Imposter Phenomenon

Question 1

What are the various defintions?

Answer 1

Imposter Phenomenon = Imposter Syndrome = Imposterism

Defintion changed to perceived fraudulence
1. Avoid confusion with literal term ‘Imposter’
2. To avoid interpretations of mental illness or diagnosable disorder
3. To further emphasise a component of a vigilant practice of impression management and self-monitoring in Impostors, who are concerned about their self worth and social image

Question 2

Possible characteristics

Answer 2

At least 2:
1. Evidence of a pattern of thinking and behaviour matching the imposter cycle
2. A secret need to be the best, which drives performance but means abilities are dismissed when they are not the best
3. People havnig perfectonistic tendencies who overgeneralise themselves as failures when they can’t live up to their own high standards
4. Fear of failure and the consequent feelings of shame and humiliation
5. Discounting competence and praise - failure to internalise success
6. Fear and guilt about success, the negative consequences of which can be feeling different or worrying about living up the expectations success brings

MOST NOTABLE Symptoms
1. FAKE: Worrying that others have an inflated perception of your abilities and fear that you will be found out as not being good enough
2. LUCK: Persistent tendency to atrtibute success to extrenal factors such as luck
3. DISCOUNT: Thinking you don’t deserve the level of praise or success that you receive

Question 3

Imposter Cycle (Sakulku & Alezander, 2011)

Answer 3

Confronted with achievement related task -> Anxiety/Self Doubt -> Overpreparation/PRocrastination -> Feeling of relief -> Discount positive feedback (failure to internalise success) - >Perceived fraudulence, increased self doubt, depression, anxiety

Question 4

Prevalence

Answer 4

• 8-92% (not a diagnostic ceriterion) depending on the screening tool and cutoff used to assess symptoms and particularly high among ethnic minority groups
• Equally common in males and females
• Experienced across a range of age groups
• Publication bias- prevalence in professional populations

Question 5

How do we measure Impostorism?

Answer 5

Uni or multidimensional?

1. Clance Impostor Phenomenon “I avoid evaluations if possible”
2. Harvey Impostor Scale “Sometimes I am afraid I will be discovered for who I really am”
3. Perceived Fraudulence Scale “I often feel I receive praise or grades that I don’t deserve.”

We tend to treat these measurements as testing something unidimensional, however imposterism might be best conceptualised and measured in three dimensions: Fake, Luck, Discount

Question 6

What is imposterism associated with?

Answer 6

1. Wellbeing:
   Depression - positive
   Anxiety - positive
   Self-compassion - negative
   Self-esteem - negative
   Fear of failure - positive
   Fear of success - positive
   Confidence - negative
   How does imposterism relate to confidence?
   Self-monitoring is one aspect of metacognitive regulation
   - High imposter experience less self-confidence
   Imposter Phenomenon negatively correlated with confidence, however confidence is strongly correlated with accuracy.
   No direct relationship between imposterism and performance.
2. Behaviours
   Perfectionism (maladaptive) - positive
   Self- handicapping - positive
   - When someone self-sabotages (parties night before an exam) so they can attribute failure to something extrenal, not something about themselves (fear of evaluation).
3. Workplace
   Job satisfaction - negative
   Organisational commitment - negative
   Biased task delegation - positive
   Career development - positive
   Career development - negative
   Motivation to lead - negative
4. Personality
   Conscientiousness - negative
   Neuroticism - positive

Question 7

Interventions?

Answer 7

“No published studies evaluated treatments for this condition in 62 studies identified in a systematic literature review (Bravata et al., 2020)
Since Bravata et al.’s (2020) review, at least four studies have examined interventions to reduce impostor feelings

Mostly attempt to address symptoms of depression and anxiety
- Coaching and training
- Improving literacy strategies in postgraduate students
- Help seeking, education and mentorship in medical professionals
- Mindfulness and meditative practice in undergraduate dental students

Research is still new and emerging, but mostly CBT and coaching strategies can be employed in a clinical setting.