Is imposter syndrome an imposter diagnosis? Framing, internalizing, and self-fulfilling prophecies in student achievement.

Abstract

When a person should experience feelings of worthiness and belonging to a group or organization but does not, it has been labeled as imposter syndrome. The prevalence of imposter syndrome as a diagnostic label, along with interventions to address it, have risen at an accelerating rate in the past decade. This senior thesis reviews the psychological literature on imposter syndrome, including clinical diagnoses and pseudo-clinical diagnoses of large populations (e.g. first generation low-income college students), along with interventions modeled as treatment. In doing so, this paper illustrates how the normalization of imposter syndrome to minority undergraduate students may diffuse the responsibility of institutions to create supportive environments for students of diverse cultural backgrounds, and instead psychologically burden minority students with the pressure to conform. The experience of first-generation low-income college students at Princeton University is implemented as a case study to evaluate this critique, with aims to broaden the definition of imposter syndrome to incorporate social philosophies like individualism that perpetuate harmful narratives about this phenomenon. A comprehensive review with this framework is under-utilized in imposter syndrome research, and therefore, a critical analysis of the current landscape of imposter syndrome interventions is conducted in this paper. Here, the potential benefits and drawbacks of these interventions are considered, and alternative approaches for addressing this phenomenon are proposed.