The Effect of Fear of Success and Perceived Task Difficulty on Cognitive Performance

This study investigated the relationship of fear of success (FOS) and perceptions of task difficulty, their interactive effect on anagram and matrix-task performance and possible gender differences on these variables. A total of 226 students, 83 males and 143 females, participated in the study. FOS was measured by the administration of Zuckerman and Allison's (1976) Fear of Success Scale. Perceptions of task difficulty were manipulated by use of falsified normative data. Subjects therefore believed the upcoming task was either easy or difficult or the subjects were employed as controls. An anagram task and 12 items selected from Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices were used as the dependent performance measures. Manipulation checks indicate that perceptions of task difficulty were not successfully altered. A MANOVA was computed, indicating that FOS did have a significant effect on matrix-task performance (F(1,167) 8.51, p < .0040). However, this effect was in the opposite direction to the hypothesis. High FOS individuals possessed a higher matrix performance level than the low FOS individuals. A significant gender effect (Wilks' Lambda 0.95444636, F(2,156) = 3.72, p < .0263) also indicates that males performed better than females on the matrix task while females had a higher performance level on the anagram task. Suggestions for future research and additional conclusions are discussed.