Two studies examined impostor fears, self-handicapping and self-presentational concerns. In Study 1 (113 women, 52 men), impostor fears were significantly related to social desirability (low self-deception over impression management), perfectionistic cognitions, and non-display of imperfection to others. In Study 2, 72 women were exposed either to face-saving failure (failure that was did not indicate low ability, thereby assuaging self-presentational concerns), humiliating failure (where no mitigating excuse for poor performance was available), or success. Following humiliating failure, participants high compared to low in impostor fears claimed more handicaps. However, when provided with a face-saving excuse, these participant groups did not differ in their propensity to claim handicaps. Together, these studies suggest that impostor fears are associated with self-presentational concerns in situations that involve threat to self-worth. However the link is with claimed, not with behavioural self-handicapping. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Research Group:	Psychology
Research Field:	Personality, Abilities and Assessment
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Author:	Thompson, T (Dr Ted Thompson)
ID Code:	39263
Year Published:	2006
Web of Science® Times Cited:	22
Deposited By:	Psychology
Deposited On:	2006-08-01
Last Modified:	2007-04-25
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