Fear of success, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Fear of Success

Reluctance to complete a set of work behaviors that would be likely to result in successful achievement of important work-related goals, especially when such achievement would generate attention and praise from others. Also applies to behaviors in educational settings. Associated with tendency to attribute the causes for the success that one does achieve to either situational factors or to the actions of others. There may exist cultural sex-related differences in the acceptability of publicly attributing success to one's personal traits and effort; it is therefore important to consider cultural issues and sex-role socialization when assessing the presence of fear of success.

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