People who systematically underestimate themselves and their performance suffer from a condition called Impostor Syndrome (or Impostor Phenomenon). They think that any success is due to external circumstances or just luck and coincidence. They live in constant fear that their “dishonesty” will be exposed. Now, in a new study published in Personality and Individual Differences, psychologists at Halle-Wittenberg – Martin Luther University (MLU) show for the first time that the phenomenon is independent of age, gender and intelligence, even in real-life situations. Until now, the phenomenon has only been studied on the basis of surveys or individual cases.
It is common for people to question their abilities from time to time. “A healthy amount of reflection and self-doubt can prevent one from acting rashly,” explains Kay Brauer from the MLU Institute of Psychology. But even when people are performing well, such as getting good grades or getting positive feedback at work, there are still people who have a huge amount of self-doubt all the time. “They think that all their success is not a product of their own skills or hard work. Instead, they attribute their success to external circumstances such as luck or coincidence, or they believe that their performance is massively exaggerated by other people. Failures, on the other hand, are always internalized as the result of their own inadequacies,” adds Brauer. These people suffer from a condition called the Phenomenon of Dishonesty.
This personality trait has so far only been studied in case studies. “These studies determine how strongly participants agree with various theoretical statements, such as that they find it difficult to accept praise or that they fear not being able to repeat what they have achieved,” explains Brauer. The psychologists at the MLU, on the other hand, examined this issue in real-life situations for the first time. Seventy-six participants were given a series of intelligence tests, and received positive feedback regardless of their actual performance. They were then asked why they thought they had done so well.
The study found two things: first, that the self-reported degree of Dishonesty Phenomenon was not related to the actual intelligence or performance measured. Second, the test supports the hypothesis that people with a tendency towards the Dishonesty Phenomenon devalue their objectively measured performance and attribute positive results to external causes such as luck and coincidence, rather than to their own ability. “The results are also completely independent of age and gender,” says Kay Brauer.
The persistent underestimation of one’s own abilities is often accompanied by the fear that this supposed intellectual ‘deception’ will eventually be exposed and a price paid. Impostor Syndrome was first described in 1978 by American psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes. They observed that the number of successful women who did not think they were very intelligent was particularly high. “Impostor Syndrome is not defined as a mental illness,” says Brauer, who hopes the new study will lay the groundwork for possible interventions. “But people who suffer from it show a higher predisposition to depression.” Tailored training programs could help improve the self-esteem, job satisfaction and general well-being of those affected.
