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Definition

The psychological experience of believing that one’s accomplishments came about not through genuine ability, but as a result of having been lucky, having worked harder than others, or having manipulated other people’s impressions, has been labeled the impostor phenomenon.

The term impostor actually has two meanings which are often present all together. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an impostor as someone who imposes on others, a person who is a deceiver, swindler, or cheat. The other meaning is that of a person who takes on a false character or perceives him or herself as someone other than he or she really is. However, one can find examples where the two roles are combined, in that a person takes on a false identity in order to cheat on others. But someone can also encounter individuals who pass themselves off as someone else without receiving any benefits from doing so. One has to wonder why this would be? In the sections that follow will explain who tend to be victims of the impostor syndrome and why they think the way they do.

Background

The imposotor syndrome tends to be studied as a reaction to certain stimuli and events. It is not perceived to be a psychological disorder among people, but it has been the topic of research for many psychologists. Evidence gathered from research does not support the idea that this syndrome is a distinct personality trait, but certain people are more prone to impostor feelings.

In Satoshi Kanazawa's article, The Impostor Syndrome, she writes about a book by Susan Pinker. Pinker explains that she interviewed a couple of highly accomplished women in which they claim, "Despite accolades, rank, and salary the women felt like phonies." These women did not believe in their own accomplishments, and they felt like they were scamming everyone with the skills they said they had. These women frequently asked why do people believe this about me?

The impostor syndrome has been noted by many sources to primarily be a female condition. But why? Why is the thought of self-doubt tend to be more prevalent in a woman's mind? According to Pinker, "it is purely limited to successful women; successful men apparently never feel like they are frauds. Success is more likely to be attributed to internal factors for men, compared to external factors for women. Failure for men is attributed to external factors,whereas for women it is internal factors.

It is hard to truly pinpoint a reason on why the impostor syndrome is more prevelant in women. Some ideas for this could be the proven self esteem issues have over men. Many women think to hard regarding what others may or may not think of them. Women tend to be much more emotional than men. Many researchers claim that they don't have a clear anwer for this reason, so it makes the gender difference in the syndrome hard to understand.

Leigh Buchanan wrote an article and published it in the INC.com journal, in her article she writes about how people who feel like 'fakes' explain their accomplishments are from external factors such as luck and timing, or worry.. They are because of charm and personality rather than talent. Psychological research done in the early 1980s estimated that two out of five successful people consider themselves frauds and other studies have found that 70 percent of all people feel like impostors at one time or another. “Some people, the more successful they become, the more they feel like frauds,” says Valerie Young, who leads workshops and professional development programs on the subject. “They feel as though they’re fooling people. There’s a dissonance between self-image and external reality.” This seems untrue because entrepenuers who own large companies should have self-confident attitudes and few few positiosn are more exposed then the decline of one's own busniess. Many busniess owners also think they are only successful because of the amount of time they put into their busniess, not because they are talented at their work naturally.

Demographics

With job related performance, women believe that theire success or failure directly reflects upon their female peers. Females believe that they are being watched more closely than that of their male coworkers. Besides older women, younger girls and boys come into play. Nature and nurture issues apply to the issues of younger children. Boys tend to blame things that are outside of their control when things don't happen accordingly: there wasn't enough time to answer the question; the other team had an advantage. Girls tend to blame themselves such that, when a sale isn't made, the customer isn't saying that the product doesn't peak his interes--he's saying, "You're inadequate." It is stated that because of the women's movement, younger women may experience fewer internal struggles than older women, thus reporting lower levels of impostor feelings. Women today have much more empowerment and support compared to women in the early 70s and 80s. In contrast, women with high levels of impostor feelings believe that their success has been earned and that most of all their accomplishments have somehow been given to them by mistake or by chance. These ideas start to deteriorate as time goes on with the on going rise of social and educational status being respectfully earned by more and more women.

The impostor syndrome can be especially problematic among women according to Buchanan. In the business realm, female CEOs are still rare enough that many believe their performances are being watched more closely and their success or failure that reflects directly on their female peers. Fundamental issues of nature and nurture also apply. There’s a lot of evidence that boys, as they grow up, tend to blame thinkgs or others then themselves when things go wrong. Girls on the other hand, tend to blame themselves. [1] Impostor syndrom tends to fabricate a new truth that becomes a way of covering up something painful from their past. Lies tend to serve as a self protective function when dealing with a threatening inner conflict. In acting the way impostor's do, they seem to have lost the capacity to differentiate between a fantasy and reality. In clinical findings. evidence suggests that impostor's feel much better when they consume the identity of someone else.

Signs and Symptoms

If one would look at common themes among the various descriptions and take into consideration other observations about this type of person, he/she would recognize that potential impostors come from families where there is often a background of shared betrayal, lying, cheating, and make-believe. It is stated that appearance over substance is what really counts. Relationships tend to be superficial.

Treatments

There are ways that someone can deal with having and experiencing Impostor Syndrome. There are several different approaches you can take to overcome it as well. It is all personal preference with which way you choose to take.

The behavioral approach: Is simply addressing the idea that taking risks or completing taks that are undesirable can help to address your fear of failure. Questions may be asked, maybe about the person's early childhood, to find out what makes that person feel uncomfortable or inadequate in a certain situation.

The cognitive approach: This approach involves the idea that a person refuses to acknowledge their own worth or accomplishments, and looks at the thought processes to find out why they admire success or brilliance. Certain assumptions need to be overcame to help with the problem. One includes that making a single mistake means there's something wrong with you.

You can overcome impostor phenomenon if you actively recognize and avoid negative or destructive thoughts. Once you recognize these thoughts as you have them, you will learn how to match them with reality to see the flaws in your thinking.

There are a few different techniques that someone can try to rid themselves of Impostor Syndrome. One technique allows you to organize your thoughts by writing everything out. People tend to make sense of our lives when they see something that they have done physically outside of our own heads. Another strategy states that writing down all of your accomplishments and going back to review or catch up on all of the things that you have done is a huge self esteem booster, making you have feelings of some self worth. Also taking on challenges or daily routines right away helps us get rid of procrastination, which increses the feeling of incompetence. When people are able to cross something off of our to do lists its a feeling of self accomplishment. The biggest technique to overcome Impostor Syndrome is to simply understand what it is. Understanding what it is allows a person to grasp what is happening when they start to feel like they have no self worth. It is ok to feel natural anxiety but make sure those feelings dont get in the way of confidence in yourself and celebration in your achievements.

References

[1] CLANCE, P. R. & IMES, S. A. ( 1978). The impostor phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 15, 241– 247.

[2] Kets de Vries, Manfred F. ; Human Relations, Vol 43(7), Jul, 1990. pp. 667-686. [Journal Article]

[3] Clance, Pauline Rose; Imes, Suzanne Ament (1978). "The Impostor Phenomenon Among High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention" (PDF). Psychotherapy Theory, Research and Practice 15 (3): 241–47.

[4] Buchanan, L. (2006). THE IMPOSTOR SYNDROME. Inc, 28(9), 37-38.

[5] Thorman, Rebecca . "6 Strategies to Kick Imposter Syndrome to the Curb - On Careers (usnews.com)." Business News and Financial News - US News Business. N.p., 4 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2012/10/04/6-strategies-to-kick-imposter-syndrome-to-the-curb>

[6] Barton, J. (2002, February). The impostor feelings, gender-role egalitarian perceptions and gender traits or female psychologists. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62

[7] Buchanan, L. (2006). The Impostor Syndrome. INC.com, , 3. Retrieved , from http://www.changingcourse.com/pressrelease/inc092006.pdf