Summary.The relationship of two motivational measures, n/achievement and neuroticism, with expressed achievement motivation was examined in groups of successful and unsuccessful secondary school boys in a three‐way analysis of variance. When the expressed motivation was of a fantasy nature it was found to be associated with neuroticism in both groups, but when real‐life items were used to elicit it, the direction of the relationship with n/achievement and neuroticism was contrary in the successful and unsuccessful groups. Among the successful there was an increasing drop in achievement motivation from the consistently high n/achievement and neuroticism groups through the inconsistent groups (high n/achievement low neuroticism, low n/achievement, high neuroticism) to the consistently low n/achievement and neuroticism groups while amongst the unsuccessful groups there was a corresponding rise. This result in the unsuccessful group was interpreted as a resolution of the conflict they experienced between normative expectations for success and information about their actual performa