Impostor syndrome
Impostor syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where individuals struggle to acknowledge their accomplishments, often feeling like frauds who have succeeded through luck or deception rather than their own abilities. Originally identified by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978, it was initially observed among high-achieving women who, despite their success, doubted their competence. The syndrome is particularly prevalent in ethnically marginalized groups and can lead to self-doubt and anxiety, making affected individuals fear exposure as impostors even in the face of evidence of their achievements.
Research has shown that impostor syndrome can also affect men, though women may experience it more acutely due to societal pressures. It can manifest in various ways, including perfectionism and procrastination, particularly among graduate students who may feel unworthy of their acceptance into competitive programs. The consequences can be significant, impacting academic and professional performance.
Therapeutic interventions can assist those with impostor syndrome by helping them recognize and reshape their irrational beliefs, accept compliments, and acknowledge their real skills. Through gradual acceptance of their self-worth, individuals can work toward overcoming feelings of inadequacy and unlocking their full potential.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Impostor syndrome
Impostor syndrome is a psychological phenomenon characterized by the inability of individuals to recognize their own accomplishments. People with the syndrome instead believe themselves to be frauds in the sense that they could have succeeded only by deceiving others or because they got lucky. They doubt their intelligence and abilities to manage problems. These people also fear almost constantly that they will be discovered as impostors, despite the existence of demonstrable proof that they have actually achieved much.
American clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes first diagnosed and named impostor syndrome in a 1978 paper. Individual therapy can help people with impostor syndrome overcome their feelings of inadequacy and recognize their achievements. Therapists might advise individuals with the syndrome to overcome and replace their superstitious thinking, which influences them to suspect themselves of being frauds.
Background
Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes identified what is now known as impostor syndrome in a psychological study of more than 150 successful women in the late 1970s. The test subjects were mostly ambitious, high-achieving school faculty members and college students. Clance and Imes found that many of these women, despite the fact that they had already displayed great skill and accomplished much success in their fields, still worried that they were incompetent. Some of the women questioned how they had ever accomplished anything they had.
Clance and Imes published their findings on this condition in their 1978 paper titled "The Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women." According to the paper, so-called impostors do not internalize the fact that they have succeeded. Instead, they create and adhere to the belief that they are fake intellectuals who have prospered professionally or academically only because they have deceived the world into believing they are highly skilled in their field.
Clance and Imes argued that people with impostor syndrome tend to display several sometimes contradictory behaviors as a result of their lack of self-confidence. They feel motivated to work hard while simultaneously avoiding actual success for fear of being identified as a phony. They may also attempt to win the social approval of their superiors while still convinced that they are false intellectuals. Clance and Imes believed that pressures from family and society drive people to develop impostor syndrome. Individuals who were both highly praised and sharply criticized by their families appeared to be more prone to nurturing suspicions of intellectual artifice. Clance and Imes contended that impostor syndrome was to blame for numerous female faculty members they had studied leaving their jobs at colleges and universities, since they felt they did not truly belong there.
In the 1980s, Clance devised a test intended to help diagnose people with impostor syndrome. The test contained first-person statements pertaining to the syndrome and asked patients to answer how true the statements were of them. Statements included "I rarely do a project or task as well as I'd like to do it" and "Sometimes I'm afraid others will discover how much knowledge or ability I really lack." The higher people scored on the test, the stronger their impostor syndrome feelings were assumed to be.
Over the next several decades, psychologists discovered that impostor syndrome can affect men also, although some professional studies have indicated that women may be more likely to develop the condition. The studies asserted this was because of the special, gender-based pressure modern society has long placed on women to succeed.
Overview
Impostor syndrome was more fully defined in the twenty-first century than it was in the late 1970s. Clance herself later proposed that impostor syndrome appeared more common among racially marginalized groups in American society. Some marginalized groups have reported feeling as though they need to apply more effort to accomplish the same goals that others accomplish with less effort.
In 2013, psychological researchers at the University of Texas at Austin determined from a survey that Asian Americans were likelier than Black Americans and Latino Americans to have impostor syndrome. Some research has found that the syndrome seems to be more prevalent in individuals who differ in any major way from most of their peers—for example, the youngest person in a group.
Impostor syndrome has also been found to be common among people in large groups who are undertaking an intimidating new task. Graduate students are sometimes named as particularly vulnerable to developing the condition. Some of these individuals may dismiss their acceptance into an exclusive graduate program as nothing more than luck. Then, when completing class work, students with impostor syndrome may become perfectionists, obsessing over their performances even though they are competent in the subject. The students may also delay completing the work at all due to fear of failing. Furthermore, even after displaying great skill in succeeding, these students and others with the syndrome may doubt the true value of what they have produced.
Impostor syndrome can have momentous consequences for people affected by it. It can prevent people from fully applying themselves in life because they believe they are inadequate and can only fail anyway. This may affect academic or job performance.
Therefore, psychologists have recommended that people with impostor syndrome seek professional guidance in overcoming their notions of inadequacy. Therapists help people with the condition to acknowledge that if they truly have succeeded in a certain area, their self-doubt is simply an irrational belief. Experts have suggested that patients should train themselves to become conscious of the fact that their mental suspicions do not determine reality; their real skills should determine the nature of their self-evaluations.
Professionals also teach patients to accept compliments graciously, stop comparing themselves to others, recognize their real skills, and admit that they are not perfect and will sometimes make mistakes. Additionally, it has been recommended that people with impostor syndrome should refuse to accept blame for failing if the cause of the failure was beyond their control. Imes herself claimed it is best that patients reject their superstitious thoughts about themselves only gradually, for human belief in superstitions can be almost unyielding.
By recognizing their actual value in the world, people who have felt like impostors in life can build their self-confidence and possibly reach their true potential.
Bibliography
Anderson, L.V. "Feeling Like an Impostor Is Not a Syndrome." Slate, 12 Apr. 2016, www.slate.com/articles/business/the‗ladder/2016/04/is‗impostor‗syndrome‗real‗and‗does‗it‗affect‗women‗more‗than‗men.html. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.
Dancy, T. Elon, II, and Brown, M. Christopher, II. "The Mentoring and Induction of Educators of Color: Addressing the Impostor Syndrome in Academe." Journal of School Leadership, vol. 21, no. 4, July 2011, pp. 607–34.
Haddad, Marie Reine. "Impostor Syndrome: No You Are Not a Fraud." Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, science.nichd.nih.gov/confluence/display/newsletter/2014/04/02/Impostor+Syndrome%3A+No+You+Are+Not+a+Fraud. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.
"Impostor Syndrome." Wellbeing and Student Support, University of Warwick, 7 July 2022, warwick.ac.uk/services/wss/topics/impostorsyndrome/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Jones, Anna. "The Link Between Imposter Syndrome and Burnout." BBC, 17 May 2022, www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220517-the-link-between-imposter-syndrome-and-burnout. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Kalinosky, Evelyn. "Feeling Like a Fraud: Living with Impostor Syndrome." Forbes, 22 Feb. 2010, www.forbes.com/2010/02/22/imposter-syndrome-professional-fraud-forbes-woman-leadership-psychology.html#32b6f0822212. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.
Laursen, Lucas. "No, You're Not an Impostor." Science, 15 Feb. 2008, www.sciencemag.org/careers/2008/02/no-youre-not-impostor. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.
Lefkoe, Morty. "Do You Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome?" Huffington Post, 19 Feb. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/morty-lefkoe/do-you-suffer-from-the-im‗b‗4791763.html. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.
Walker, Anna Lou, and Rebecca Fearn. "Imposter Syndrome: How to Identify & Overcome the Five Different Types." Glamour, 5 Apr. 2024, www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/ditch-inner-imposter-book-extract. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Weir, Kirsten. "Feel Like a Fraud?" American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/gradpsych/2013/11/fraud.aspx. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.
Wilding, Melody. "The Five Types of Impostor Syndrome and How to Beat Them." Fast Company, 18 May 2017, www.fastcompany.com/40421352/the-five-types-of-impostor-syndrome-and-how-to-beat-them. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.