What Is Impostor Syndrome? Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostor-ism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud". Impostor syndrome refers to an internal experience of believing that we are not as competent as others perceive us to be . While this definition is usually narrowly applied to intelligence and achievement, it has links to perfectionism and the social context . To put it simply, impostor syndrome is the experience of feeling like a phony —we feel as though at any moment we are going to be found out as a fraud—like we do not belong where we are, and we only got there through dumb luck. It can affect anyone no matter their social status, work background, skill level, or degree of expertise. Impostor syndrome is different from the standard “fake it until you make it” in th
A Compendium of Concepts