Tag Archives: graduate school

CARED Perspectives – Imposter Syndrome as a Minority: The Struggle is Real

This blog post is a part of the series, “CARED Perspectives,” developed by the APAGS Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity. 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.

Imposter Syndrome as a Minority: The Struggle is Real

By Fiona C. Thomas

Years ago, I successfully competed, and was selected for a federal government position, a training spot reserved for few undergraduate students. Following a phone interview, I accepted the position, moved to a new city, and was eager to start. On day one my supervisor greeted me with these words, “I wasn’t expecting someone who looked like you based on your name!” His comment was not intended to be malicious. He was being truthful about his thoughts. Yet, this was the first time I felt like an imposter. My name implied a White candidate, not someone who looked like me. Did I need to work harder to make up for this? What were my supervisor’s expectations of me now versus when he interviewed me? And wait a minute, why did I immediately doubt that my experiences and credentials – all of which got me the job – were suddenly insufficient? What did my name or the color of my skin matter?

As a graduate student, I have come to understand this experience as imposter syndrome. The term was coined four decades ago by psychologists, Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes based on their work with high-achieving women. It connotes an internal feeling of intellectual phoniness despite ample objective evidence to the contrary (Clance & Imes, 1978). Indeed, graduate students, academics, and many successful individuals (men included) will not only be familiar with this term, but will have experienced that powerful fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. Recent research shows that members of minority groups feel this phenomenon even more profoundly. For instance, the work of Dr. Kevin Cokley and colleagues has pointed to the strong association between discrimination and feelings of impostorism. His research additionally suggests that for ethnic minority college students, impostorism is a greater predictor of negative mental health outcomes than discrimination. These findings have powerful implications. In addition to labeling it and recognizing the moments we feel it most potently, what can underrepresented minority graduate students do to tackle imposter syndrome?

Dr. Sindhumathi Revuluri, associate dean of undergraduate education at Harvard University, recently wrote an insightful piece on overcoming imposter syndrome. A few months ago, the New York Times published an article on this topic as well, particularly with regards to the experiences of minority groups. I pull from the words of wisdom outlined in these articles and have peppered my own learnings below regarding strategies that I have found helpful for tackling impostorism:

Surround yourself with mentors who simultaneously uplift and challenge you: This does not necessarily mean finding mentors who resemble you and have had similar experiences as you. I have come to learn that this is not easy to do. Instead, surround yourself with individuals who encourage you to not only find your space but to feel confident to own that space with integrity.

~~Take pride in~~ Slay being the forerunner: Underrepresented populations bring a particularly powerful perspective in academic settings. These voices are not always heard. If you are doing research that no one in your department is doing, or if you’re working clinically with a population that rarely gets access to mental health services, these are major accomplishments. It takes significantly more time, energy, and effort to enter a space that has traditionally not belonged to underrepresented communities, and to then be the advocate for underrepresented areas of research. Once you get there, trust that it is because of your merit, hard-work, and persistence.

It is okay to say no and set boundaries: Feeling the need to prove oneself can result in the urge to say ‘yes’ – yes to every new project that may improve your skills as a researcher or clinician, yes to speaking on diversity issues in your department, or yes to committee service simply to bring a diverse voice to the table. Indeed, there is extra emotional, physical, psychological, and intellectual labor involved when you try to enter a homogenous field. However, trying to be everything to everyone can ultimately dilute the quality of your work and do more harm than good.

Genuine humility is different than feeling like an imposter: Even with certain lived experiences, there are limitations to our knowledge. Acknowledge this, own it, and ask for help when needed.

Pay it forward: When I decided to pursue clinical psychology as a career, I did not personally know any South Asian women in this field. This initially amplified my feelings of imposter syndrome. Who was I supposed to look to as a role model? Given these experiences, I find it deeply rewarding to connect with others who are in the early stages of their graduate degree. I may not have had mentors who looked like me, but I had mentors who challenged me to find my voice. It is not always possible to repay such acts, but you can pay it forward. An honest conversation about the trials and tribulations of impostorism as an ethnic or racial minority can be quite powerful for others struggling with these feelings.

We want to hear from you!

What have your experiences been with imposter syndrome?
Are there strategies you have found particularly helpful for coping?
What are your thoughts on this topic?

Please share your thoughts below in the comments section!

References

Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15(3), 241-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0086006

Cokley, K., McClain, S., Enciso, A.. & Martinez, M. (2013). An Examination of the Impact of Minority Status Stress and Impostor Feelings on the Mental Health of Diverse Ethnic Minority College Students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 41(2), 82-95. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1912.2013.00029.x

Cokley, K., Smith, L., Bernard, D., Hurst, A., Jackson, S., Stone, S., . . . Roberts, D. (2017). Impostor feelings as a moderator and mediator of the relationship between perceived discrimination and mental health among racial/ethnic minority college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64(2), 141-154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cou0000198

Revuluri. S. (2018, October 4). How to Overcome Impostor Syndrome. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-to-Overcome-Impostor/244700.

Wong, K. (2018, June 12). Dealing With Impostor Syndrome When You’re Treated as an Impostor. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/12/smarter-living/dealing-with-impostor-syndrome-when-youre-treated-as-an-impostor.html.

Resources

Below, are some podcasts that may be of interest. We hope you enjoy these and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the topic!

Mentoring Hour for Students of Color Applying to Doctoral Programs
Joy Zelinski Marquez and Farzana Saleem help prospective students think through program considerations that are salient to students of color (e.g., geography, culture and climate) and increase awareness about different types of psychology programs, admissions criteria and opportunities to study multicultural issues. (Web chat recorded May 2016)

Mental Health of High-Achieving Students of Color
Kevin Cokley, PhD, describes his new research on perceived discrimination, impostor feelings, and the mental health of high-achieving students of color. Cokley is director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis, a professor of counseling psychology and African and African diaspora studies and a faculty affiliate of the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas-Austin. (Recorded December 2014)

Additional podcasts on graduate school, careers and additional hot topics can be found here.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading the latest ‘CARED Perspectives’ post. Check out these other articles in the series:

CARED perspectives: So what is this psychology diversity committee all about?

Engagement with diversity, cultural, and individual differences has become a core aspect of clinical training, supervision, and research in psychology (American Psychological Association, 2006). In this spirit of proactively interacting with diversity in its varied forms, many psychology departments have created dedicated “diversity committees.” While a name and general scope may be shared, diversity committees take many forms: from a student led forum to address graduate program concerns, to a faculty committee working towards recruiting diverse staff and students (Rogers & Molina, 2006). Diversity committees can be a positive vehicle of change, but also a burden on faculty and students with diverse identities who take on the invisible labor of serving on many such committees, and face greater expectations to do so than are placed on their majority group peers (Vasquez et al., 2006)

To better understand the inner-workings of diversity committees, I gathered the perspectives of four psychology graduate students who served on a diversity committee at their respective institutions. In particular, I asked these students to: reflect on the value in having a departmental diversity committee; to identify what was achieved through their committee’s work; and to share the extent to which student voices guided, were heard, or were marginalized by the fellow committee members. Below I offer a summary of their varied perspectives and some considerations for students and faculty considering developing a diversity committee within their department.

What is the value in having a diversity committee?

Dedicated space conducive to making change – a key prerequisite to undertaking any further work
Having an avenue for dialogue that doesn’t naturally occur between students, faculty, and staff
Ensuring accountability at the department level to operating in a manner consistent with principles of equity and diversity
Providing a sense of safety for students who have reservations about coming forward with their concerns
Addressing qualitative inclusion of diverse perspectives, experiences, and identities

What was achieved on the committee during your tenure?

Making faculty more aware of student concerns
Creating professional development opportunities
Developing workshops/brown bag lunches in response to current events
Inviting speakers with expertise in diversity topics
Developing events (e.g., diversity recruitment weekend) and tools (e.g., website re-design) to recruit more students from diverse backgrounds
Creating a survey to assess climate, student experiences and needs

How were student voices engaged on the committee?

Diversity committee formats varied greatly – from student led efforts to faculty committees with one designated student representative. Students on faculty committees indicated varied experiences. One reported receiving respect and useful professional guidance, while another reported not being “truly heard” by faculty. Perhaps as a result of these dynamics, some students reported that creating departmental change through the work of a diversity committee is a slow moving process, which may involve only surface level changes in the beginning. Several students commented on the value of models where they were able to hold separate meetings with their peers to amass a list of students’ perspectives and concerns, which they could report back to the faculty-led diversity committee. One student in particular indicated that this mode is effective because students often feel more comfortable bringing concerns forward to other students, as opposed to faculty.

While diversity committees are diverse in their form, tasks, operation, and membership, all students acknowledged the value in their existence and several expressed gratitude in being able to advocate for diversity at a higher level. As one student said, “diversity efforts take some trial and error to evolve for the better, but these programs are most valuable when we learn from and correct our mistakes.”

What do you think? We want to hear from you in the comments!

Have you been involved in a diversity committee? What the impetus was for establishing this committee? Was your committee initiated by students? Or staff/faculty? Has your committee filled a gap that was there prior to the committee starting up?

Have you found that individuals of color and those with other diverse identities have disproportionately taken on this work?

What’s your take on this topic?

Acknowledgments: A huge thank you to the students who shared their experiences for the purpose of this post!

References

American Psychological Association. 2006. Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology (G&P). Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/about/policies/guiding-principles.pdf

Rogers, M. R., & Molina, L. E. (2006). Exemplary efforts in psychology to recruit and retain graduate students of color. American Psychologist, 61(2), 143.

Vasquez, M. J., Lott, B., García-Vázquez, E., Grant, S. K., Iwamasa, G. Y., Molina, L. E., … & Vestal-Dowdy, E. (2006). Personal reflections: Barriers and strategies in increasing diversity in psychology. American Psychologist, 61(2), 157.

Check out previous CARED Perspective posts:

Dear Me, Future Psychologist. Yours truly, Dr. Erlanger Turner

APAGS is thankful for all of the psychologists that participated in the Dear Me series for the gradPSYCH Blog. Considering the success of these posts, APAGS is expanding the series to include early career psychologists that have been doing amazing things since graduation.

We’ve asked early career psychologists to write a letter to their 16-year-old self. We hope you enjoy these letters and glean some wisdom and guidance as you decide whether to enter graduate school in psychology, as you navigate the challenges of graduate school, and as you make decisions about your career and life.

20160721_Erlanger_Earl_Turner_small

Dr. Erlanger “Earl” Turner is a licensed psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Houston-Downtown. He is also the Director of the Race and Cultural Experiences Research (R.A.C.E.) Lab, and often serves as a media psychologist. Dr. Turner writes a blog, The Race to Good Health, and has been quoted by numerous media sources on mental health, race relations, and cultural competency. Dr. Turner’s current research examines (1) correlates of ethnic minority health, (2) identifying mechanisms of help-seeking, and (3) developing interventions to improve utilization and adherence to psychological treatments. While in graduate school, he served as the APAGS Member-at-Large (Practice Focus) and was the first former APAGS member to be elected to an APA standing board. He was the 2017 Chair of the APA Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest and is the first early career psychologist to serve as chair of BAPPI. Recently, he was elected as the first African American male to be president of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice (APA Division 37).

. For more information, please visit Dr. Turner’s website.

DEAR-ME

FROM THE DESK OF Erlanger Turner:

Dear Earl,

You have always been an introverted person with a comedic personality that only those close to you (e.g., family and friends) truly have an opportunity to witness. Who is to say that you have to share with the entire world the person God made you to be?

In life, you will face great challenges and maybe not experience much success. However, self-doubt will not push you towards achieving any goal in life. I know that one of your biggest fears is failure. Let that be the driving force in your life to keep running over any obstacle that you may face either personally or in your career. Growing up in Louisiana should not be your final destination nor your highest aspiration. Seek guidance from those who motivate you and always keep your mind on the powers that be to lead you to accomplish “your goals”.

As a first generation college student, you will have the chance to set the mark for your siblings and other family members to step out on faith. Don’t allow your internal conflicts and doubts determine how you live or what career you will pursue. Remember that it is great to help others, but always remember to do what is best for yourself. Pursuing a career in medicine will not be an easy task and you will face challenges as a Black man from the outside world.

As you move forward in life and work towards being the 1^st in your family to graduate from high school, keep these things in mind:

You control your destiny and what you accomplish in life. Don’t hold yourself to others expectations and stay focused on what makes you happy. In the midst of difficult challenges do not doubt the decisions you make. Those decisions will be the lessons you learn and will help others to recognize how experiences shape who you are as a person.

Being Black is beautiful! Don’t get caught up in the stereotypes that exist in society. You should love all the aspects of who you are. Each person is uniquely created and you should value your individuality as a person that is embedded within a community that is often perceived as not good enough.
You can be great at whatever you do in life. Remember that greatness is not defined by the lack of struggles but how you overcome those obstacles that you face. Set a goal and keep working towards it until you are satisfied.

In closing, “setting a goal is only your starting point. It’s the hard work that determines your final destination”.

–Erlanger A. Turner, Ph.D.

Editor’s Note: Dear Me, Future Psychologist is inspired by the Dear Me book series by Joseph Galliano. Special thanks to David A. Meyerson, Ph.D. for creating this series for the gradPSYCH Blog. Please check out other letters in this series:

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 – Racism on our College Campuses: What can we do about it?

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.

Racism on our College Campuses: What can we do about it?

By Ryan C. Warner

Unfortunately, racial incidents often occur frequently in today’s higher education institutions. Just recently in April 2018, a series of racial incidents transpired on the campus of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. A racist threat was found in a restroom on campus. A student dressed in blackface and wearing an offensive sign was seen at a local bar, and the word “nigger” was spelled out in stones at the DePauw Nature Park. During the same month, a Greek fraternity at Syracuse University in New York posted a six-minute video online showing a member saying an oath that included the statement: “I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for Niggers, Spics, and most importantly the (expletive) Kykes.”

Similar to the rest of society, colleges and universities are not immune to racial discrimination. With “Blackface” party incidents and “noose” hangings making news at numerous universities all over the country, racially underrepresented students face challenges beyond the academic scope of tests, papers, and projects.

As a current graduate student of color who has attended various predominantly white universities, I can attest to the fact that racial discrimination can be displayed covertly (e.g., microaggressions) or overtly. These incidences have a profound impact of an individual’s well-being, and can impact their retention and life satisfaction. But the main question is, “what can we do about it?”

At the individual level, we need to all stand up to racial injustice when it occurs. Silence is compliance and only encourages and enhances racial injustice in the world. Individuals of all backgrounds and skin colors should point out bigotry when they see it, which will ultimately create social awareness and bring light to these issues.

At the institutional level, university leaders should make systemic changes to enhance inclusivity for students of color. One example may include requiring that all students, faculty, and staff attend diversity training focusing on racial equality and inclusion. Additionally, ensuring that campuses have a bias incident report system in place can offer a resource for students to document their experiences of racial microaggressions, which may assist with providing evidence that these incidences do in fact exist. This documentation may be useful with further presenting evidence for the need of diversity resources and inclusivity programming.

It is also important that resources be available at a professional organization level. For instance, the American Psychological Association (APA) and other organizations have various divisions/resources that can assist with supporting graduate students (e.g., Committee for the Advancement of Racial & Ethnic Diversity, Division 45, AAPA, SIP, AMENA-Psy, ABPsi, NLPA, etc.). Conducting webinars and disseminating information to academic programs may assist with providing students helpful coping strategies to use when experiencing racial stress in their programs.

For additional resources please visit:

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