Impostor Phenomenon Essay

The Imposter Phenomenon: Fake like Feelings

Abstract
The Imposter Phenomenon term is defined by psychologists Dr. Pauline Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes in 1978. It may be defined as fake like feeling, which persists in any individual. Basically, it is feeling that you are not really successful, competent, and smart, that is only posing such. The person who have the feelings of Imposter, attributed their success to luck, by chance and evenly discounting their success. Researcher in this article tried to study the Imposter Phenomenon among male and female by studying the previous literature. Key Words: Imposter Phenomenon, Gender and fear of Failure and Success.
Introduction
The imposter phenomenon (IP) is a term used to describe a person’s chronic
Imposters are typically high-achievers, though their lingering insecurities often frustrate their ability to function optimally and with joy (Clance & O ’Toole, 1988). Imposters fear they have achieved beyond their capabilities and intellect, and feel they must continue to function above themselves to avoid detection as the frauds they believe they are. The impostor phenomenon represents a collection of symptoms that reflect individuals misattribution of success and failure (Clance & O'Toole, 1988). The Imposter phenomenon was first described by clinicians who noted that a large number of their competent, and often successful, female patients reported disproportionate levels of anxiety over their performance at work (Clance & Imes, 1978). Most of these women showed an inability to attribute their achievements to their ability. Instead of ability, impostors tended to attribute their achievernents to factors such as luck, effort, aspects of their self-presentation (e.g., friendliness, helpfulness, etc.), or their interpersonal skills. Accordingly, impostors expressed a fear of failure. They feared that failure would expose them as incompetent and that others recognize them that, they are frauds. Clance and Imes (1978)
They engage in these behavior in order to create a context for achievement whereby potential multiple causes can mask the dreaded discovery of self-perceived lack of ability. As a result, when they do succeed, impostors scribe their achievements to their cunning adeptness in the interpersonal arena rather than to their ability. Finally, Clance and Imes (1978) postulated that impostors invoke feelings of fraudulence as a way of coping with what Horner (1972) termed "fear of success". Briefly fear of success refers to the anxiety women face when their sex-role identity is dissonant with their success in a male-dominated domain. Thus, by discounting success that is incongruent with their sex-appropriate identity, the Imposter Phenomenon becomes the antidote to interna1