{"id":11140,"date":"2018-12-12T16:32:35","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T16:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=11140"},"modified":"2018-12-12T16:32:35","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T16:32:35","slug":"michelle-obama-and-imposter-syndrome-would-the-real-imposter-please-stand-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/arts-social-sciences\/psychology\/michelle-obama-and-imposter-syndrome-would-the-real-imposter-please-stand-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Obama and imposter syndrome: Would the real imposter please stand up?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michelle Obama\u2019s admission that she suffers from imposter syndrome made the headlines<\/a> and exposes a crisis \u2013 that some of the most competent and well-liked individuals secretly fear being exposed as frauds.<\/p>\n

With 70% of people<\/a> suffering from this, Lecturer in Psychology, Dr Volker Patent<\/a>, explores why this revelation has shocked us so much, and explains in depth what imposter syndrome is and how it can be addressed.<\/p>\n

Why Michelle Obama\u2019s confession surprised us<\/h2>\n

Michelle Obama\u2019s disclosure that she suffers from imposter syndrome has made the headlines. Here is a lawyer, a university administrator and writer. She is married to the previous president of the United States, Barack Obama, and she was – and in many ways still is – at the centre of world politics, and history.<\/p>\n

It is a surprising revelation because successful people rarely disclose their feelings in such a public way and most of the battle against the inner imposter occurs in private.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Imposter syndrome isn\u2019t restricted to women<\/h2>\n

\"AlbertThe concept of the imposter phenomenon or syndrome was first identified in 1978 by psychotherapists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes who studied it in high achieving women.<\/p>\n

However, impostor syndrome is not restricted to women, but found in all groups of high achievers, and is based on the fear that others might discover one to be a fraud, of not deserving of praise and rewards one is receiving.<\/p>\n

What people feel \u2013 it\u2019s about a threat to reputation<\/h2>\n

What people experience is a feeling of being phoney and a fear of being exposed. When people are successful, they can attribute this to their internal strengths, or attribute it to external causes.<\/p>\n

The problem of feeling like an imposter arises because of faulty internalisation of one\u2019s own success and achievements.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It should be noted that individuals often do not label the experience of imposter syndrome as such and many of the underlying processes play out more subconsciously. What rises to the surface more often is the emotional experience and feeling under-confident, anxious and stressed, while self-deprecating and avoiding opportunities, rather than a definite suspicion that they may be an imposter.<\/p>\n

People generally want to be trusted by others, because to be trusted means others can rely on us and reciprocally we can rely on them. This is why imposter syndrome is fundamentally about a threat to our reputation and standing within our community. It embodies the fear that we might suddenly lose the trust others have placed in us. In this way, imposter syndrome is a reputational fear except that this fear is entirely unrealistic and unjustified.<\/p>\n

Imposter syndrome is rooted in childhood experiences<\/h2>\n

Clance and Imes in their original paper distinguished between two main types of origins that are rooted in family experiences. The first group grow up in families with a sibling who is regarded as the \u2018bright, intelligent\u2019 one. The child developing imposter syndrome is labelled as the \u2018sensitive and socially adept one\u2019. As a result, there is a growing belief that they cannot ever match the accomplishments of the brighter sibling.<\/p>\n

\"imposterAt the same time they rebel at this label, but despite proving the myth wrong through their academic achievements, the family myth prevails. They can never be the bright one. This process continues into adulthood and the sense of \u2018being intelligent and successful\u2019 cannot compete with the expectation of being sensitive, socially adept but not as intelligent as their sibling despite evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n

The belief that they are less intelligent leads to the belief that their success must be undeserved.<\/p>\n

The path to imposter syndrome for the second group is based on excessively high expectation. The child is told and learns that they can succeed at everything they want because they possess extraordinary abilities. The family myth is reinforced with every retelling of stories that confirm this myth. However, the experience of the child does not match the myth when they encounter difficulties in their achievements.<\/p>\n

Being pinned in-between the reality of their achievement struggles and meeting their family\u2019s expectation, the realisation that they cannot have everything results in an internalisation that they must be dumb. Instead of being bright they must be a fake.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Adults are people-pleasers<\/h2>\n

Adults who suffer imposter syndrome continue to experience these conflict between their experience and their self-beliefs and identity.<\/p>\n

In order to manage feelings of not being good enough and the threat of exposure, they compensate by working harder, longer, seek out more qualifications, and avoid situations that draw attention to their skills. Also they use their abilities and relationship skills to manage their fears and gain some approval and recognition from others. However, this risks misattributing approval to charm, likability, friendship, rather than to one\u2019s skills and achievements.<\/p>\n

The consequences of imposter syndrome<\/h2>\n

Ultimately it is unknown how much impostor syndrome impacts on the economy through lost opportunity and costs. Available research highlights several consequences to the individual as well as to the organisation<\/p>\n