The Scientists’ Imposter Syndrome.
You worked hard and got that job, scholarship, or grant you wanted. Yet, when you look at your peers and their achievements and look at your own, somehow it doesn’t seem to measure. Somehow you feel like your position is a fluke. Somehow you feel like you’re wearing someone else’s skin and one of these days, someone is going walk in on you putting it on and expose you. Does any of that sound familiar to you?
These feelings, amongst many others, are what categorize the phenomenon commonly known as Imposter Syndrome. This is when one feels like their accomplishments (especially among high achieving individuals) are not enough, or that these accomplishments came around by pure luck, or possibly that they faked their way to the top as it were. This makes me think of the phrase “fake it ’til you make it”. This famous saying makes me wonder how many people ended up developing imposter syndrome because of it. The term was conceived by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes around 1978. While not a syndrome that is diagnoseable, it is still prevalent enough that it needs attention as it can be detrimental to one’s mental health. Dr. Valerie Young is the most common name that you’ll come across when researching the syndrome. She is an expert on the subject and has also written a very successful book called The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It. It is important to note that this phenomenon is not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing as it is with many things pertaining to mental health. It is highly dependant on one’s background, environment, and personality. Dr. Young has further categorized Imposter Syndrome into five subcategories which I will briefly explain:
1) The Perfectionist: this person sets impossible goals for themselves, and when unobtained, can lead the person into a period of experiencing self-doubt. They are unlikely to set more attainable goals though and push themselves to work harder towards the impossible ones, trapping them into this vicious cycle that may lead to burnout.
2) The Super: this person is often very insecure in their abilities and works harder to overcompensate. They take on more tasks, stay later at the office, take on extra extra-curricular activities, and overwork themselves to the point of negatively impacting their mental health and interpersonal relationships.
3) The Natural Genius: this person expects many things to come to them quickly. They also expect to be immediately immaculate at a task, in a perfectionist manner, probably the result of growing up a “gifted” child. When they don’t meet their expectations, they feel shameful and that maybe they aren’t as natural of a genius as they thought.
4) The Soloist: this person hates being vulnerable. They do not ask for help and feel like doing so exposes them as fakes. They feel like their independence is a judge of their worth and may lead to increased isolation.
5) The Expert: this one is one that makes me cringe hard-at myself. This person wants to be known for, well, how much they know. They believe they can never know enough, and their most significant insecurity lies in being exposed as a noob: inexperienced and unknowledgeable. The quest for knowledge can, however, lead to procrastination.
I know, big yikes.
Now that we know what Imposter Syndrome is, what does it have to do with being a scientist? To become a scientist, one must go through a hierarchy of sorts, depending on where one’s career is going. You have a high school, undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral levels. With each transition (which occurs rather frequently) it gets increasingly difficult to get into desired courses or to secure funding unless one is excellent at their work. It is a field driven by competition: there’s always a push to secure the grant, secure the scholarship, get published, and win prizes. The better you are, the more well-known for your work you will be, and the more likely you are to be considered an expert in your field. I remember dealing with imposter syndrome as early as grade 10 in high school. While I was great at biology; physics, chemistry, and maths were always problem areas. I had this problem until early in my undergraduate when my biology degree wasn’t as focused. I was always plagued with thoughts such as: “How am I still doing this degree? How could I have gotten accepted? I am struggling with these concepts because I am not supposed to be a scientist; I am not supposed to be here.” As one can imagine, there are a lot of people in science that come across as really…smart. It’s daunting. Being constantly surrounded by great minds can lead one to develop performance anxieties, and of course, imposter syndrome. It doesn’t help that work is usually reviewed by peers and superiors and, out of experience, constructive criticism might reinforce these negative thoughts.
Science is a constantly evolving field. This means that new methodologies and technologies are becoming more and more available to help scientists become more efficient at their jobs. Being at the cusp of such discoveries, it may be challenging to keep up, and once again, it is possible not to feel cut out for the work. As outlined with the Expert subcategory, feeling like one should know more is difficult to get rid of. The celebration of very little error is quite essential with regards to the syndrome. This is seen in the frequent publication of positive results for experiments, where scoring higher in tests and exams is awarded and, let’s face it, having people agree with you is a fantastic feeling. I find this incredibly humorous, though. We learn through mistakes, especially in a field where trial and error are mainly how things are done. In publications, for example, the lack of negative results may further reinforce imposter syndrome patterns in students and professionals. If one constantly doubts their abilities, it may negatively impact their quality of work, or progress thereof. Think of it as not going after opportunities because one feels undeserving. Or maybe not doing research one might be passionate about because it may be too novel (ironically) and feeling like someone else should be doing ground-breaking research.
Getting your mental health right is a difficult feat. But so is dealing with constant anxiety over how well you’re doing, if you should be doing more or if you should be doing it at all. So how can we help feeling like frauds in our well-deserved spaces? The consensus seems to be:
1) Change the way you think about yourself, or at least try: These thoughts, when examined with an outside lens are, frankly, ridiculous. Every time that voice tells you that you need to work harder to fit in, say “bro, I’m already in.” Stop thinking like an imposter to stop feeling like an imposter. Confronting the intrusive thought is a quick way to dispel your fears and insecurities and hopefully calm yourself down. It takes some practice, but it can be done.
2) Stop taking your achievements lightly: You worked hard, you did great, and you deserve to be where you are.
3) Seek support outside of your career: Talk to family, or friends in other disciplines. They can help you get out of your head and see the bigger picture; like how far you’ve come. This is great because these people see you as more than just a scientist. To them, you’re also a partner, a parent, family, or friend. This can help you feel better about yourself.
Since imposter syndrome is centered around the fear of making mistakes or looking unpolished, I think mistakes and failures must be embraced in the scientific community. Scary stuff indeed. Opening conversations around imposter syndrome, especially from experienced professionals, can help reduce isolation around the subject, and hopefully, people dealing with imposter syndrome will be more inclined to open up and seek help.
