restricted to women from the same cultural group so as to avoid the introduction of confounding variables, and to facilitate comparison of the results with the bulk of the research, most of which has been conducted in America. Furthermore, subjects were drawn from the working population· rather than students, as many researchers in this field have done, so that results would be generalizable to the workplace. Each subject was administered a questionnaire containing the following scales: Good and Good's(1973) Fear of Success Scale, The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule which was developed by Watson, Clark and Tellegen (1988), Tipton, Everett and Worthington's(1984) Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, Spence and Helmreich's (1972) Attitudes Towards Women Scale and the Autonomous and Social Achievement Values Scale which was compiled by Strümpfer (1975).
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Bibliography: pages 149-173.
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De Villiers, R. 1996. Fear of success revisited. University of Cape Town.