Fear of Success: Attribution of Cause to the Victim

Theory and research on the psychological construct of “fear of success” is reviewed in the context of Horner's original (1968) formulation of the motive. Both the validity and the reliability of the original measure are questioned in the light of the weakness of empirical support. The findings of subsequent research are organized in terms of what they contribute to a situational rather than a motivational interpretation of the data. Implications of these different views of the achievement behavior of females for changes in sex‐role socialization are discussed.