Journalist Oliver Burkeman has recently talked about the phenomenon of imposter syndrome, where people believe they are not good enough and are going to be found out by others. Even famous and successful writers such as Maya Angelou have reported feeling that others are going to find out the truth about her.
According to an expert in imposter syndrome, Dr Valerie Young, many people will feel like this, but it is apparently more common in women. It is thought that this can be due to pre-existing stereotypes about women’s professional competence. Younger women are more prone to the condition, thinking any failure is due to their lack of ability, whilst younger men will tend to blame external factors, outside of their control.
A typical example of this would be that a person might blame their poor exam results on the fact that they didn’t revise well enough or that they were not good enough (internal factors). Whereas another person may blame their poor exam results on external factors, such as their teacher was rubbish, or the exam questions were too hard, or the teacher told them to revise the wrong things, or it was too hot in the room to concentrate etc.
A person can come across as competent and confident but still feel like an imposter inside. This syndrome can affect artists, business people, musicians, authors and just about anyone.
The condition was identified in the 1970s, but in today’s world, there is more competition, we are economically insecure and people are expected to perform better, so the condition could be more prominent.
One good thing though, they argue that if you feel like you are a fraud, you are self-aware and able to look at your own competence, so probably aren’t incompetent!
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