Not all ‘impostors’ are created equal: A dimensional, person-centered, and theory-based analysis of medical students

Figures & data

Table 1. Standardized loadings for the three-factor model of the CIPS items.

Item # and actual CIPS item	1 fake	2 luck	3 discount
14. I’m often afraid I may fail at a new assignment or undertaking, even though I generally do well at what I attempt	.810
18. I often worry about not succeeding with a project or examination, even though others around me have considerable confidence I will do well	.794
17. I often compare my ability to those around me and think they may be more intelligent than I am	.721
13. Sometimes I’m afraid others will discover how much knowledge or ability I really lack	.705
6. I’m afraid people important to me may find out that I’m not as capable as they think I am	.703
15. When I have succeeded at something and received recognition for my accomplishments, I have doubts that I can keep repeating that success	.642
7. I tend to remember the incidents in which I have not done my best more than those times I have done my best	.541
20. I feel bad and discouraged if I’m not ‘the best’ or at least ‘very special’ in situations that involve achievement	.533
3. I avoid evaluations if possible and have a dread of others evaluating me	.506
8. I rarely do a task or project as well as I’d like to do it	.403
11. At times, I feel my success has been due to some kind of luck		.773
5. I sometimes think I obtained my present position or gained my present success because I happened to be in the right place at the right time or knew the right people		.760
9. Sometimes I feel or believe that my success in my life or in my job has been the result of some kind of error		.675
2. I can give the impression that I’m more competent than I really am		.533
16. If I receive a great deal of praise and recognition for something I’ve accomplished, I tend to discount the importance of what I’ve done			.712
10. It’s hard for me to accept compliments or praise about my intelligence or accomplishments			.705
19. If I’m going to receive a promotion or gain recognition of some kind, I hesitate to tell others until it is an accomplished fact			.648

Note: Items 1, 4, and 12 were excluded from in the final EFA solution.

Figure 1. Medical student IP clusters based on 3-factor CIPS structure.

Table 2. Summary of the four IP profiles and their unique features in medical students.

Cluster / Profile	n (%) of students	Main IP characteristics	Main motivational features
1. Disbelievers	69 (25%)	–Feel that their success is primarily due to luck –Otherwise, do not feel like a fake or discount achievements	–Have a strong external locus of control (believe that their successes are primarily due to external factors, such as luck or error)
2. Total impostors	97 (35%)	–Moderate to high levels of all three dimensions of IP: feeling like a fake discounting their achievements attributing success to luck	–Prone to be impersonally orientated and to experience amotivation, anxiety, and feelings of incompetence –Controllingly motivated in their medical training (based on external and internal pressures) –Sense of competence and autonomy satisfaction is low
3. Fakers	60 (22%)	–Strongly feel like a fake, with less attribution of success to luck, but moderate discounting of success –Downplay abilities out of ego-defense (to increase social acceptance and external praise)	–Higher controlled motivation, with high prevalence of introjection (internal pressure) –Lowest in competence and relatedness satisfaction; hence the need to prove themselves
4. Discounters	51 (18%)	–Discount achievements but neither feel like a fake, nor attribute success to luck –Growth (over performance) oriented, preferring to deflect attention from themselves	–Autonomously motivated, with high levels of need satisfaction –Have a strong internal perceived locus of control (belief that their success is primarily self-determined) –Discount achievement for the sake of relatedness, autonomy, and self-verification

Data availability statement

The dataset from this research is available upon reasonable request.