The psychologists described the symptoms of the imposter phenomenon as “generalized anxiety, lack of self-confidence, depression, and frustration related to inability to meet self-imposed standards of achievement.” Respondents felt that they were always on the verge of being found out as a fraud who is not actually intelligent or worthy of success and praise, no matter how much they had achieved.
The researchers described 4 common behavior patterns used by women who felt imposter syndrome.
Diligence and Hard Work
According to the researchers, many people are conditioned as children to believe that intelligence is being able to do things with ease. To get high test scores without studying, for example. Out of constant fear that their lack of “intelligence” would be exposed, many respondents dove head-first into hard work, study, and preparation so that no one would be able to tell the difference. After their hard work pays off with excellent performance and praise from their peers, they receive a temporary high before falling back into the cycle of feeling like a phony because of how much effort it takes them to achieve results. They develop “an unstated but vaguely aware belief that if she were to think she could succeed she would actually fail. Her belief takes on the quality of a magic ritual, which will guarantee at least an overt success.”
Self-Censorship
The second behavioral pattern involves withholding or downplaying your personal thoughts and endorsing the thoughts of others. This stems from the belief that you are an imposter, and because of that your thoughts must, by definition, be unworthy compared to your peers. This “intellectual flattery” can take many forms such as staying silent in a meeting even though you have an opposing viewpoint, or simply saying what you know your boss wants to hear.
Seeking Approval through Personality
The third pattern noted by the researchers involves “using charm and perceptiveness to win the approval of superiors”. Essentially, a person feeling imposter syndrome may strive to be popular socially and then turn that into being intellectually respected. “Typically, she believes, ‘I am stupid,’ but at another level she believes she is brilliant, creative, and special if only the right person would discover her genius and thereby help her believe in her intellect.” This can manifest itself several ways. They may find a person they respect and try to impress that person by being extremely friendly, funny, noticing everything they can about that person, learning about something they care deeply about, helping them solve personal problems, or even becoming flirtatious/romantically involved. Once the relationship is established and the intellectual respect is eventually earned, there are 2 harmful potential outcomes noted by the researchers: 1) The person feeling imposter syndrome believes that any praise they get from their mentor is now based on their personality and not their intelligence, sending them on the search for a new mentor and restarting the cycle or 2) the person feeling imposter syndrome believes if they were really intelligent then they wouldn’t need outside approval, and since they are seeking approval they clearly are a fraud.
