Imposters: The psychology of pretending to be someone you're not: Matthew Hornsey at TEDxUQ

Summary

The 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

• 📚 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.
• 🎭 Impostors often manage to maintain their deception for extended periods, sometimes despite clear evidence to the contrary, a phenomenon referred to as 'imposter blindness'.
• 👤 The motives for impostorism vary widely, including seeking fame, escaping a troubled past, or experiencing the thrill of living a different identity.
• 🏆 Some impostors are admired for their audacity and ability to overcome societal barriers, as seen in films based on their stories.
• 🌐 The concept of impostorism extends beyond outright deception to include those who conceal aspects of their identity to avoid persecution or judgment.
• 🤔 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.
• 🎬 Society's fascination with impostors can stem from a romanticized view of their actions and the exposure of societal vanities and pretensions.
• 👮‍♂️ Genuine group members often feel threatened by impostors, as they can undermine the group's cohesion and clear boundaries.
• 🔍 Accusations of impostorism can be used as a tool for control or bullying, highlighting the subjective nature of identity and belonging.
• 🤯 The imposter phenomenon, or impostor syndrome, affects many successful individuals who cannot internalize their achievements and fear being exposed as frauds.
• 💭 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

00:00

📚 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.

05:00

🎭 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.

10:02

🌟 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.

15:04

🤔 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.

Keywords

💡Impostor Syndrome

Impostor Syndrome is a psychological pattern where individuals doubt their accomplishments and fear being exposed as a 'fraud'. In the video, it's related to the theme of imposters and the anxiety they might feel, despite external success. The script mentions that many successful people suffer from this syndrome, attributing their achievements to luck rather than ability, and living in constant fear of being uncovered as inadequate.

💡Impostor Blindness

Impostor Blindness refers to the phenomenon where people fail to recognize or accept the true identity or deception of an imposter, even when faced with clear evidence. The video discusses this concept through the example of Billy Tipton, a jazz musician who was discovered to be a woman only after his death, despite having multiple wives who were unaware of the truth.

💡Helen Demidenko

Helen Demidenko, also known as Helen Darville, is a central figure in the video who gained fame for her novel 'The Hand That Signed the Paper'. The term is used to illustrate the concept of imposters who fake their identity for personal gain. Her case became a scandal when it was revealed that she fabricated her Ukrainian heritage, which was a key theme in her novel and public persona.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity in the context of the video refers to the genuineness of one's identity, background, or actions. It is contrasted with the deceptive practices of imposters. The script explores the tension between the desire for authenticity and the tendency to present a curated image to the world, as seen in the case of Helen Demidenko and the broader discussion on impostorism.

💡Impostorism

Impostorism is the act of pretending to be someone or something one is not, often for personal gain or to escape persecution. The video uses this term to explore various examples of people who have faked their identities or backgrounds. It is a key theme that ties together the stories and concepts discussed throughout the script.

💡Double Life

A 'double life' is a situation where an individual leads two separate existences, often hiding one from the public or certain social circles. The video discusses the psychological impact of living a double life, as seen in the study by Deborrah Frable, where individuals with concealable stigmas, such as being gay, suffered more in terms of well-being due to the duality of their existence.

💡Group Membership

Group Membership in the video refers to the sense of belonging to a particular social or identity group. It is relevant to the discussion on imposters, as imposters can threaten the cohesion and boundaries of a group. The script mentions that genuine members of a group may feel their group identity is diluted by imposters, leading to a desire to exclude or expose them.

💡Cultural Appropriation

Cultural Appropriation is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of another culture, often in a way that is seen as disrespectful or misrepresentative. While not explicitly stated, the concept is implied in the video through the discussion of individuals like Helen Demidenko who adopt aspects of a culture not their own, potentially exploiting or misrepresenting that culture for personal gain.

💡Persecution

Persecution in the video refers to the suffering or harm inflicted on individuals or groups, often due to their identity or beliefs. The script mentions that some imposters fake their identity to escape persecution, such as Jewish people during World War II who changed their appearances to avoid detection by the Nazis.

💡Performance

In the context of the video, 'performance' relates to the idea that life can be seen as a series of acts or presentations, where individuals play roles and manage impressions. The video concludes with the notion that everyone, to some extent, performs in life, and that this performance aspect can be both a source of anxiety and a testament to the complexity of identity.

💡Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of using another's work or ideas without attribution, representing them as one's own. The video mentions Helen Darville's case of plagiarism in her column, which led to her dismissal, highlighting the theme of deception and the consequences of impostorism.

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 Krivokuća 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)