Fear of Fraudulence: Graduate School Program Environments and the Impostor Phenomenon

Abstract

Those who suffer from impostorism experience feelings of fraudulence, worrying that they are fooling others about their abilities and that they will eventually be exposed. While prior research emphasizes the trait-like durability of impostor personalities, we argue that impostorism is sensitive to experiences in proximate social environments, such as graduate school programs. The authors examine the relationship between perceived characteristics of graduate school program environments and students’ impostor feelings using survey data from a large university (N = 1,476). Results demonstrate that students’ perceptions of lower-quality mentorship, increased competition, and increased isolation are associated with more frequent impostor fears. The authors discuss the consequences of impostorism in academia and review implications for program policies and future research.