Failure imagery in the fantasy of eighth graders as a function of three conditions of induced arousal

An experiment was conducted in which 3 groups of 8th graders (total N = 143) completed a projective test under conditions of low-arousal medium-arousal, and high-arousal respectively. Fear of Failure (f Failure), as well as n Achievement, significantly discriminated the 3 conditions of induced arousal during projective testing. The medium-arousal group rather than the high-arousal group yielded the highest mean f Failure. It was argued that negative results in past research on f Failure may have resulted from anxiety-provoked repression of failure imagery under high-arousal conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).