Impostor Phenomenon and Self-Critical Perfectionism as Predictors of AI Dependency: Self-Compassion as a Mediator

Vedika Sawant and Niksha Amin
R.D. National College, University of Mumbai, Mumbai

Pages: 377-384

This study examined whether impostor phenomenon and self-critical perfectionism
were associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) Dependency and whether self-compassion
showed indirect associations in these relationships. AI Dependency was operationalized
specifically as instrumental and relationship dependency on AI-based large language
models (LLMs). A cross-sectional survey was completed by 205 university students
and early-career professionals aged 18–30 years. Participants completed measures of
impostor phenomenon, self-critical perfectionism, self-compassion, and AI Dependency.
Pearson correlations and mediation analysis with 5,000 bootstrap resamples were
conducted in R. Impostor phenomenon and self-critical perfectionism were positively
associated with AI Dependency, whereas self-compassion was negatively associated
with AI Dependency. Significant indirect effects through self-compassion were observed
for both predictors, while the corresponding direct effects remained significant. The
findings suggest that self-evaluative vulnerability and low self-compassion may be
relevant to patterns of reliance on AI-based LLMs and support further research on
psychologically informed, autonomous AI use