The relationship of expectation of success to need achievement and test anxiety

The experiment investigated the prediction that Ss' expectations of success prior to task performance would be positively related to n Ach in a situation providing the opportunity for personal accomplishment. It was also predicted that these initial expectations would be negatively related to test anxiety but that, following task performance, relationships would be less apparent. In a test of these predictions, 168 male Ss rated their changes of success before commencing an anagrams task. The task was presented as "moderately difficult" to 82 Ss and as "easy" to 86 Ss. In a postperformance questionnaire, Ss rated their chances of success for the middle and terminal stages of performance. Results supported predictions and were interpreted in terms of the influence of past experience in related situations, and as also possibly reflecting the effect of subjective attractiveness of success and subjective repulsiveness of failure on initial expectations. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).