Impostor Syndrome: Can You Really Fake Your Way to Success?
Only a supervillain could fake it, so maybe you’re just good at what you do.
Posted May 22, 2025 | Reviewed by Margaret Foley
In the movie Catch Me if You Can , Leonardo DiCaprio plays the ultimate impostor. The movie is described as “[a] true story about Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars' worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor” (IMDb, 2025). Although the story's veracity has been challenged (Desta, 2021), there’s no denying that the movie was a commercial and critical success for director Steven Spielberg.
If you’d like to better understand your own real-life impostor syndrome , it’s important to understand why people were so fascinated by this story.
Catch Me if You Can isn’t the story of an industrious 18-year-old working hard and excelling at his studies, precociously attaining his qualifications as a pilot, or a doctor, or a lawyer. As remarkable as such an accomplishment might be, it’s no news to the moviegoing public that there are many gifted people in the world. Even just taking the top one-tenth of one percent, we’re still talking about millions of people. But this movie isn’t about any of them.
So, to take one example, this isn’t a tale about a man succeeding at becoming a lawyer. Instead, it’s about a pretender succeeding at becoming a lawyer. After all, what is more impressive, someone who studies hard and passes the bar exam, or someone who knows nothing about the law yet does the same thing?
And herein lies the key to understanding the irrationality of your impostor syndrome: Attaining a position as an impostor is, in reality, far more difficult and requires far more talent than attaining that same station legitimately.
Many of my clients go through 5 to 10 rounds of interviews before they are offered a position at one of the world-class tech companies here in Silicon Valley. Yet, after having started their new role, they live in constant fear of being “discovered” as the impostor they feel themselves to be.
In these cases, I ask them to step back and look objectively at what they’re claiming. In their minds, they’ve managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the multiple teams of interviewers. Not only this, but they’ve in fact outsmarted the company as a whole by beating the systems and protocols put in place to weed out the unqualified. They’ve supposedly duped dozens of experienced professionals and a trillion-dollar organization. Far from reflecting inferior ability, what assertion could be more grandiose?
Cersei Lannister or Lex Luthor might be able to pull off such deception , but in real life, it’s rare. So rare, in fact, that when it happens, Hollywood makes a blockbuster movie about it, like Catch Me if You Can.
The fact is that it’s far, far more likely that you’ve reached your position because of your knowledge, skill, and ability to work with people. Even your self-doubts themselves are proof of this. In psychology, there’s the phenomenon of the Dunning-Kruger effect , which states that the more competent a person is at a task, the more they become aware of their shortcomings in that respect as well. Therefore, they are often less confident than someone who is genuinely incompetent or ignorant.
Another psychological mechanism at play is what we see in the fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” A con artist pretends to be a tailor who sells the emperor clothes that supposedly only the wise can see. Everyone assumes that everyone else can see them, so they act as if they do as well.
The result is what’s called pluralistic ignorance. And one of its implications is that people believe they are the only ones who are flawed, and the group is right and virtuous. In my experience, this is happening all around us and can especially manifest in our work lives. The vast majority of people harbor immense doubts and feelings of inferiority, but they don’t realize that almost everyone else is feeling that way too. (Although this doesn’t account for the small percentage of people who are narcissists, which is a topic for another time.)
So the next time you feel that you are an impostor, remember the skill that was required of actual impostors like Frank Abagnale (as played by Leo DiCaprio). Recall that the Dunning-Kruger effect suggests your doubts are actually proof of your ability. And keep in mind that there’s a pluralistic ignorance at play in which almost everyone feels inferior too. After all this, if you still believe you are an impostor, it might be time to switch careers into supervillainy, leave the 9 to 5 behind, and take over the world. Or, at least, move to Hollywood and cash in.
Desta, Y. (2021, May 14). The Real Story Behind "Catch Me If You Can" Is Far From a Perfect Con . Esquire. esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a36338912/catch-me-if-you-can-frank-abagnale-true-story-lie-con/
IMDb. (2025). Catch Me If You Can . IMDb.
This is a general informational piece and not legal or medical advice.
Share this post Facebook Bluesky Linkedin Email
There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.
By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Gabriel Young, Ph.D., is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, holding a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Human Development.
Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.