The personality disposition of the motive to avoid success (Horner, 1968) is evaluated on theoretical and empirical ground. A situational interpretation is proposed as a more parsimonious explanation of the phenomenon. Presented are a series of studies examining the behavioral effects of the motive to avoid success: anxiety manifesting itself as a decrement in performance and a reluctance to communicate past successes and to present one's self as successful. These studies clearly support the situational interpretation which proposes that females behave in this fashion not as a result of a latent personality disposition, but as a result of attending to cues in the immediate situation which indicate on what quality or type of performance positive consequences or reinforcements are contingent. (Author)