Imposters: The psychology of pretending to be someone you're not: Matthew Hornsey at TEDxUQ
Summary
TLDRThe script explores the phenomenon of impostorism through the story of Helen Demidenko, who falsely claimed Ukrainian heritage to gain literary acclaim. It delves into the psychology behind imposters, their motives, and societal reactions, highlighting the trust people place in others' identities and the anxiety some feel about their own perceived inadequacies, known as imposter syndrome.
Takeaways
- đ The story of Helen Demidenko (real name Helen Darville) is a case of impostorism where she falsely claimed Ukrainian heritage and wrote a novel based on fabricated experiences.
- đ Impostors often manage to maintain their deception for extended periods, sometimes despite clear evidence to the contrary, a phenomenon referred to as 'imposter blindness'.
- đ€ The motives for impostorism vary widely, including seeking fame, escaping a troubled past, or experiencing the thrill of living a different identity.
- đ Some impostors are admired for their audacity and ability to overcome societal barriers, as seen in films based on their stories.
- đ The concept of impostorism extends beyond outright deception to include those who conceal aspects of their identity to avoid persecution or judgment.
- đ€ The psychological impact of living a double life can be detrimental to well-being and self-esteem, as those with concealable stigmas often fare worse.
- đŹ Society's fascination with impostors can stem from a romanticized view of their actions and the exposure of societal vanities and pretensions.
- đźââïž Genuine group members often feel threatened by impostors, as they can undermine the group's cohesion and clear boundaries.
- đ Accusations of impostorism can be used as a tool for control or bullying, highlighting the subjective nature of identity and belonging.
- đ€Ż The imposter phenomenon, or impostor syndrome, affects many successful individuals who cannot internalize their achievements and fear being exposed as frauds.
- đ The idea of an authentic self becomes increasingly elusive as people become more adept at presenting a positive image to the world, making us all, in a way, potential impostors.
Q & A
Who is Helen Demidenko and what made her famous?
-Helen Demidenko, also known as Helen Darville, is an author who became famous for writing the novel 'The Hand That Signed the Paper,' which won Australia's top literary award. She claimed the novel was based on conversations with her Ukrainian relatives about their World War II experiences.
What was the controversy surrounding Helen Demidenko's identity?
-The controversy arose when it was revealed that Helen Demidenko was actually Helen Darville and that her Ukrainian heritage was completely fabricated, making her an imposter in the literary world.
What is 'imposter blindness' as mentioned in the script?
-'Imposter blindness' refers to the phenomenon where imposters are able to maintain their false identities for extended periods despite evidence that suggests otherwise, as seen in the case of Helen Darville.
Can you provide an example of 'imposter blindness' from the script?
-An example of 'imposter blindness' is the case of Billy Tipton, a successful jazz musician who lived as a man for decades and was only discovered to be a woman after his death, despite having had four wives.
What is the psychological phenomenon known as imposter syndrome?
-Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where individuals doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent fear of being exposed as a 'fraud,' despite evidence of their competence and success.
How does the script describe the public's fascination with imposters?
-The script describes the public's fascination with imposters as a fond fascination, often viewing them as romantic or attractive figures who highlight societal vanities and pretensions, and who take advantage of superficial characteristics.
What are some of the motives for impostorism mentioned in the script?
-The script mentions several motives for impostorism, including escapism from a flawed past, the thrill of adventure, seeking the support and solidarity of a close-knit community, and escaping persecution.
How does the script address the psychological consequences of living a double life?
-The script discusses a study that shows individuals with concealable stigmas, who live a double life, fare worse in terms of well-being and self-esteem compared to those with visible stigmas.
What is the 'Captain of Köpenick' story mentioned in the script?
-The 'Captain of Köpenick' is a story about Wilhelm Voigt, a poor cobbler and petty thief who, after finding a discarded Prussian Guard captain's uniform, impersonated a captain and led a squad of soldiers in a fabricated mission, highlighting the power of appearances and authority.
What does the script suggest about the difficulty of overcoming imposter anxiety?
-The script suggests that overcoming imposter anxiety is difficult because success and praise can deepen the anxiety by widening the gap between the individual's self-image and the world's perception of them as more talented than they believe themselves to be.
What is the final outcome for Helen Darville mentioned in the script?
-After her literary imposterism was exposed and her subsequent plagiarism scandal, Helen Darville gave up writing, enrolled in a law degree, graduated, and was last known to be working as a judge's assistant, having faded from public life.
Outlines
đ The Fabricated Identity of Helen Darville
This paragraph introduces the case of Helen Demidenko, who gained fame for her novel 'The Hand That Signed the Paper,' which won a prestigious Australian literary award. Helen claimed her novel was based on conversations with Ukrainian militants about World War II, emphasizing her Ukrainian heritage. However, it was later revealed that Helen Demidenko was actually Helen Darville, a woman with no Ukrainian background, who had fabricated her heritage. The revelation led to a scandal, making her an infamous imposter. The paragraph also touches on the concept of 'imposter blindness,' where people are able to maintain a false identity for extended periods despite evidence to the contrary, using Billy Tipton and Hannah Snell as examples.
đ Diverse Motives Behind Impostorism
This paragraph delves into the various reasons why individuals might choose to impersonate someone they are not. It discusses imposters who seek fame or fortune, adventurers who enjoy the thrill of living without constraints, and those who are seeking a sense of community or solidarity. The paragraph also addresses the issue of people running from persecution, such as Jewish individuals during World War II who changed their identities to escape the Nazis. It highlights the psychological impact of living a double life, citing a study by Deborrah Frable that shows individuals with concealable stigmas, such as being gay or from a poor background, tend to have lower well-being and self-esteem compared to those with visible stigmas.
đ The Public's Mixed Perception of Imposters
The third paragraph explores the public's complex relationship with imposters, noting that while some imposters are seen as rogues or criminals, society often holds a degree of admiration for their audacity. It mentions the romanticized portrayal of imposters in films and the allure of their stories in a world with social mobility obstacles. The paragraph also introduces the 'Captain of Köpenick,' Wilhelm Voigt, who used a stolen military uniform to command respect and pull off a daring heist, becoming a folk hero. However, it contrasts this with research showing that members of the groups being impersonated do not find impostors attractive or romantic, as they threaten the group's identity and boundaries.
đ€ Impostorism as Anxiety and Accusation
In the final paragraph, the discussion shifts to impostorism as a personal anxiety, known as 'impostor syndrome,' where individuals doubt their accomplishments and fear being exposed as frauds despite their success. The paragraph explains that this anxiety is not limited to any specific group and is prevalent in universities and workplaces. It also touches on the use of impostorism as an accusation, a political weapon, and a form of control or bullying. The story of Helen Darville concludes the video script, noting her subsequent career changes and the broader implications of her story, which serves as a reminder of the complexities and performative nature of identity.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄImpostor Syndrome
đĄImpostor Blindness
đĄHelen Demidenko
đĄAuthenticity
đĄImpostorism
đĄDouble Life
đĄGroup Membership
đĄCultural Appropriation
đĄPersecution
đĄPerformance
đĄPlagiarism
Highlights
Helen Demidenko, later revealed as Helen Darville, gained fame and won Australia's top literary award for her novel based on fabricated Ukrainian heritage.
Demidenko's deception brought attention to the phenomenon of imposters in history, including those who faked gender, class, and race for various advantages.
Imposters often exploit 'imposter blindness', where society trusts individuals to be who they claim to be without skepticism.
Billy Tipton's case exemplifies imposter blindness, as he lived as a man with four wives, all unaware of his true gender.
Hannah Snell's story from the 19th century demonstrates how imposter blindness can extend even to physical evidence, as she served as a man in the British Navy without detection.
Imposters' motives vary from seeking fame or fortune to escaping a flawed past or finding a sense of belonging in a community.
Some imposters, like those pretending to be war veterans, may be driven by a desire for the solidarity and support offered by a close-knit group.
The psychological impact of living a double life can be detrimental to well-being and self-esteem, especially for those with concealable stigmas.
Despite the deception, society often admires imposters for their audacity and for exposing societal vanities and pretensions.
The story of the 'Captain of Köpenick' illustrates how imposters can exploit societal respect for authority and uniforms to execute audacious schemes.
Imposters can be seen as a threat by genuine group members, who feel their group's integrity and boundaries are being violated.
Impostorism can be used as an accusation or political weapon, reflecting deep-seated emotions, politics, and ideologies.
The imposter phenomenon, identified in the 1970s, describes the anxiety successful individuals feel when they believe their reputation exceeds their true abilities.
Impostor syndrome is not limited to any specific group and is prevalent in both students and staff at universities.
Success can deepen the anxiety of those with impostor syndrome, as it reinforces the gap between their self-perception and external validation.
The concept of an authentic self becomes elusive as people become more adept at disguising their flaws to maintain a positive public image.
Helen Darville's story serves as a reminder of the complexities and illusions of life, and the potential for imposters to reflect on society's values and beliefs.
Transcripts
Translator: Ivana KrivokuÄa Reviewer: Denise RQ
This photo is of someone that I went to university with here at UQ.
Her name is Helen Demidenko,
and she became famous for writing this novel,
"The hand that signed the paper,"
which went on to win Australia's number one literary award.
Helen said that novel was based on conversations she'd had
with her Ukrainian militants about their experiences in World War II.
Helen made quite a big deal about her Ukrainian heritage.
She'd go to multicultural festivals in traditional dress,
do Ukrainian dances. and sing Ukrainian songs. etc.
What was extraordinary about this story
was that a couple of years after the book got released,
it became apparent that Helen Demidenko was in fact Helen Darville.
She wasn't Ukrainian at all,
and in fact she just completely fabricated her entire ethnic heritage.
When that news broke,
she became the latest in a long and scandalous list of imposters,
people who have faked who they are in order to get some kind of advantage.
History is full of these people:
women who've tried to pass as men,
paupers who have tried to pass as members of the royal family,
and also people who have tried to fake their race.
It could be that you're old enough now
to be able to reflect on a time in your life
where maybe you've just stretched the truth a little bit about your past,
where you've allowed someone to think that you're someone that you're not.
If that has happened to you,
you might want to just think about that moment for a while,
while I make three very quick points about imposters.
The first thing that I want to mention was that a lot of imposters
seem to be able to get away with their lie for an extraordinary period of time,
despite what seems at times to be a smoking gun evidence
that there's something wrong.
So Helen Darville was 21
before she started faking her Ukrainian heritage.
Among people who knew of her, including myself,
it was the cause of quite a bit of puzzlement and discussion
that this person suddenly had a different name
and suddenly had this never before detected Ukrainian heritage.
There must have been literally hundreds of people
who suspected her secret.
All personally knew her very British parents,
and yet it took two years before that lie got exposed.
This one is called "imposter blindness."
An extraordinary example of imposter blindness
relates to the strange case of Billy Tipton.
Billy Tipton was a very talented and successful jazz musician
for many decades.
It was only after he died that people found out that he was in fact a she.
This is despite the fact, mind you, that she had four wives,
None of whom suspected that they're in fact married to a woman.
Billy went to extraordinary lengths to protect her secret.
She said that she had this terrible accident
when she was younger,
and that helped to explain the need for the bandages
around the chest all the time,
and it helped to explain the need for a prosthetic penis.
But all the same, this is an incredibly exposable secret.
How could you get away with a lie of that magnitude for your entire life?
Probably my favorite example of imposter blindness
relates to this woman, Hannah Snell.
Hannah was a sailor and a soldier in the British Navy in the 19th century.
For most of her time, for about four or five years,
she masqueraded as a man, James Gray.
And there was this dramatic anecdote where at one point she'd been caught
drinking and rabble-rousing with mates on this naval ship,
and as punishment, she got sentenced to the lash.
And of course, the lash is delivered to a bare back.
Afterwards, the captain of the ship wrote in his log
about the strange breast-like shapes on this man's chest,
and yet, still the paint didn't drop, right?
(Laughter)
Presumably, it just lays so far outside the realm of this guy's imagination
that a soldier in the British Navy could possibly be a woman,
that he couldn't trust what he was seeing with his own eyes.
In some ways, I think
imposter blindness speaks to a rather charming aspect of modern society.
Despite our self-image just being really quite cynical and skeptical,
people are incredibly trusting
that other people are who they say they are.
As one author wrote,
"It doesn't occur to us to ask whether that masked figure
poised over our naked unconscious body with a knife is in fact a doctor."
Just says that probably hasn't occurred to you to question
that I am in fact an academic at the University of Queensland.
We tend to trust these things implicitly.
I've spoken about imposter blindness.
Now I want to talk about the motives for impostorism.
Not all imposters are motivated for fame or fortune, like Helen Demidenko.
Some imposters are escapologists - they're running away from a flawed past,
and they're trying to rehabilitate their image
and atone context of a great shame.
Some imposters are just rampant adventurers.
They're really just getting off on the thrill of living in the world
where there's literally no obstacles to being whoever you want to be.
Some imposters, I think, are attracted to the idea
of being part of a close-knit community that offers solidarity and offers support,
and perhaps gives you a touch of sympathy from the outside world.
So that might help to explain the vast number of people
who lay false claims to being Vietnam War veterans, for example,
or World War II veterans.
But some imposters are running away from persecution.
Sometimes, that really requires
very dramatic and inventive forms of impostorism.
There are examples, for example, of Jewish people in World War II
who would disguise or literally change their physiology
to be able to escape detection from the Nazis.
But quite often in life, if you want to run away from persecution,
you don't have to do anything quite as dramatic as that.
If you're gay, for example, to not reveal your sexuality
is frequently enough to pass as being straight.
So the gay person who is closeted can find themselves
living the life of an imposter
not because of what they've said, not because of what they've done,
but because of what they haven't said and what they haven't done.
This can have a peculiar set of psychological consequences.
There was a great study done by Deborrah Frable and others
where she tracked all these undergraduate students
at Harvard University for a couple of weeks.
Some of these students had mild stigmas that were visible.
They're conspicuous, so maybe they're physically disabled
or they're stutterers, or they're very obese,
or they're members of racial minorities like African-Americans.
Others had mild stigmas that were concealable, invisible:
people with eating disorders, people who are gay,
people who came from very poor backgrounds.
You might expect that people who have concealable stigmas,
who can pass quite easily to the mainstream,
should fare better in this new context, but in fact, the reverse was true.
It was the people who had the invisible stigmas,
who had the opportunity of living a double life,
who did significantly worse
in terms of well-being, in terms of self-esteem, etc.
This dovetails with a whole lot of research
that suggested to live the double life is a long, lonely, and difficult path.
To be forced to be out and proud about your situation
presents its own challenges,
but what it does give you
is the opportunity to live an integrated life,
and also it gives other people who are like you the opportunity to find you;
and those people who are like you become this incredibly important source
of self-esteem, social support, and well-being.
Another point I want to make is that even when imposters are rogues,
even when they're scoundrels or criminals,
society often holds a degree of admiration for them.
This is fond fascination for the imposter.
There are dozens of films that have been built
around real life imposter stories,
and in many of these films,
the imposter is portrayed as the hero or as a semi-hero.
And in some ways, that's not entirely surprising.
We live in a world where often there are obstacles to social mobility,
and then you see these people who take this crazy risk
to catapult themselves into the social world
that they'd otherwise be denied.
That's a romantic, attractive notion.
Imposters can also be attractive in the way that they highlight
the vanities, the pretensions, and the prejudices
of the society in which we live.
We do live in a world which is overly impressed
by superficial characteristics like your title or your uniform.
Sometimes it's really quite thrilling
to see someone take rampant advantage of that.
My favorite example of this is the so-called Captain of Köpenick.
The Captain of Köpenick was in fact this man, Wilhelm Voigt.
He was a very poor cobbler in Berlin,
and he was a petty thief who has spent half of his life in jail.
But his life turned around when he found in a second hand store
the discarded uniform of a captain in the Prussian Guards.
Of course, he discovered that once he wore this uniform,
people in the street would snap to attention,
and that automatically, offer him the kind of respect
that typically he was denied.
Emboldened by this, he hatched what probably remains,
I think, one of the ballsiest criminal conspiracies of all time,
where he put on this uniform, he went to a local army barracks,
he barked orders at these soldiers in the barracks,
and formed a little squad of about a dozen soldiers
who he led to believe, "We're going to go on this very important mission."
He marched the soldiers down to the local railway station,
and they traveled all the way to Köpenick, which is a town just outside Berlin.
Once they were there,
they dramatically confronted the mayor of the town and the treasurer
and arrested them on completely fabricated charges of embezzlement;
and these two people who, were presumably completely bewildered,
were then taken on the train back to Berlin to face interrogation.
Wilhelm Voigt was able to go home, presumably laughing his head off.
What he'd done is eventually confiscated 4,000 marks as part of the trial,
as evidence in the trial,
and then he was able to enjoy his newfound wealth.
Unfortunately, Wilhelm was arrested, and he was thrown in jail,
but he was released quite early,
and he ended up becoming a German folk hero,
quite deservingly, I think.
But I don't want to give the impression
that imposters are always seen to be romantic or attractive.
Research by Jolanda Jetten and myself her at UQ suggest
that if you are member of the group
that somebody is making a false claim to belong to,
then you typically don't find these kinds of acts
particularly romantic, or attractive, or funny.
The more you care about your group,
the less likely you are to find the positive side of impostorism.
The reason genuine members of the group are highly threatened by imposters
is really rooted very deeply in the psychology of group membership.
People want their groups to be tight, cohesive, and well-defined,
and to have clear boundaries; these are the good things for us.
Imposters trample all over that.
They make a mockery over the criterion for acceptance,
and they completely dilute the boundaries of the group
and dilute what it means to be a member of that group.
So, if you're a genuine member of a group,
an imposter is like an irritant or a contaminant
that's entered the skin of the group, and you're desperate to get rid of it.
Sometimes, that desperation can reach a fever pitch,
and it can border on being something like a witch hunt,
as people have these debates
about who's a real group member and who is a fake.
So, can you call yourself a Christian if you don't go to church a hell of a lot?
Can you call yourself a vegetarian if you occasionally eat seafood?
Some people would say yes, and some people would say no.
Of course, there are no objective answers to these questions.
But there is a debate,
and that debate is wrapped in emotion, politics, and ideology.
If it comes to this tense struggle to work out
what the non-negotiable norms of the group are,
and sometimes, the accusation of impostorism
really becomes a way of slapping people into line
when you feel as if they are straying from the path.
We have a whole bunch of terms in the English language
to describe people who have what you see to be
a superficial claim to a particular identity,
but deep down, you suspect they're not the real deal.
Most of these terms are incredibly high charged and derogatory,
so here, we're talking about impostorism as an accusation,
impostorism as a political weapon,
impostorism as an instrument of control or even as a form of bullying.
I've spoken about extraordinary people who've acted as imposters,
we've spoken about impostorism as an accusation.
I just want to spend a few minutes at the end
talking about impostorism as an anxiety.
These two psychologists back in the 1970s
detected what they termed the imposter phenomenon.
They found out that there was a hell of a lot of people in the workplace
who wrestle with this anxiety
that their public reputations far exceeded
what they believed their true talents to be.
These psychologists originally thought this is something quite specific
to the psychology of that first generation of women
who went into professional life in the 60s and 70s.
But we now know that it's equally true of men,
and it's completely rife in universities, both among students and staff.
Many of these people who suffer from the imposter syndrome
are very successful people, but they can't internalize this success.
They attribute their success to things other than their talents -
to contacts, to perseverance, to timing, to luck.
It's a very stressful experience.
These people live lives that are constantly on a brink of a great shame.
They feel as any day now
they're going to get tapped on the shoulder by someone,
and someone will pull back the curtain - Wizard of Oz style -
and expose them
as the flawed little human being they know themselves to be.
This is very difficult to overcome.
You can't overcome this anxiety by just doing good work.
Because, remember, your anxiety is that the world thinks
that you're better than you know yourself to be.
So every time you get an award or a promotion,
or a pat on the back, or praise,
it's just deepening that gulf between the messages
that you're getting from the world and what your self-image is.
So it deepens the anxiety.
I think, in some ways, this can help explain
why sometimes, signs of self-doubt and anxiety
actually go up after we're praised,
and sometimes, they go up even more so than after we're criticized.
Because we spend a hell of a lot of time trying to impress other people,
but when we do impress them, then we worry that maybe essentially what we've done
is just tricked people into thinking we're something we're not.
In some ways, I think, this reinforces one of the ironies of impostorism.
We're not all the kind of people who're going to make dramatic leaps,
and fake our sex, or fake our religion, or fake our race,
but all of us strive to put a positive face to the world.
All of us strive to disguise our flaws in the eyes of other people.
We get very good at this.
As you get older,
you get more and more sophisticated at being up to do this.
The idea of a true self or an authentic self
becomes harder and harder to find.
Maybe this is one of the reasons why we're so intrigued by imposters:
it's not because we want to be like them
but because we worry that deep down we are like them.
After her secret got exposed,
Helen Darville got a job with The Courier-Mail as a columnist,
but only lasted a couple of weeks.
Her second column, as it turned out, was rampantly plagiarized from the Internet.
(Laughter)
So she was sacked, and at that point, she gave up writing.
She then enrolled in a law degree at UQ and graduated,
and the last I heard she was working as a judge's assistant.
She's now faded out of public life,
so I guess, she lives on really as a memory
or as a representation of something, a symbol of something.
Which raises the question of what does she represent.
What lessons are learned?
I think there's two ways to spin this.
On the downside, you could say, "Here's someone who's a destroyer.
This person bulldozed through the collective faith of society
in order to further her own ambitions."
But I think there's another way of spinning this.
On the upside, you could say, "What Helen represents is a reminder
that the world is mysterious, that the world is full of surfaces,
that many of these surfaces are illusions and fundamentally, life is a performance
with all the sense of drama, anarchy, and possibility that this implies.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
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