If you have Imposter Syndrome, maybe you're on to something
OR: confessions of a clown
It’s nuts how many people feel like imposters. Apparently 82% of Italian neurosurgeons, 56% of Romanian psychology undergrads, and 39% of Korean Catholics report at least moderate symptoms of Imposter Syndrome. That’s a whole lotta folks feeling like they’re frauds.
I think there’s two things going on here, one obvious, one mysterious. First, the obvious: a lot of people feel like imposters because other people make them feel that way. If you feel unwelcome because you have a bigoted boss or cruel colleagues, I understand why we would call that “Imposter Syndrome,” even though it seems more like “being surrounded by people who have Asshole Syndrome.”
But then, the mysterious: a lot of people are quick to brand themselves as frauds. I used to have students all the time who were like, “I’m not good enough to be here, I think my admission letter was a clerical error.” I wanted to grab ‘em by the shoulders and tell ‘em:
“One of your classmates got in because his dad donated a building. One of your professors has p-hacked every study she’s ever done; if anyone bothered to investigate her, she’d be fired and her scientific legacy would be expunged. The so-called Dean of Inclusion is a huge jerk. Those guys are the imposters. Not you. Please carry on.”
I never had much success getting those students to believe that they belonged, and I used to find this mystifying. But I think I understand now why their syndrome was so stubborn: they were actually on to something. The Italian neurosurgeons, the Romanian undergrads, my own students—they’re all correct that there’s a lot of fraud going on, but they’ve mistaken its origin. They’re not fraudulent people. They’re in a fraudulent place.