2.4. The history of Imposter Phenomenon
After having spent five years of observing and studying this psychological construct among their clients and students at Georgia State University, Clance and Imes coined Imposter Phenomenon in 1978. In their inaugural article titled’’ The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention’’ Clance and Imes (1978) defined Imposter Phenomenon as an experience of intellectual phoniness which appears to be particularly prevalent and intense among a select sample of high achieving women. The clinical symptoms of Imposter Phenomenon, described by authors, are ‘’ generalized anxiety, depression, lack of self-confidence and frustration related to inability to meet self-imposed…show more content… Dingman's (1987) study indicates that the relationship between social mobility and IP is different for women than it is for men. Social mobility was found to be a significant predictor of the impostor phenomenon for female subjects. That is, impostor phenomenon scores rose with an increase in social mobility scores. This finding did not hold true for male subjects. The men in this sample were not less socially mobile than the women, nor did they have lower impostor phenomenon scores. The study concluded that women who are socially mobile are more vulnerable to the impostor phenomenon, while socially-mobile men are not. No relationship was found between interest patterns on the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory and the impostor…show more content… Her study lent support to the past finding that the impostor phenomenon was related but distinguishable from self-monitoring behaviour. The relationship between self-esteem and the impostor construct was stronger than in previous research. Thus the two constructs were separate and distinguishable. To gain a better understanding of the developmental aspects of the impostor phenomenon, this study explored its relationship to birth order. First-born individuals were more likely to experience a lower intensity of impostor feelings.
Cherpas (1988) published a dissertation to further establish “the construct validity of the imposter phenomenon”. Cherpas (1988) indicated that (low) self-esteem was the best predictor of the IP, contributing 28% unique variance, while self-monitoring behaviour, the attribution of one's occupational success to the domain of intelligence and ability, and measures of self-perceived occupational a typicality, ethnic background, combined, added only 12% to the predictions. Results from two factor analyses of the Imposter