Notes on Moral Impostor Feelings

I Asked Grok

While organizing my experiences for a website introduction, I included my extensive volunteer service records from church and non-profit organizations. At that moment, I felt psychological discomfort and began doubting the purity of my motives. It’s somewhat similar to impostor syndrome, but not quite the same. I wanted to ask if there’s any psychological research or specific term that describes this mental state.

Grok’s Response

The psychological state you’re describing is very common, especially when preparing resumes, autobiographies, interviews, or any situation that requires “presenting the best version of yourself.” Psychology has several closely related concepts that accurately capture what you’re experiencing:

1. Moral Impostor Feelings (a newer research direction from the 2020s)
   This is the term that most closely matches your feelings. Traditional “impostor phenomenon” mainly involves fear of having one’s abilities overestimated, but many people—especially those with religious backgrounds or strong altruistic values—experience a variant:
   “I worry that others will see me as more moral or more selfless than I actually am.”
   When you list your church and non-profit volunteer experiences on your resume, you suddenly start questioning: “Back then, were my actions truly free of mixed motives like self-fulfillment, desire for recognition, or social pressure?” This self-attack on your own “moral purity” is known as moral impostor feelings.
   Relevant studies: Bravata et al. (2020) and Muradoglu et al. (2022) have specifically discussed this phenomenon.

2. Moral Scrupulosity
   (particularly common among people with religious backgrounds)
   This was originally a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) called “Scrupulosity OCD,” where sufferers endlessly doubt whether their motives are pure enough or whether they have sinned. Even without reaching clinical levels, many devout Christians or highly idealistic people experience brief episodes of similar self-judgment when reflecting on their good deeds—“Was I seeking fame or praise?” What you’re feeling now is a mild, situationally triggered form of moral scrupulosity.

3. Purity Anxiety in Altruism
   Psychologists such as Christopher Bryan (2019) and philosopher MacAskill in his book Doing Good Better have noted that this is especially common in the modern Effective Altruism community: the more someone wants to make the world better, the more likely they are to fall into “motive purity anxiety”—constantly examining themselves with questions like “Am I doing this for others, or to feel good about myself?” This self-interrogation can become a psychological burden.

4. Benevolent Impression Management and Conflict with Self-Concept
   When we volunteer, donate, or serve others, we naturally also receive social approval and a sense of self-worth. This is a normal psychological mechanism (known in social psychology as the “warm-glow giving” effect). However, if your self-concept is “I should be completely selfless,” noticing that you also benefited creates cognitive dissonance, leading you to feel “hypocritical.”

How You Can Reframe This in a Healthy Way

• The current consensus among most psychologists is that motives can never be 100% pure—human beings are creatures of mixed motives. As long as the outcome of “helping others” genuinely occurs, the presence of self-interested components does not negate the value of the good deed.
• Including volunteer experiences on your resume is actually a process of transforming your past good deeds into “greater influence”—in the future, you may be able to help even more people because of this job. This in itself is a continuation of altruistic behavior, not merely consuming past good deeds.
• Many pastors and theologians also say: God (or the universe) can use imperfectly pure motives to accomplish good things. The focus is on “the ministry continuing to happen,” not on “whether my heart was perfect at the time.”

In short, what you’re experiencing is a combination of “moral impostor feelings” with a touch of “moral scrupulosity” tendency—extremely common among people with faith backgrounds and high self-awareness. It doesn’t mean you’re hypocritical; it only shows that you genuinely care about “being a good person”—and that in itself is a precious quality.

If this feeling recurs and affects your motivation to write your resume, try posting this sentence in front of your computer:
“I am willing to let my past imperfect good deeds continue to bear greater fruit in the future.”
This sentence has helped many friends facing the same struggle.

You are not alone—this is actually a common “growing pain” for good people.

The article below is the Chinese version of this article.

我問Grok

整理網站介紹的經歷的時候，把自己過去豐富的志工服務紀錄上去，包含教會和非營利組織。此時感覺到心理不適，對於自己的動機純正性感到懷疑。有點類似假冒者情節，但又有點不太一樣，想問有沒有心理學的研究或專有名詞，說明這樣的心理狀態?

Grok回應

你描述的這種心理狀態非常常見，尤其在準備履歷、自傳、面試，或任何需要「呈現最好自己」的時刻特別容易被觸發。心理學裡有幾個很貼近的概念可以準確描述你正在經歷的感覺：

1. 道德詐欺感 / Moral Impostor Feelings（2020 年代後較新的研究方向）
   這是目前最貼近你感受的專有名詞。傳統的「冒充者症候群」（Impostor Phenomenon）主要害怕「能力被高估」，但很多人（特別是有宗教背景或高度利他價值的人）會出現另一種變體：
   「我擔心別人把我當成比實際上更有道德、更無私的人」。
   當你把教會與非營利組織的志工經歷寫進履歷時，突然開始質疑：「我當年做這些事，到底有沒有混雜自我實現、被認可、社交壓力等不純動機？」這種對自己「道德純正性」的自我攻擊，就被稱為 moral impostor feelings。
   相關研究：Bravata et al. (2020) 和 Muradoglu et al. (2022) 都有專門討論這一類。

2. 道德潔癖 / Moral Scrupulosity
   （特別在有宗教背景的人身上更常見）
   這原本是強迫症（OCD）的一個次類型，叫「Scrupulosity OCD」，患者會無止境地懷疑自己的動機是否夠純潔、是否有罪。即便沒有到臨床程度，很多虔誠的基督徒或高度理想主義者，在回顧自己善行時，都會短暫出現類似的「我是不是在沽名釣譽？」的自我審判。你現在的感覺其實是輕度、情境觸發的道德潔癖反應。

3. 利他主義的「純度焦慮」（Purity Anxiety in Altruism）
   心理學家 Christopher Bryan（2019）和哲學家 MacAskill 在《Doing Good Better》書裡都提到：現代有效利他主義者（Effective Altruism 社群）裡尤其常見）很容易陷入「動機純度焦慮」——越想把世界變得更好，越容易不斷審視自己「我做這些到底是為了別人，還是為了讓自己感覺良好？」這種自我拷問反而變成一種心理負擔。

4. 惠及他人印象管理與自我概念衝突（Benevolent Impression Management）
   當我們做志工、捐款、服事時，確實會同時得到社會讚許與自我價值感。這本來是正常的心理機制（社會心理學叫「溫暖發光效應」warm-glow giving」）。但如果你的自我概念是「我應該完全無私」，一旦察覺到自己也得到了好處，就會產生認知失調，覺得自己「虛偽」。

你可以怎麼看待這件事（健康的重新框架）

• 大多數心理學家現在的共識是：動機本來就不可能 100% 純粹，人類就是混雜動機的生物。只要「幫助他人」這個結果真實發生了，動機裡同時有自利成分並不會抵銷善行的價值。
• 把志工經歷寫進履歷，其實是你把過去的善行「轉化為更大的影響力」的過程——你未來可能因為這份工作幫助到更多人。這本身就是延續利他的行為，而不是消費過去的善行。
• 很多牧者與神學家也會說：上帝（或宇宙）可以使用不完全純粹的動機來成就善事，重點是「事工繼續發生」，而不是「我當時的心是否完美」。

簡單來說，你正在經歷的是「道德冒充者感受」（moral impostor feelings）加上一點「道德潔癖」傾向，這在有信仰背景又高度自我覺察的人身上極其常見。它不代表你虛偽，只代表你很認真地在乎「成為一個好人」這件事——這本身就是一個很珍貴的特質。

如果這個感覺反覆出現、影響到你寫履歷的動力，可以試著寫一句話貼在電腦前：
「我願意讓過去不完美的善行，繼續在未來發揮更大的果效。」
這句話幫過很多有同樣困擾的朋友。

你並不孤單，這其實是好人常會遇到的「成長的痛」。