FEAR OF FAILURE AND AUTONOMIC RESPONSIVITY IN ACHIEVEMENT SITUATIONS.
Abstract
Nineteen Ss were operationally defined as high fear of failure (FF) and 19 Ss as low FF on the basis of the Hostile Press scoring system of the TAT (Birney, Burdick, + Teevan, 1964). Their heart rates were measured in individual testing sessions designed to create a stressful situation in which the stress was related to achievement motivation. It was hypothesized that since high FF individuals defend against the perception of their own failure by projecting their inadequacies onto the environment, they would react to stress with patterns of autonomic responsivity similar to those of 'Anger-out' individuals (as defined by Funkenstein, King, + Drolette, 1957). The results showed that there were no mean differences between the high and low FF groups in terms of their autonomic responsivity to stress although the high FF group was significantly more variable in heart rate levels than the low FF group. The results were interpreted in terms of the possible defensive postures available to the high FF individual in achievement situations. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0654475
Entities
People
- Richard C. Teevan
- Robert I. Fischer
Organizations
- Bucknell University