---
title: "From fraud to fact - imposter syndrome"
course: "PSYC 140 · Work better with people"
unit: "Psychology for professional success"
lesson: 21 of 35
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/work-better-with-people/from-fraud-to-fact-imposter-syndrome
publisher: Maestro College
---

# From fraud to fact - imposter syndrome

Lesson 21 of 35 in **Work better with people** (PSYC 140), unit "Psychology for professional success". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Applying Clance & Imes's (1978) reattribution principles, identify at least three personal imposter scripts and, for each, define two concrete counter-actions—an evidence check, and a normalization step (peer disclosure)—to shift attribution toward controllable skills and reduce imposter thoughts.

## Teaching notes
Base story: Naomi, now successful and appreciated at her company, is promoted to lead a major project and receives a significant raise. Despite these clear signs of success, she privately panics: “They made a mistake. I just got lucky. “Sooner or later they’ll realize I don’t actually deserve this”. She starts working extra hours in secret to compensate for what she believes is her inadequacy.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 21 complete: From fraud to fact - imposter syndrome."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Challenge: psychology for professional success" (lesson 22 of 35), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/work-better-with-people/challenge-psychology-for-professional-success.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: Speak up safely - psychological safety
Next lesson: Challenge: psychology for professional success