It's Not You, It's The Room - The REAL Science Behind Your Imposter Feelings
New research proves it's your competitive environment, not your personality or gender, that's making you feel like a fraud
“Are you a writer?” she asked.
I hesitated. “Sort of? I’ve got a Substack. I post every week.”
Not exactly the confident declaration you’d expect from someone who’s shown up for 89 straight weeks.
That awkward mumble at the WRITE UP event in West Kensington last night, the instinct to qualify myself, to make it smaller, to laugh it off, is textbook imposter syndrome.
Even after dozens of posts and kind feedback from readers, a part of me still cringes at claiming the writer label.
But here’s the thing: new research suggests this feeling isn’t really about me at all.
Or you.
Or even about gender (which, frankly, I already suspected - men feel it just as much as women).
It’s shaped more by the environment you’re in and how it hijacks your brain and behaviour.
And once you see it that way, you can stop blaming yourself for feeling like a fraud and start choosing how you relate to the game.
What is imposter syndrome, anyway?
Imposter syndrome is a behavioral health phenomenon described as self-doubt of intellect, skills, or accomplishments among high-achieving individuals.
These individuals cannot internalize their success and subsequently experience pervasive feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, depression, and/or apprehension of being exposed as a fraud in their work, despite verifiable and objective evidence of their successfulness.
Huecker et al., 2024
Huecker et al. (2024) describe characteristics, including fear of failure, fear of success, and ‘superhero’ tendencies, that keep you stuck in a cycle of over‑preparing or procrastinating, and burning yourself out either way.
If you’re the type who either drowns yourself in preparation or avoids tasks entirely because you’re terrified of being exposed, you’re not less than.
You’re just caught in what they call the imposter cycle.
And yes, these are linked to burnout, anxiety, depression, and poor physical health outcomes, which is why it’s worth talking about in this corner of ours.
Your environment impacts your imposter feeling more than you've been told
What really struck me this week beyond my own hesitation at that event in West Kensington was how familiar that moment felt.
Not just on Substack, but in boardrooms, calls, interviews, and even amongst friends.
Whether you’re sharing your words online or speaking up in a meeting, the same pattern shows up.
We shrink and doubt ourselves when the culture around us makes it hard to believe we belong.
And the science backs this up.
Feenstra et al. (2025) ran six studies with over 1,200 participants, comparing cooperative versus competitive work environments.
They explored what really drove imposter feelings questioning whether it was personality? Gender? Work Climate?
The answer was clear:
Competitive, status‑driven environments (i.e. performance driven) versus cooperative, learning and skills-based environments (i.e. mastery driven) fuel imposter syndrome more than individual traits.
And they found no meaningful gender difference.
That matters because it flips the narrative we’ve been fed, that women are somehow uniquely prone to this.
Both men and women feel it; they just express it differently.
What made the biggest difference?
Whether the environment encouraged upward social comparison, so constantly measuring yourself against people who seem more successful or fostered a sense of cooperation and shared goals and mastery.
Engaging in more upward (self-threatening) social comparisons increases the fear of not meeting the expectations of others, which drives imposter feelings.
In short, if you’re in a room designed to make you doubt yourself and work harder, no wonder you do.
It’s like playing on a rigged leaderboard:
The more you climb the board, the more you notice who’s still ahead, and the more inadequate you feel.
What your brain is doing when the leaderboard is rigged
This isn’t just psychological because your brain is responding exactly as it was designed to.
Here’s what’s going on, and why the upward social comparison is a key mediator.
The social pain network which includes the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and insula, activates in social pain scenarios as though you’ve been physically hurt.
Rejection, exclusion, or falling behind triggers these circuits because belonging is a core survival need.
The reward system (involving the ventral striatum) quiets down when you perceive yourself as losing status, making even real achievements feel hollow.
They don’t make you feel good as they might have in the past.
The default mode network (including the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate) ramp up and is related to self-referential thinking which fuels self‑criticism and rumination.
Ever caught yourself mentally replaying what you said, did, or didn’t do – this is one reason.
This isn’t a personal failing but your nervous system reacting to social threat signals.
It’s no wonder you feel uncomfortable claiming your space in a room designed to keep you climbing, comparing, and questioning yourself.
You are responding to a threat to social belonging, one of the biggest stressors we experience.
When the game isn’t in your control
Of course, it would be lovely if we could just change the workplace or social media into kinder, more cooperative spaces overnight, but most of us don’t have that kind of influence.
If you are a leader, though, check yourself.
Are you fostering healthy cooperation or toxic competition?
Are your people burning themselves out trying to one‑up each other?
Are they included or excluded from key decisions, activities, or tasks?
For the rest of us, managing ourselves within the environment is where the work starts.
That doesn’t mean admitting you’re flawed or incapable of coping, which fuels that imposter cycle.
It just means recognising that your mind, body, and brain are responding to real signals.
I once sat in a group therapy session full of other high‑achievers with anxiety and depression.
We all hated our workplaces but saw leaving as a failure.
The therapist eventually said what nobody else wanted to hear:
Sometimes you must decide what you’re willing to put up with, and what you’re not to stay healthy and well.
And they were right.
As I get older, I’m realising more and more that twisting yourself into origami to fit environments that harm you simply isn’t worth it.
You only get one body and one life.
And only you can decide how much of it you’re willing to spend playing someone else’s game.
Do this: The ARC fraud detection challenge
If you can’t change the room (yet), you can change how you relate to it.
Next time you feel like a fraud, like you’re about to be “found out,” pause and run through this quick ARC loop:
Awareness
Notice the environment:
Is this a high‑stakes, competitive space that invites comparison?
Do you feel under threat or unable to speak freely?
What or who is being rewarded as “success”?
Does that even align with your values?
Reconnection
Reconnect to facts:
List 2–3 specific contributions you’ve made recently.
If you’re stuck, ask a trusted friend or colleague what they see in you.
Reflect on what you’re most proud of, not just what others applaud.
Containment
Limit rumination:
Try scheduled worry time: Pick a timeslot to focus on your worrying thoughts.
Set a timer for 5-10 minutes to write down your thoughts.
When the timer’s up, close the page or even tear it up.
Remind yourself: thoughts are not reality.
This interrupts the loop and reminds you the weight you feel isn’t all yours to carry.
Key takeaways
You’ve been holding onto your imposter feelings as if you were born with them.
But competitive and status-driven climates drive imposter feelings in everyone, not just women.
Your brain processes social threat as pain, status loss, and self‑critique.
However, the problem is often the room, not the individual.
Even if the leaderboard stays rigged, you can challenge those feelings with awareness and small shifts.
Next time you hesitate to claim your place, whether it’s to call yourself a writer, leader, artist, or whatever you already are, pause and ask:
Is this doubt really about me? Or about the room I’m standing in?
You don’t have to wait to feel “enough” to belong because you already do.
And if you feel like the leaderboard is always going to be rigged, it’s time to stop playing by its rules.
P.S. If this landed for you, tell me, when did you realise it wasn’t you, but the room?
Fascinating read, Sabrina, and I totally get you. I've been writing my whole life, and sometimes it's still difficult to identify as one without a 6-figure book deal.
I once took a "belonging vs fitting in" class. It was eye-opening. We looked at how belonging started with our own heart space, and that if we could find safety in where we felt natural belonging, then we could become used to feeling safe in all spaces.
We focused on belonging to our purpose, to humanity, to family, to God, and to ourselves. Take away the competition, take away trying to "prove" worthiness, take away feeling like you're never enough and imposter syndrome says bye-bye.
The concept totally worked for me while I took the class, but it's been a year now, and I need to revisit my notes. It's difficult not to default to comparing yourself when writing on Substack!
100% Sabs. It is interesting to learn that imposter syndrome is in fact a social/environmental epiphenomenon. I wonder how mindfulness might help, or whether the internalisation of stress management is a distraction from the bigger issue of the social/political structures that cause that stress?
It was also to learn about the parts of the brain that become active in cases of feelings arising due to imposter syndrome. I would ask the question though — is the brain causing those symptoms or is it mind/consciousness?