Tag Archives: Advice

portrait-1152472_1920What is Imposter Syndrome?

Have you ever felt like an imposter? Do you often look at your colleagues and feel like they are smarter, faster, or just generally better than you? Do you feel incompetent? Do you feel that you landed in your current position by luck rather than by skill or hard work? There is a term for that feeling: Imposter Syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is a term coined by psychologists at Georgia State University, Pauline Clance, PhD and Suzanne Imes, PhD in 1978. Imposter syndrome (also known as imposter phenomenon, fraud syndrome, or imposter experience) refers to the anxious feeling that one has gained success and fame only by luck and coincidence, having deceived others. People with imposter syndrome consider their successes as resulting from external factors and thus think of themselves as imposters. That is, they do not acknowledge that success was made by their effort and performance, but rather by luck, timing or coincidence.

Imposter syndrome is not limited to graduate students! In fact, Hollywood actors, Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, and the COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, have all stated that they have suffered from imposter syndrome. At some point, they all believed that their wealth and fame were gained only by luck, that people were overestimating their talent and would soon discover their incompetence.

What are the causes of imposter syndrome?

There are many factors that contribute to imposter syndrome. After an initial success, sometimes people’s perceived expectations become higher, adding additional stress and anxiety around the potential of disappointing others. Other causes include how one was raised, emotional traits (insecurity, perfectionism, etc.), and psychological problems.

The high suicide rate of Ivy League students may also be attributed to imposter syndrome. Many of these students graduated high school at the top of their class, and are now surrounded by equally smart and talented individuals. Comparatively, these students are now average in a much larger pool of students, no longer the top students in the class. As they compare themselves to other students, their self-esteem may drop considerably and they may fear no longer being able to meet others’ high expectations. This fear of being exposed along with lowered self-esteem can lead to severe depression which can be linked to suicide attempts.

People with Imposter syndrome tend to continuously question their ability and try to become perfect, potentially even discounting the fact that they have already made great achievements. Fearing failure, they may use the imposter syndrome as a defense mechanism. Believing that they are incompetent from the beginning, in order to avoid the psychological trauma caused by failure. However, such reactions can cause anxiety, low self-esteem, and negative self-concept, which in turn tends to lower their actual rate of success.

How can we keep from falling into the trap of imposter syndrome?

1. Avoid perfectionism.
Perfectionists can be so strict on themselves that they may miss smaller achievements and successes. A perfectionist tends to set extremely high (maybe even unattainable) goals, and then experience shame or defeat when they do not meet these goals. This behavior can be self destructive. Remember, the final outcome of a situation is not the only thing that defines you. Make an effort to look at a situation in totality to be able to glean other positive outcomes. For example, if you worked on a group project that did not earn the highest praise from your professor, think about positive outcomes that you did achieve– learning to work well with a diverse group; effectively managing your time; or perhaps learning new material that you may be able to apply in other settings. Finding ways to recognize accomplishments big and small can go a long way to alleviating feeling like an imposter.

2. Put less stock in what others may think of you.
The most important opinion of you is YOURS! Others may have expectations of you that are unrealistic or may be reflective of their own insecurities. While a healthy dose of “caring what others think” is useful, putting too much stock in someone else’s opinion of you may be harmful to your own self-esteem.

3. Acknowledge and celebrate yourself.
You should acknowledge that your success is the result of your effort and action, and not by luck or good fortune. In other words, one’s success is made possible by oneself. Unsure of what you have accomplished? Try making a list. Include all achievements, big and small. Add to the list throughout your graduate school career. You will be amazed by how many things you have been able to accomplish. That feeling of accomplishment will help relieve self doubt or other insecurities that may arise. When you are confident about something that you did well, that positive energy can lead to future successes.

4. Ask for help.
Do not feel ashamed to ask for help. Asking for help does not show incompetence, but rather exhibits a desire for successful outcomes. Ask freely, as there may be other people who also do not know what you don’t know,  and try to find solutions together.

5. Develop resilience.
Do not be frustrated if you fail. As we have learned how to ride bicycle after several failed attempts, we finally succeed and from that point forward, we know how to ride successfully! So try not to dwell on small failures or mistakes.

6. Secure individual private time.
If you compare the success of others to your own progress, or feel the need to meet the expectation of others, you may experience discomfort or uncertainty, which can lower self-esteem. In that case, it is important to find space to be able to consider and understand the source of our insecurities and organize our thoughts to recharge and focus on our positive achievements.

We all have vulnerabilities and the desire to be acknowledged. However, perfection does not exist in this world. So let’s reframe our thinking and change our lives to enjoy and celebrate our value!

Get more information on imposter syndrome:

Hanna Park received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Columbia University and Master’s degree in Cognitive Studies in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She worked as a journalist for the Korean Psychological Association.

International Students & Internship: Thoughts from Training Directors

It’s that time of year again…the beginning of internship applications! This is certainly a stressful time in the life of many psychology graduate students, however, internship applications can be particularly tricky for international students who have additional residency and visa issues to navigate. The American Psychological Association of Graduate Students is excited to release the second video in our series on international students applying for internship. As a complement to our first video featuring international students navigating the internship process, this video highlights the perspectives of training directors. We interviewed five training directors to learn about their experiences with international students on internship.

Here are a couple key themes that came up across our interviews:

  • Institutional support can go a long way: Interviewees that had resources at their training site (i.e., international student services, an HR department familiar with international hiring processes, attorneys on staff) felt better able to navigate the visa process with their interns. By contrast, training directors at smaller sites without international hires, commented on feeling lost during the visa process in particular. For training directors in this position, there seemed to be a dearth of centralized resources available. Interviewees suggested the development of specific resources such as a “living document” with current information on the necessary steps for the internship match, that could be shared in CCTCP, and for the development of a liaison through APPIC.
  • International students benefit clients, staff, and the training site: All interviewees commented on the incredible value that international students can add to a training site. Training directors noted a number of skills, such as language abilities, specific cultural competencies, and the opportunity for other trainees and psychologists to learn from the diverse perspectives of the international student interns. Essentially, training directors reflected that once they were able to get their international interns up and running at their site, the benefits of bringing in an international applicant outweighed the difficulties of getting them in the door.

What are your thoughts? Do you have resources you want to share for training directors or international students navigating internship? We want to hear from you in the comments!

Check out the first video in this series!

CARED Perspectives – Immigration at the Border: Separation of Children from Parents

This blog post is a part of the series, “CARED Perspectives,” developed by the APAGS Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity. Posts in this series will discuss current events and how these events relate to graduate students in psychology. If you are interested in contributing to the CARED Perspectives series, please contact Lincoln Hill. 

Immigration at the Border: Separation of Children from Parents

By Jhodi-Ann Bowie

black-and-white-blur-child-415229In recent weeks, the global community has been flooded with images and information related to the U.S. immigration policy that requires the separation of children from their parents/caregivers at the border. This issue has undoubtedly impacted not only those directly affected, but millions of others who are disheartened by these events. As racial/ethnic minority graduate students, we are also not immune to the personal and professional effects of these events. Many of us have experienced a variety of emotions associated with the stories of children being separated from their caregivers. These experiences most certainly impact our ability to go about our daily lives, but they can also impact our professional work.

Many of us conduct research on the effects of immigration on psychological well-being. Immigrants not only experience distress related to the hardship of being displaced from their homes, but they also experience a variety of challenges in their quest for asylum, and discrimination on many fronts while living in the US. These, and other challenges, have the potential to cause lasting mental health concerns. We can therefore anticipate that the impact of separating family members from one another is even more detrimental, particularly putting children at risk for psychological trauma.

Further, many of us work directly with these clients in our clinical practice settings. This and other issues related to social injustice particularly hit home and have a significant impact on psychology trainees, since we are often privy to our clients stories of their hardships in these experiences. Further, although many clients may not be directly impacted by these events, they may experience feelings of outrage and distress. Additionally, some of us may even identify as first, second, or third generation immigrants to the US and have personal and direct experiences with this issue.

The importance of these events inevitably blur the lines of personal and professional and highlight important considerations and questions for graduate trainees: How do I manage my feelings about current distressing events? Do I share these feelings in the clinical/work and academic space? Do I share my personal beliefs and feelings with clients? How can I advocate for these individuals from a professional standpoint?

These questions may be difficult for us to answer on our own. The role of supervisors, advisors, and professors therefore becomes paramount. Unfortunately, very few academic programs offer a safe platform for students to share their feelings and address the aforementioned questions. Additionally, students may be hesitant to request such a space for fear of seeming too politically driven/biased or unprofessional. But how can we be expected to keep such issues such completely compartmentalized from who we are and what we stand for? This plight remains ongoing since in this new age of social political polarization and social injustice, psychology professionals and graduate students must learn to navigate our own boundaries and responsibilities to the field.

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APAGS-CARED aims to provide students with a variety of platforms to discuss and benefit from resources related to this and other social justice issues. These resources include peer support groups, webinars for international students, twitter chats, disseminating information to academic programs, and other initiatives.

For more information on APAGS-CARED, as well as APA’s stance and actions related to the immigration policy, please visit the following resources:

We want to hear what you think! Please share your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

Other posts in the CARED PERSPECTIVES series:

 

 

The Graduate Student Guide to Getting Your S**t Together

MPj04440980000[1]This is it: the time when it seems like every professor, every research conference, every supervisor has come together to plot how to make these last few weeks a mad fury of papers, projects, sweat, and tears for us graduate students.

In the midst of this chaos, it is all too easy to let certain things – the less pressing papers, the cleanliness of our apartments, our mental well-being- slip by the wayside. In an effort to alleviate some of that relentless pressure, I present tips for the graduate student to keep their s**t together.

  • Make a to-do list and put everything on there. The most empowering to-do lists are those which are a combination of tasks you hope to get done (write that report, make that call) and those you will get done anyway unless some catastrophic event occurs (i.e., see that patient, go to that class). With a to-do list like this, you check off more things and get a better picture of how amazingly productive you are, and that can be all the fuel you need to get more of the things done.
  • Break down your bigger tasks. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a dissertation – when planning out your tasks don’t simply write in ‘dissertation’ but small, tangible goals that can be accomplished in 1-2 hour blocks (e.g., ‘write intro paragraph’; ‘find depression measure’; ‘draft Table 1’).
  • Five minutes can be a damn good start to some things. We all know what the hardest part of a task is…. Getting started. Whether it is the first draft of an abstract, writing a few emails, or starting the blog post you keep meaning to do, using small bouts of time productively can really add up.

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If Helplessness is Learned, Success Can Also be Learned

What is learned helplessness?

Sometimes, we set low expectations or do not try to seize new opportunities because we do not want to be faced with disappointment. While there may be reasons for such behavior, it can really limit the scope of experiences we allow ourselves to have.

When people experience failure repeatedly, they often tend to give up without trying, even if they have the ability to succeed. This is called “learned helplessness.” Learned helplessness is a phenomenon coined by Martin Seligman and Steven Maier while studying avoidance learning and formation of fear conditioning.

In 1967, at the University of Pennsylvania, Seligman and Maier separated 24 dogs into three groups. The dogs were put into harnesses and received electric shocks. In group 1 (escape group), dogs could end the electric shocks by pressing a lever with their noses. In group 2 (no-escape group/experiment group):, they did not have a lever and could not avoid the electric shocks. In group 3 (no harness control group), dogs did not receive any electric shock.

After spending 24 hours in harnesses, the dogs were placed in a different box in which they could avoid the electrical shocks by jumping over a low barrier to the other side.  Here’s what happened: Dogs in group 1 and 3 avoided electric shocks by jumping over the barrier, but dogs in group 2  — the group that had no choice to avoid the shocks — crouched in the corner and received all shock. That is, the dogs in group 2 exhibited learned helplessness. Seligman found that after repeated failures of avoiding electric shocks, the dogs in group 2 learned that their behavior didn’t impact the electric shocks and the shocks were uncontrollable. Thus, the dogs gave up trying to avoid the electric shocks altogether.

Learned helplessness can be easily observed in our everyday lives. For example, if one studies hard for math exams but consistently does not earn good grades, that person may stop investing time in studying math. Or, if a person is unable to find a job even after applying and interviewing many times, they can eventually give up and discontinue their job search. Learned helplessness can be seen in politics as well. People are able to cast votes in elections but if they feel that there is no change, some will give up and stop voting. The thought, “Even if I vote, nothing changes,” becomes inscribed in their minds.

When we cannot control our external environment, we can fall into helplessness and stop trying to improve our situation.

What are the signs of learned helplessness?

Learned helplessness has three core characteristics:

  • When a person faces failure of learning, he or she shows the tendency to give up.
  • A person avoids one’s responsibility as the cause of failure.
  • When one’s responsibility is recognized, there is tendency to attribute the cause of failure to one’s lack of ability rather than lack of effort.

If one attributes the cause of negative events to one’s fault (internal attribution), one considers oneself more negatively than in the case of attributing the cause to environment or other people (external attribution).

The experience of repeated failure causes emotional, motivational, and cognitive harm. The resulting combination of signs include lack of confidence, depression or negative perception, lack of control, lack of persistence, and lack of responsibility. If such signs are neglected without proper treatment for an extended period of time, they could turn into disorders that threaten one’s social psychological well-being.

How can we overcome learned helplessness?

To overcome learned helplessness, we should increase the number of successful experiences by setting achievable goals.  For example, if the goal is to learn a foreign language, set an attainable goal such as memorizing 10 vocabulary words in that language. Once this goal has been achieved, it will create a positive memory of success. These continued positive experiences will gradually build confidence. Later, you can set goals with a higher level of difficulty and gradually push away negative memories of failure. These small achievements can help reduce the effects of learned helplessness.

Another technique to overcome learned helplessness is to grow “failure resistance.” That is, the ability to overcome failure and maintain a positive outlook.  To effectively grow failure resistance and escape from situations of helplessness, people can encourage themselves to think positively and reframe negative thoughts. For example, think about a failure as an obstacle to overcome in order to reach an ultimate success. This reframe helps to put negative experiences into perspective and will keep you from spiraling into helplessness.

If we do not give up, even in moments of pain and despair, a whole new world can open up for us. For example, persistence can help us land a new job that can lead to new, interesting paths — or lead us to friendships with people who initially did not seem to fit in our lives. These are completely unexpected experiences. But if we do not try, the opportunity for a variety of experiences will be drastically reduced.

If helplessness has been learned, success can also be learned.

 

Hanna Park received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Columbia University and Master’s degree in Cognitive Studies in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She currently works as a journalist for the Korean Psychological Association.