Episode 1

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Published on:

15th Jan 2024

Behind the "Imposter" Label: Unmasking the Systemic Roots of Self-Doubt

Unmasking the "Imposter": Why Self-Doubt Isn't Your Fault, It's the System's

Forget "syndrome," psychologist Leila Ainge is calling imposter feelings what they truly are: a pervasive phenomenon fueled by the digital age. Leila's groundbreaking research, featuring interviews with successful entrepreneurs, reveals the surprising culprits behind your self-doubt – online comparisons, relentless competition, and the pressure of constant visibility.

Dive deep with Leila, as she empowers you to recognize these external forces for what they are: the fuel for your inner critic. This insightful opening episode of Psychologically Speaking is a breath of fresh air for anyone who's ever been crippled by self-doubt. Join Leila as she reframes the narrative and rewrites the rulebook on conquering the "imposter" within.

Connect with Leila online at www.leilaainge.co.uk and subscribe to her newsletter for psychological insights direct to your inbox.

Psychologically Speaking is produced by Buckers at Decibelle Creative / @decibelle_creative  

Transcript
Leila Ainge:

Welcome to psychologically speaking with me,

Leila Ainge:

Leila Ainge This is a podcast

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all about human behaviour, weaving

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together fascinating research, opinions, and real

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life experiences. I'll give you a psychologist's

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insight into how we behave in spaces we live

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and work in, and how they in turn, shape

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us. You this season, we're exploring

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my favorite topic, impostor phenomenon.

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So get comfy and let's dive into today's

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episode.

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Welcome to the first episode in this

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series of psychologically speaking, where we'll

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take a look at the impostor phenomenon backstory

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and the narratives around one of the most talked about

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experiences in business.

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Impostor phenomenon is characterized

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as self doubt, attributing success to luck,

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and a fear of failure or being found

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out. In almost every

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article you'll read about Impostor, the story

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you're being told is one where you need to overcome

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impostor syndrome. It's a narrative

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that I became increasingly uncomfortable with.

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What I was noticing with my own clients

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were the experiences and spaces that heightened

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self doubt or feeling lucky, and that risk of

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exposure more than others. I was

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curious about the syndrome narrative.

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Does it accurately describe the experience

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of impostor? Curiously,

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for one of the most talked about experiences in business,

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there was very little research on the way

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entrepreneurs and people who own their own

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businesses experienced impostor

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feelings. Throughout this series, I'm

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going to use the phrase phenomenon, and I'll be talking about

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impostor experiences and feelings.

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What we call the experience is

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important. A syndrome and a phenomenon are

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two very different things. A syndrome

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indicates that there's something wrong. It's a set of

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signs or symptoms. And usually a

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syndrome is something that we try to fix with either

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medication or therapy.

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Importantly, though, a syndrome suggests that

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the issue lies with the individual.

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My research really challenges that thinking.

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And to be clear, medically,

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impostor syndrome does not exist. So

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why is everyone calling it that syndrome?

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is admittedly easier to say than phenomenon.

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But to understand why impostor is more commonly thought of as

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a syndrome, we'd need to take a look at how it's been

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researched in the past.

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Impostor phenomenon started with a series of clinical

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observations. Back in 1979,

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two psychologists, Pauline Clance and Suzanne

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Ives, were seeing women in their clinics who were

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intellectually at the top of their game, high achievers.

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These women were worried about failing, getting caught

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out. They felt lucky rather than being

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talented. They used the word

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phenomenon to describe the enigma of these

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experiences being associated with successful

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women, these three broad

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feelings became associated with the impostor

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phenomenon. Through clansonime's work. In

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fact, a recent review of all of the studies that have

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happened since 1979, these

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are still the three key areas that we associate

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with impostor. The narrative

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hasn't changed much in 46 years,

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and I want you to consider one reason for that.

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The way in which we think of and measure the

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impostor experience has been pretty consistent for

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that time, too.

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The idea that these feelings

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belonged to the women in their minds,

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rather than being a consequence of

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the situational context, is interesting to

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me, and I think it helps to explain why

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syndrome seems to fit the phenomenon. We

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should also consider that despite the term phenomenon being

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used in the original study, the narratives of

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that decade most likely influenced

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interpretation. So earlier in the

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1970s, the term fear of success

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had been coined by Martina Horner.

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Martina, also a psychologist, had set an

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exercise for men and women, and, she'd had them finish

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writing a story queue about being successful in a

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medical setting. Now, remember, back in the

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1970s, not many women made it

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into the top of medical professions.

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A key difference between the men and women in that

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study were the ways in which negative imagery was

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used more by women. When writing about the

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success of a woman, Martina

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concluded that women had what she thought of

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as a trade off mindset. When it came to

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success, the success was synonymous for

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women with making big life changes and sacrifices.

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Of course, these narratives and negative

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stories still exist. Women are unfairly

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judged on balancing careers and family life in

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comparison to men. Thinking about the

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cultural tone that existed when the original research took

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place is useful, though, because it helped me to

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think about posing different questions to understand the

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impostor experience.

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So how do we measure an,

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enigma? Typically, impostor

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phenomenon is measured through a diagnostic

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questionnaire. The Clantz impostor scale

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is just one example. And one of their

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statements says, sometimes I'm afraid others

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will discover how much knowledge or ability I really

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lack, and there'll be a rating with that

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statement. So that's something you always experience

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or rarely experience. But what

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does sometimes or rarely mean? And, which

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situations? What's the context?

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I want to know when they felt that

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way, were they writing a report? Were they sat in a

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boardroom? Or were they doing their thing on

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Instagram live? Because these situations,

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they are so different. I think another

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problem with diagnostics is that, trying to determine

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how much of a problem that person has,

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it's what's wrong with them. It puts the emphasis back

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on that individual rather than the situations they are

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experiencing. I'd like you to

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consider, that impostor feels more at home

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alongside the word phenomenon than it does

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syndrome. There's a lot about

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impostor that's still unexplained, and

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largely because we've not been asking the right questions.

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This is what motivated me to talk to the

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entrepreneurial community, because here you've got

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a group of people who are putting themselves out there and

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taking huge, big risks. Running

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a business is not easy.

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So how do entrepreneurs experience impostor

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phenomenon? Surely they need to be the

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opposite of somebody who's got self doubt or fear of

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exposure and thinks that they're just lucky.

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Shouldn't entrepreneurs be really self assured and

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confident, ready to put themselves into really

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awkward situations and reframe negative

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thoughts? This is what those self help

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articles in magazines are telling us we need to

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do. The types of things these articles

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tell you and me to do are, name the feelings, get

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feedback, and talk about your feelings with a coach or

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psychologist. But what

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if you are, not the problem?

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Will these tools help you to get ahead then?

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It was such an interesting opposite for

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me to think about entrepreneurs as a group,

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and it felt really obvious to say, tell me

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about your impostor feelings. Tell me about when you're

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experiencing this and, under what

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situations. I didn't want to use

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existing questionnaires. I didn't want to go around

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pseudo diagnosing people. I

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wanted to understand their experiences and say, what do

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you think? How are you making sense of this?

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Historically, men and women have not wanted to speak about

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impostor feelings with peers because it feeds the fear of

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being found out. It's a key barrier for overcoming

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feelings. When the pandemic happened, we were

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all suddenly thrust into online ways of working,

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and I was starting to observe the ways entrepreneurs

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in some online communities were creating spaces

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where it was safe to say, I've got self

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doubt. I'm really worried about putting myself out

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there. I don't want to be visible. The

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contrast with putting forward positive self image in

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other online spaces reinforced my

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idea into researching how

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entrepreneurs navigate online spaces

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and, impostor feelings.

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Here's what I found. Entrepreneurs

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experience impostor phenomenon in

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unique ways, moving beyond a fear of

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failure, feeling like a fraud, and waiting to be found

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out. The women who shared their experiences

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with me talked about visibility,

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especially where there are intersections around race

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and neurodiversity, how, they cope

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successfully with comparison using

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whatever tools social platforms provide,

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and curiously, how that comparison is so

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often inward looking. In fact, one of

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the phrases that stuck with me from the moment I

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heard it was, a woman who said, I miss her.

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I miss me. And, finally, they spoke

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candidly about competition

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in their own words. Visibility,

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comparison, and competition are at the heart of

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impostor feelings and experiences. We'll

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explore what this means and how it relates to women

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who are getting ahead and getting things done,

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because the women I spoke to had been successfully

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running businesses for an average of seven

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years, some of them more than 15.

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This is why that narrative of something being wrong with the

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individual didn't feel right to me.

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These women are getting ahead. Despite experiencing

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impostor phenomenon, they've adapted and

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created ways of coping in a space that is

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often psychologically unsafe and

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competitive.

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Today, we've looked at the impostor

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backstory, the way in which success was

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feared by women in the 1970s,

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and the current narratives that focus on

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overcoming a syndrome, which, of course, puts the

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emphasis back on the individual. I've

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asked you to consider ditching the word syndrome

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in favor of impostor phenomenon. It's

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a phrase which nicely guides us to a place where we

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consider there's more to impostor than

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overcoming our fears.

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In the next episode, I'll be introducing.

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You to a psychological term called context collapse,

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how it helps us to explain behavior in online

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spaces and why it then relates to

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impostor. M.

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That's it for today. I hope you learned something

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new, or perhaps I've given you a new way to think about

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what you experience. A quick reminder

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that rating and reviewing.

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All the podcasts you love really does.

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Help other people find them, which is especially

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appreciated by independent podcasters. For

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more psychological insights, you'll find all the ways you can connect

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with me in the show notes

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thanks for listening to psychologically speaking with me,

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Leila Ainge bye for now.

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About the Podcast

Psychologically Speaking with Leila Ainge
Psychological insights, without the jargon. Psychologist & coach Leila Ainge explores the fascinating world of human behaviour, weaving together ground-breaking research & real-life experiences.
A psychologist's insight into the fascinating world of human behaviour without the jargon, with Psychologist & coach, Leila Ainge. Blending scientific research with real experiences, Leila is on a mission to reframe outdated notions of imposter syndrome. Psychologically Speaking delves into Leila's own ground-breaking research, exploring what drives those pesky fraudulent feelings in entrepreneurs, the unexpected advantages, and how you can actually leverage imposter moments to your benefit (yes, really). This podcast is for anyone who has ever felt like a fraud, just moments away from being 'found out'.
This podcast is produced by Decibelle Creative