The sense that success was luck, and that you will be found out. A feeling pattern, not a measure of competence.
About this test
Pauline Clance described the impostor phenomenon: an internal experience of intellectual phoniness in people whose external record does not match the fear. Later work finds it across genders and careers, with themes of discounting success, fear of evaluation, and overworking to prevent discovery. It is not a diagnosis in the manuals. These items are original. A high score means the feeling was easy to endorse. It says nothing about whether you are actually competent.
Question 1 of 11
What this test asks
When something goes well, my first explanation is timing, charm, or someone else's lowered standard.
I worry that people will discover I do not know enough to be where I am.
Praise makes me uneasy, because I may not be able to repeat the result.
I can name the work I did that earned a result.
I compare my private worry with other people's finished surface, and I lose.
I over-prepare so that nobody gets to see me struggle.
In a new room, I assume I am the least qualified person there until proven otherwise.
I can be a beginner at something without feeling I have been falsely admitted.
Evidence that I am competent is easy for me to set aside.
A compliment or a promotion feels like a higher place to fall from.
When I struggle, I can still believe I belong in the room.
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