According to the Harvard Business Review, imposter syndrome is broadly defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. People with this syndrome often feel their achievements are due to luck and fear that they do not have the right skills to succeed. It is also associated with the concern that they will be discovered as a “fake.” It is estimated that approximately 70% of the U.S population suffers from it, and it disproportionally affects high-achieving people. Imposter syndrome can lead to mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression. For people who have this syndrome, performance in a professional setting can be severely impaired and contributes to the gender pay gap, costing businesses billions of dollars. Students often doubt their own academic ability due to highly competitive environments. The goal of this project was to evaluate imposter syndrome related Reddit posts between March 2021 and April 2021 in order to inform the development of a future survey.

1. Imposter Among Us: A Qualitative
Analysis of Imposter Syndrome Posts on
Reddit
Abhaya Chopra

2. Background

3. “Imposter syndrome is loosely defined as doubting your abilities and feeling
like a fraud. It disproportionately affects high-achieving people, who find it
difficult to accept their accomplishments” - Harvard Business Review

4. 70%
Roughly 229,600,000 people in the United States

5. Why is this a problem?
Symptoms
● Constant fear of being “found
out”
● Inability to internalize success
● Self-doubt
● Sabotaging your own success
● Overachieving
● Paralysis
Impacts
● Worsened anxiety and
depression
● Higher stress levels among
employees and students
● Increased risk of burnout
● Decreased performance

6. ● 56% Not spoken up with my ideas or kept quiet when I
knew I had the answers
● 31% Not completed important projects
● 62% I get stuck in negative thinking / inner critic
● 37% Not asked for a pay rise I knew I had earned
Bottom Line: lowered productivity due to
imposter syndrome can cost business millions

7. My Project

8. My Questions
- How does imposter syndrome impact people’s life?
- Does imposter syndrome present itself differently for men and
women in a business undergraduate student population?

9. Approach
Artist
1. Reddit
2. Lit Review
General student feelings analysis
(45)
Focus more on impacts on business
(10)
Focus specifically on business students

10. 2. Lit Review

11. Challenge

14. “I'm a graduate student doing MS in Business
Analytics (first sem), did my bachelors in
Computer Science & Engineering (2020 pass
out) ... I feel like I don't belong here. Everyone
around is smarter than me, I feel insecure,
anxious, and dumb around them.”
Work

15. “I realized my anxiety and hopelessness were
at an all time high at my new job. They're very
excited to have me! Which has triggered some
MASSIVE imposter syndrome.”
Feelings

16. “It seems so paradoxical but I’m guessing it’s
basically I see the award as a statement of
‘we’ve got our eyes on you now buddy, don’t
f**k it up cause we’re watching.’”
External Perceptions

17. “Got employee of the month last month and
then just decided to fully shut down. I wasn’t
sure why I received it and then spiraled into
thinking I couldn’t live up to what I had already
done.”
Symptoms

18. ● Often accompanied by people comparing themselves to
others
● Many people face it when starting new jobs or receiving
an award
● Many are not sure if they have it
● Fear of meeting others’ expectations
● Very prevalent in business and STEM
Interesting Patterns

19. 2

22. Limitations
● Unable to determine gender through the posts
● Could be more business, STEM, and student users on Reddit
● Unable to include visual data
● Could not assess the exact number of people who relate to the posts

23. Lit
Review
- Women were twenty times more likely than
men to talk to their colleagues or friends
about it
- Men were five times more likely than
women to turn to medication and alcohol,
to drown out the stress and anxiety it
causes.
- Both men and women reported that their
immediate reaction was to work harder and
longer hours, but that this increased their
stress and anxiety levels,

25. Competitive academic environments are associated with higher levels of anxiety
and stress and often lead students to doubt their competence
“Perceived classroom competition predicted greater daily feelings of being an
imposter in class among all students, on average, which in turn, predicted lower
engagement, lower attendance, more dropout intentions, and lower grades”
Impostor feelings are significantly negatively correlated with psychological well-being
and positively correlated with depression and anxiety.
My Thoughts:
Students who move to a bigger school for college may be faced with
more competition and therefore increased risk of imposter syndrome

26. - Developed a survey to assess
differences in men and women
- Received pointers on my
survey from Clare Josa
- Attended seminar on imposter
syndrome
Survey

28. Future Survey
- Determine differences between men and
women in an undergraduate business student
population
- Must differentiate between self-doubt and
Imposter syndrome
- Need to use comparison statements
- Must account for grade level

29. Next Steps
Create the Survey
Develop questions and implement
the survey
Generate Support
● Separate support groups for men and women
● Organizational validation
● Workshops on managing Imposter Syndrome
● Spread awareness

30. Andrew Ariel Ioannis
The
Fellows

31. Bibliography
● Tulshyan, Ruchika, and Jodi-Ann Burey. “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome.” Harvard Business Review, 31 Mar.
2021, hbr.org/2021/02/stop-telling-women-they-have-imposter-syndrome.
● Croteau, Jeanne. “Imposter Syndrome -- Why It's Harder Today than Ever.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 28 June 2021,
www.forbes.com/sites/jeannecroteau/2019/04/04/imposter-syndrome-why-its-harder-today-than-ever/?sh=64a40ece9ac5.
● Cuncic, Arlin. “How to Stop Feeling like an Outsider When You Have Social Anxiety.” Verywell Mind, 26 Feb. 2021,
www.verywellmind.com/imposter-syndrome-and-social-anxiety-disorder-4156469.
● Bravata, Dena M., et al. “Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: A Systematic Review.” Journal of General
Internal Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 17 Dec. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7174434//.
● Josa, Clare. “How Is Imposter Syndrome Affecting Businesses?” Ditching Imposter Syndrome, 2019,
ditchingimpostersyndrome.s3.amazonaws.com/Nov+2019+Imposter+Syndrome+White+Paper+-+Clare+Josa.pdf?utm_source=Activ
eCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Imposter+Syndrome+Research%3A+White+Paper&utm_campaign=H
ere+s+your+gift.
● Burnford, Joy. “Rethinking Leadership through a Gender Lens.” My Confidence Matters, 2020,
static1.squarespace.com/static/5a56011f268b9649237ca29f/t/5fbf7202f3de5e49b55d66f7/1606382098544/Rethinking+Leadership+t
hrough+a+Gender+Lens.+New+ways+of+working+resulting+from+Covid-19..pdf.
● Elizabeth A. Canning, Jennifer LaCosse. “Feeling like an Imposter: The Effect of Perceived Classroom Competition on the Daily
PSYCHOLOGICAL Experiences of First-Generation College Students - Elizabeth A. Canning, Jennifer LACOSSE, Kathryn M.
KROEPER, Mary C. Murphy, 2020.” SAGE Journals, 19 Nov. 2019, journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550619882032.