Investigated were the effects of test anxiety, success-fail experiences, and social reinforcement on the aspiration level of third and fourth grade subjects (Ss) in a suburban school system. Data were sought on whether high test anxiety (HTA) children would have lower aspiration levels than low test anxiety (LTA) children. Also studied were the effect on each group of social reinforcement. Another purpose of this research was to ascertain whether there were correlations between anxiety and academic performance (as measured by report cards), and test anxiety and measures of achievement motivation. The research design and the experimental manipulations are described and the statistical correlations are presented. Major finding s show that: (1) success in pretraining raised Ss initial aspiration level slightly and failure substantially lowered it; (2) aspiration level increased sharply following social reinforcement but remained stable under non-reinforcement; and (3) girls showed a higher overall increase in level of aspiration than boys. A discussion section notes some other aspects of this research. (NH)