Just learnt this term yesterday from my professor. It turned out that my whole group being disturbed by the feeling of "useless or helpless or learnt nothing even we are in final year". We are all imposters. Every one laughed out loud. More or less relieved, I'm not alone, and this feeling actually has a proper term and there even has a book especially researching on it as early as 1978. Imposter Syndrome - feeling like a fraud. This is the explanation from Wiki -- The Impostor Syndrome, or Impostor Phenomenon, sometimes called Fraud Syndrome, is not an officially recognized psychological disorder, but has been the subject of a number of books and articles by psychologists and educators. Individuals experiencing this syndrome seem unable to internalize their accomplishments. Regardless of what level of success they may have achieved in their chosen field of work or study, or what external proof they may have of their competence, they remain convinced internally that they do not deserve the success they have achieved and are really frauds. Proofs of success are dismissed as luck, timing, or otherwise having deceived others into thinking they were more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be. This syndrome is thought to be among both men and women, particularly common among women, particularly women who are successful in careers typically associated with men, and among academics. Some common feelings and thoughts that might characterize the imposter syndrome are: “I feel like a fake” “My classmates/professors etc. are going to find out I don't really belong here,” “Admissions made a mistake” The imposter feelings can be divided into three sub categories: Feeling like a fake: the belief that one does not deserve his or her success or professional position and that somehow other have been deceived into thinking otherwise. This goes together with a fear of being, “found out”, discovered or “unmasked”. People who feel this way would identify with statements such as: “I can give the impression that I am more competent than I really am.” “I am often afraid that others will discover how much knowledge I really lack”. Attributing success to luck: Another aspect of the imposter syndrome is the tendency to attribute success to luck or to other external reasons and not to your own internal abilities. Someone with such feeling would refer to an achievement by saying, “I just got lucky this time” “it was a fluke” and with fear that they will not be able to succeed the next time. Discounting Success: The third aspect is a tendency to downplay success and discount it. One with such feelings would discount an achievement by saying, “it is not a big deal,” “it was not important.” One example of this is discounting the fact that they made it here, which is really a big success. Or saying, “I did well because it is an easy class etc.” Having a hard time accepting compliments.
竹攸 @ 9/20/2006 5:21:50 PM 评论:3 | 
