Neurotic fear of success is conceptually connected to achievement motivation and achievement related conflicts. To investigate the relationship between individuals identified as success-fearers, or failure-fearers, and those high in achievement motivation, 426 college students completed Cohen's Fear of Success Scale, Mandler-Sarason's Test Anxiety Questionnaire, and the Thematic Apperception Test scored for achievement motivation. Preliminary work with the measures showed variable correlations among the scales, with success-fearers falling predominantly in the fear of failure category and non-success-fearers falling predominantly in the resultant high achievement motivation category. Investigations of the behavioral differences between fear of success and fear of failure subjects using reading tasks, false success feedback, and a puzzle risk-taking task showed that high success fearers had a significant decrement in mean performance scores compared with the other neurotic fear of success classifications. Those high in resultant achievement motivation and failure-fearers showed no tendancy to engage in self-sabotage following success feedback. (Author/JAC)