Impostor Phenomenon Questionnaire

Impostor-Profile 30

This scientific questionnaire has been validated in peer-reviewed journals and is freely available for scientific and practical use.

Attributes

The Impostor-Profile 30 (IPP) is the first validated multidimensional instrument for simultaneously measuring the impostor phenomenon’s facets and general expression.

Multidimensional

The Impostor-Profile comprises six subscales and one general scale. The bifactor model allows for measuring facetts and a general expression.

Languages

The Impostor-Profile is validated in English and German. We are currently working on the translation of the instrument into Czech, Italian, Romanian and Russian.

Scientific use

We have validated and expanded the Impostor profile in various studies.

Multidimensional measurement of the impostor expression.

Scientists and practitioners are encouraged to employ the Impostor-Profile. The profile demonstrates robust validity, as evidenced by high correlations with convergent constructs such as the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Its ability to simultaneously measure subscales enables a more nuanced assessment of impostor expression, contributing to an objective evaluation.

Scientific studies – Overview

Validation & Measurment invariance between genders

In this article, we have examined the structure of the impactor profile and determined that the bifactorial model has the best model fit. We also investigated gender differences and extended the nomological network of the construct.

Initial construction of the Impostor-Profile

This article reports on the construction process of the Impostor-Profile. This first article contains the Impostor-Profile in its first version with a total of 31 items and conducts an exploratory, confirmatory factor analysis as well as correlation studies with the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Big 5.

The influence of the Impostor Phenomenon on performance attribution

In this study, we experimentally investigated how the impostor expression affects the attribution of performance feedback. It was found that people with high impostor expression have a maladaptive attribution style and attribute positive performance in an external-unstable manner and negative performance in an internal-stable manner.

Etiological model for explaining the emergence of the Impostor Phenomenon and validation

In this article, we validate the English version of the Impostor-Profile and show that the bifactorial model also has the best model quality here. In this article, we formulate an exploratory explanatory model of the impostor phenomenon in which labeling in childhood leads to the development of a fixed mindset, which increases learned helplessness. A further consequence is the development of the superstitious control belief that defensive pessimism is an implicitly perceived prerequisite for success.

Examining the congruence between the external and self perception of impostors

This study examines whether a heightened impostor expression is associated with a judge’s assessment. The profile agreement was inversely correlated with the IPP total score, Competence Doubt, Alienation, and Other-Self Divergence (r = ≤ −0.29, p < 0.001), indicating reduced accuracy among judges when confronted with a heightened impostor expression. However, these relationships disappear once controlling for stereotype effects. Overall, this study reveals a negative association between the impostor expression and the other-self agreement, supporting the biasing self-presentation of impostors in the eye of others.

The validation of the swedish IPP30 by Doshi et al., 2024

Their abstract: The Impostor Profile scale (IPP30) is a recently developed tool designed to delve into the nuanced aspects of the Impostor Phenomenon (IP), a psychological phenomenon where individuals wrongly attribute their successes to external factors, discounting their own abilities and often feeling like frauds. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties, including factor structure, internal consistency, and nomological validity, of the Swedish version of IPP30 (S-IPP30) […]

The association of the impostor phenomenon with social media use and online self-presentation

This study explores the online behaviors of individuals experiencing the impostor phenomenon, revealing they often present themselves as less authentic and more adaptable online. These individuals show a marked preference for online communication and self-presentation, with the impostor expression emerging as the primary predictor of online self-presentation behaviors. Additionally, self-esteem partially mediates the impact of the impostor phenomenon on authentic online self-representation. These findings suggest that the impostor phenomenon significantly influences how individuals manage their online personas, often prioritizing adaptability over authenticity.

This study aimed to confirmatorily examine the English IPP and develop an explanatory model of the IP that links previous study results and theoretically derived construct intersections. Mindset develop as a core meaning system in childhood, with person-related praise (praise for intelligence) leading to a fixed mindset and process-related praise (praise for effort) leading to a growth mindset (Mueller & Dweck, 1998). Therefore, as the first component of our model, we investigated whether participants who were labelled very talented during their childhood by parents, teachers, and peers, reported a stronger fixed mindset. According to the model, this resulting fixed mindset then influences the expression of learned helplessness because of the relation with performance goals, internal attribution of failure, and reduced performance in the face of failure. Learned helplessness is the central component in the model, reducing perseverance and therefore grit as well (Duckworth et al., 2007).