Could Imposter Syndrome Have an Upside? Here's What Scientists Say

Someone with imposter syndrome usually doubts their competencies and skills due to perfectionism and the social context. But research reported in the Harvard Business Review indicates that imposter thoughts are also correlated to an interpersonal benefit.

Basima Tewfik at MIT's Sloan School of Management discussed their results which showed that doctors in training who had more imposter thoughts were more likely to have better interpersonal skills, especially when dealing with patients. Tewfik pointed out that imposter syndrome could make people more likable and people-oriented.

(Photo : Unsplash/Mulyadi)
Could Imposter Syndrome Have an Upside? Here's What Scientists Say

What Is Imposter Syndrome

According to Verywell Mind, imposter syndrome is an internal experience of perceiving oneself as not as competent as other people view them. In simple terms, it is the experience of feeling like a phony, as if one does not deserve their current position. This feeling can be experienced by anyone no matter their social status, background, skill level, or degree of expertise.

Psychologists Suzanna Imes and Pauline Rose Clance first used the term imposter syndrome in the 1970s and were thought to only apply to high-achieving women. Later, people realized that it could apply to anyone.

Imposter syndrome can be characterized by self-doubt, inability to assess one's competence and skill, attributing one's success to external factors, berating own performance, fearing not being able to live up to others' expectations, overachieving, and sabotaging own success.

The Upside of Imposter Syndrome

Although imposter syndrome is usually viewed as negative, Tewfik's research reveals that there is also an upside to it. Science Alert reported that the analysis of 3,603 employees across four different studies and experiments showed that those with imposter syndrome are more likely to be good team players with strong interpersonal skills.

Researchers explain that there is something about that feeling of inadequacy that makes people try extra hard with other people in their workplace. Tewfik says that people with workplace imposter thoughts are more people-oriented, so they have higher interpersonal effectiveness.

These positive impacts do not have adverse effects on their work. In the study among doctors with imposter syndrome, patients tend to rate them as more empathic, better listeners, and better at getting information from patients.

These results imply that workplace imposter thoughts lead to compensatory mechanisms, although the damage it can do to mental health should not be downplayed. Tewfik noted that there might be scenarios where a positive outcome may not be present, especially when interpersonal interaction is required.

Additionally, the data gathered suggests that imposter thoughts are not permanent since people tend to become more established in their positions over time. Further studies are needed to look at how imposter syndrome might relate to other areas of work.

The full findings are discussed in the study titled "The imposter Phenomenon Revisited: Examining the Relationship between Workplace imposter Thoughts and Interpersonal Effectiveness at Work," published in the Academy of Management Journal.