Let’s say you’re a manager at a company, and you’ve just brought on a new team member. You’ve gone through the processes of reviewing her application, scheduling interviews, and maybe even having her complete a case study. She comes with strong recommendations from her last role and has a high GPA from her recently earned degree.

After a few weeks, you start to notice she’s become more anxious, and when you commend her on her work, she shakes it off. As you sit down to address your concerns about this behavior, she shares with you that she feels like a fraud and that luck was the main reason why she landed the job. Even though you remind her why you hired her and her colleagues’ positive words about her performance, it doesn’t change her feelings. She confides that she’s afraid everyone else at the company will uncover that she’s a fraud and that she doesn’t belong.

What your employee is experiencing is called imposter syndrome (or imposter phenomenon), a psychological pattern in which someone fails to internalize their skills and accomplishments and instead feels like a fraud. Anyone can experience imposter syndrome—however, it tends to be seen more frequently in women as well as minority groups. Although imposter syndrome is not in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), that isn’t to say it can’t be harmful. Imposter syndrome occurs alongside depression and anxiety; additionally, it can be associated with decreased job performance or burnout.¹ It can feel like not being worthy of sharing one’s story or not feeling the emotional safety necessary to contribute new ideas. When one person experiences imposter syndrome, it impacts everyone around them.

Imposter Syndrome: The psychological pattern in which one downplays their achievements and believes that they are secretly a fraud undeserving of their accolades.

Imposter Cycle: A cyclical pattern of thoughts and behaviors characteristic of people experiencing imposter syndrome.¹¹ The imposter cycle is triggered when facing a new assignment or other task. Someone with imposter syndrome typically responds to new projects with either procrastination or over-preparation, both of which reinforce the belief that they are frauds. This reinforcement causes the cycle to repeat itself as feelings of inadequacy carry over into the next task.

Perfectionism: The tendency to strive for flawlessness in order to meet one’s own exceptionally high standards. People with imposter syndrome often self-imposed, impossible-to-reach goals which can exacerbate feelings of imposterism.¹¹

Overachievement: A key component of imposter syndrome in which people work excessively hard to prove their worth and appear more than capable of completing the tasks given to them. In the context of imposter syndrome, striving for overachievement is sometimes called super-heroism.¹¹

Comorbidity: This term describes the presence of one or more conditions co-occurring with another condition. For example, imposter syndrome is often comorbid with mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.¹

Dr. Pauline Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes first coined the term “imposter syndrome” when they published “The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention” in 1978. According to Dr. Clance’s website, she had struggled with imposter syndrome as a graduate student but thought that these worries were unique.² It wasn’t until she began teaching at an esteemed liberal arts college, when students came to her with the same feelings of inadequacy and anxiety, that she and Dr. Imes came up with the term.²

Both clinical psychologists noticed that many of their highly successful clients (primarily women) did not feel worthy of their achievements.³ These clients were undergraduates, medical students, and PhD faculty at universities across the country. Over 150 women they worked with over a period of five years expressed a sense of being a cheat: they worried they had been admitted to a graduate program by mistake or had fooled their colleagues into believing they were competent when they were not.³ Notably, the researchers asserted imposter syndrome is present more frequently in women than in men.

In the years between the publishing of Clance and Imes’ influential paper and 1990, few studies had been conducted on the topic. That changed between 1991 and 2001 when more than 215 studies on imposter syndrome were published.

In 2011, building upon years of research on the imposter syndrome, Dr. Valerie Young published her groundbreaking book, The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It. In it, she breaks down sufferers of the syndrome into five different types:

1. The Perfectionist: Someone who focuses on the quality of his work, frequently to the point of demanding perfection from himself or avoiding new things in fear of failure.
2. The Superhero: A superhero’s capital source of fulfillment stems from how many roles she can juggle, and she pushes herself to the limit to find success in each of these roles. A superhero feels as though she should be able to take on more, even though failure in a role equates to shame.
3. The Natural Genius: Someone who believes that all things come easily to her and she can handle everything that’s thrown her way. When she has a hard time, she perceives this as failure.
4. The Expert: Someone whose primary concern is to know everything and have all the answers. When, inevitably, she doesn’t have all the answers, she considers herself a fraud.
5. The Soloist: This is someone who feels that she should be able to handle everything on her own, and concludes that needing help is a sign of failure.⁴

This book has deepened our understanding of the imposter syndrome and informed future work. By the time Dr. Young published her influential work, imposter syndrome had experienced an uptick in interest, with over 400 studies on the topic published between 2001 and 2011. That number has grown incredibly between 2011 and 2021, with almost 3,500 new studies published during this period.

The clients that Clance and Imes wrote about all those decades ago were majority white, between 20 and 45 years old, and middle to upper class. Investigators would need to conduct further research to uncover the impact of the imposter syndrome on minority groups and across cultures.

In 2019, a research team conducted a systematic review of the academic literature analyzing 66 studies on imposter syndrome. They found that only four papers between 1990 and 2019 had been conducted outside of a European or Anglosphere country.¹ Eleven studies demonstrated that imposter syndrome is common among Black, Asian American, and Latinx students; however, as of 2019, only Iran and South Korea have researched the phenomenon in their own non-white cultures.¹ While it has become a more prevalent topic of discussion, imposter syndrome still requires further research to develop a more comprehensive view of what non-white groups experience.

Dr. Pauline Clance

Having worked as a clinical psychologist for over 30 years, Dr. Clance has published research on multiple topics ranging from “The ethical use of touch in psychotherapy” to the “mind’s response to the body’s betrayal.” In addition to her research and clinical work, she’s taught at several universities in the United States. Dr. Clance also developed the Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), the most commonly used diagnostic tool for measuring imposter syndrome among researchers and practitioners.

Dr. Suzanne Imes

Like Dr. Clance, Dr. Imes also works as a clinical psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, a position she’s held for 41 years. She’s earned three Master’s degrees and a Doctorate, and this passion for learning has spanned her entire career.

Dr. Valerie Young

Having earned her doctorate in education, Dr. Young is an expert in imposter syndrome and co-founder of the Imposter Syndrome Institute, the official provider of related insights and tools for organizations since 1983. She has spoken at over 80 colleges and universities, worked with multiple Fortune 100 companies, and served as a consultant for 14 law firms. She has won numerous awards for her book, which has been translated into six languages.

What causes imposter syndrome?

There is no single cause of imposter syndrome, but research suggests it likely arises from a combination of factors. A highly demanding family upbringing appears to play a role, as does working in a demanding professional environment.¹² Feeling an intense pressure to achieve at work can foster feelings of fraudulence, especially when combined with a lack of experience. This often occurs when people progress through their careers so rapidly that they feel unprepared for more advanced roles. Social inequalities may also play a part, as minorities tend to face higher rates of imposter syndrome, perhaps due to social stigmas or discrimination.¹

Beyond these environmental factors, research shows that personality traits like perfectionism or insecurity can contribute to imposter syndrome.¹² Similarly, anxiety disorders such as social anxiety can exacerbate imposter syndrome—people with social anxiety disorder often worry about being judged by others or humiliated in social situations, which can only exacerbate fears of being exposed as a fraud by one’s peers.

But where do these pressures and fears originate? While imposter syndrome can cause people a lot of emotional and mental discomfort, it might have once had an advantageous evolutionary purpose. For example, some experts suggest that our tendency to underestimate our abilities may stem from an evolutionary mechanism designed to help us avoid threats and maintain social harmony within tightly-knit tribal communities.¹² While this is purely theoretical, the idea that imposter syndrome may have had an adaptive purpose in the past offers an intriguing perspective on the phenomenon.

What does imposter syndrome feel like?

Imposter syndrome is often associated with feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, and fear of failure. How do you know if you have imposter syndrome? You might feel like you are incompetent or not good enough, despite evidence that you are actually really good at what you do. Perhaps you believe you don’t deserve a promotion or feel like your co-workers are more qualified than you. People with imposter syndrome also often carry a constant fear of being exposed as a fraud, convinced that everyone around them has overestimated their abilities. If you feel this way, you might fear that one day, the people in your life will realize you don’t actually know what you’re doing and you’ve been faking it all along.

You might also notice that you’re stuck in an imposter cycle, repeating a pattern of procrastination or over-preparation that only makes you feel worse about your abilities.¹¹ If you feel anxious about your ability to successfully complete a task, such as a work project or school assignment, you’ll likely either put it off until the last minute (procrastinate) or do more work than you need to do (over-prepare). If you procrastinate, you’ll feel that your last-minute preparation is a sign of your inadequacy, and you only did well because of sheer luck (therefore you must be a fraud). If you over-prepare, you’ll feel that you have to work harder than others to achieve the same goal, so you must be an imposter. Either way, you might feel a sense of success when you complete your goal, but your lingering self-doubt makes you worry about upcoming projects, and the cycle repeats itself. You might have imposter syndrome if you notice yourself stuck in this behavioral pattern.

Who is most prone to imposter syndrome?

Imposter syndrome can affect everyone from teenagers to late-stage professionals, but there are a few groups who may be particularly prone to it. For example, several studies show that women report significantly higher rates of imposter syndrome than men.¹ Note: there are also several studies showing no gender differences in rates of imposter syndrome, so it’s important to stress that while imposter syndrome is common in women, men experience it, too. Some studies have found that younger people are more likely to experience imposter syndrome, but like with gender effects, this age effect isn’t reliable across all research. 

There are also high rates of imposter syndrome among racial and ethnic minorities. Much of the research in this area revolves around college students, suggesting that minority students may be under increased psychological stress due to lack of financial aid or racial discrimination, resulting in high rates of imposter syndrome.¹ Research also suggests that students of color can feel like imposters due to messages suggesting that they were admitted to college primarily because of their race rather than their merits.¹³ 

People working in certain professional settings may also be more prone to imposter syndrome. For instance, imposterism is highly prevalent in high-stakes healthcare and academic environments.¹¹ Medical students have high rates of imposter syndrome, as do nurses, physicians, managers, teachers, and accountants. Interestingly, one study found that supervisors who experience imposter syndrome are more likely to delegate tasks to people who doubt their own professional abilities. Overall, no one is safe from imposter syndrome—it’s a widespread issue that can impact people across various demographics and professions.

No matter how you spin it, imposter syndrome is never a good thing: it is associated with increased feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression. Maybe one or more of Dr. Young’s five types of imposter syndrome resonated with you. You might’ve thought, If I’m achieving so many things, maybe it isn’t so bad. However, imposterism doesn’t just lead to psychological pain, it can also lead to failure.

Performance Issues

Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy, who has written extensively about imposter syndrome, explains that the feeling can cause us to “choke at the worst possible moments, [and to] disengage—thereby virtually ensuring that we will underperform at the very things we do best and love most.”⁵ She goes on to say that newfound successes, instead of alleviating imposterism, can actually make us feel worse because they represent new opportunities to feel unworthy.⁵ As a result, individuals with imposter syndrome often exhibit a fear of success. Because they worry that success will come with increased responsibilities and expectations, they may turn down promotions, challenging projects, or leadership roles. They might avoid applying to jobs that seem too advanced or too challenging for their perceived abilities, or deliberately underperform to avoid standing out or raising expectations. This is a commonly experienced phenomenon in both academic and professional settings, often leading to a lack of academic advancement or career stagnation.

Emotional Turmoil

Imposter syndrome can have significant mental health consequences. Looking specifically at minority groups, one study found that imposter syndrome had a stronger relationship with mental health issues than minority status stress.¹ Another study observed that, while Black students felt more minority stress than their Asian American or Latinx American counterparts, Asian Americans felt the most imposterism out of these groups.⁶ It bolstered findings from many other studies in saying that imposter syndrome, more than minority stress, predicted psychological stress and well-being.⁶

Some studies suggest the syndrome doesn’t necessarily improve with age. As Dr. Imes put it in a podcast with NPR in 2021, “Do you ever get over it? Are you ever cured? No.”⁷ She does, however, caveat her statement by noting it can get better as you get older and gain more confidence in your abilities.

Early research focused primarily on women and for the most part denied that men experience imposter syndrome. In their 1978 paper, Clancey and Imes write that imposter syndrome occurs much less frequently in men, even though their male colleagues openly disagreed with them on this assertion. The researchers did, however remark that they saw it in men who expressed more “feminine qualities,” to use their words.³

After giving her TED Talk on power in 2012, Cuddy began to receive a barrage of emails from people who also felt like frauds, and about half were from men.⁵ She realized that men have been conditioned by our society to feel more fear when talking about vulnerable feelings, and perhaps that’s why Clancey and Imes didn’t notice men’s imposterism in their early work. To throw even more confusion into the mix, the aforementioned 2019 literature review found 16 articles that observed gender differences in rates of imposter syndrome, while 17 others did not. Clearly this is still a point of contention, and additional research is necessary to understand gender differences.

Another controversy related to imposter syndrome is something that requires circumspection: whether or not what you’re feeling is really imposter syndrome. In other words, are you feeling like a fraud because of your own sentiments, or is your environment exclusionary and intolerant? The earlier suggestion about taking note of your accomplishments will help you figure out whether what you’re experiencing is truly imposterism of your own creation or if there’s something pervasive throughout the culture that needs to be addressed.

How COVID-19 contributed to imposterism in college freshman

One of the most unfortunate side effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is how it’s impacted education. In Great Britain, a new study has warned of increased levels of imposter syndrome among incoming college freshmen because they were unable to sit their A-levels due to the virus.⁹ Compared to 2019, where only 25% of students earned an A or A* (the latter being Britain’s equivalent to an A+), 45% of candidates from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland earned this grade in 2021.⁹ Instead of sitting these public examinations, they have been admitted on the basis of teacher-assessed grades.⁹ Given that exams are one form of external “proof” that someone is worthy of their seat in the classroom, it’s not surprising that they feel this way. Particular worry surrounds students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who—as we’ve seen—are more likely to feel imposterism to begin with.

Remote work and imposterism

Working from home has similarly inflamed feelings of imposter syndrome. Part of this is because working virtually means we are less able to pick up on unspoken cues that put our performance into perspective. Not only do isolating situations make it worse, but so do high-stress situations such as trying to get your work done while your kids are in the background. In times of stress, “you are likely to weaponize those biases against yourself in stressful situations, buying into the (false) idea that you’re not cut out for college or parenting and working full-time.”¹⁰ Time will tell whether our feelings of imposterism mellow once the pandemic passes.

Supporting Female Mentorship at Work

How can cultivating others’ talents reduce feelings of imposter syndrome in oneself and others? Focusing on mentorship between women at work, this article broaches the topic of how professional women can be biased against other women, and what we can do to fix that.

Implicit Bias, Gender – And Why We Are All Culprits

Imposter syndrome goes hand-in-hand with, and often amplifies, feelings of discrimination. This article delves into the toxicity of gender bias, specifically towards transgender men, and discusses ways to combat our biases in a meaningful way.

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