Abstract
Clance and Imes describe the impostor phenomenon — an internal experience of intellectual phoniness in high-achieving women that persists despite outstanding accomplishments — and outline family dynamics, societal sex-role stereotyping, and four maintenance factors, with therapeutic approaches that shift the impostor self-concept.
Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15(3), 241–247. DOI
Key findings
- Phoniness despite evidence — Outstanding academic and professional achievements do not dislodge the belief that success was luck or fooling others.
- Original sample frame — First described intensively in high-achieving women — later reviews broadened prevalence across genders and professions.
- Maintenance factors — Four dynamics keep impostor feelings active over time (gender stereotype introjection, family messages, attribution patterns, selective comparison).
- Therapeutic shift — Clinical approaches target the impostor self-concept directly — not reassurance alone — through reframing attributions and exposure to owned competence.
Limits
Small clinical sample and 1978 gender frame — foundational construct paper, not a modern prevalence study. Bravata’s systematic review maps wider bands and comorbidity; do not treat Clance as today’s base-rate estimate.
Application
When someone treats impostor feelings as proof they are uniquely unqualified, open this note for the original mechanism frame — persistent misattribution despite evidence — then pair Impostor syndrome with bounded public reps, not global self-doubt.