A developmental exploration of the fear of success phenomenon as cultural stereotype

Abstract

Given prior research suggesting that “fear of success” may be a function of cultural expectations rather than an intrapsychic motive held by women, this cultural phenomenon was placed in juxtaposition with reactions to women and men failing. It was expected that women would not be rated negatively for failure. It was also expected that in a sample of third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth graders, younger children would be more dogmatic than older children in applying cultural stereotypes to these situations. The children responded on semantic differential scales to the cue of Anne (John) succeeding (failing) in medical school. The children rated a successful person much happier than one who failed, and the sex of the person succeeding or failing was entirely irrelevant. However, the results were as predicted for niceness: A woman was somewhat less nice than a man when they both succeeded, but a man was much less nice when they both failed. In addition, there were no interactions with the age or sex of the respondents. Thus, sex-role expectations are relevant to some attributes of individuals but not others, and these expectations are well established and easily applied as early as third grade.