Impostor Syndrome
Oct. 17th, 2013 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cheekbones3Prompted by a mention in a random article I was reading, I realise that I fall into the category of people who are afflicted by Impostor Syndrome. This is basically the feeling that one doesn't deserve to be in the position achieved, that achievements are down to luck rather than ability.
As mentioned in the article, it isn't listed as an actual psychological condition, and I see it as a manifestation of the human condition.
I speculate that I've triggered such thoughts about myself as a reaction to my own self-confidence and arrogance when I was younger - I've always tried to mitigate any aggrandisement of my abilities with a self-deprecating attitude so as not to appear to be arrogant, a basic method of making myself less intrusive and generally more palatable to the people around me.
This is probably based on a fear of being disliked. Thinking about it in detail, I can't decide whether this is due to too much confidence, or not enough. No wonder psychoanalysts drive big cars!
This post is also a wonderful insight into my inability to come to conclusions. Or is it?
See also the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is pretty much the opposite thing, although I know 'opposite' is too strong a word to use.
I wonder, are these just subsets of inferiority/superiority complexes?
As mentioned in the article, it isn't listed as an actual psychological condition, and I see it as a manifestation of the human condition.
I speculate that I've triggered such thoughts about myself as a reaction to my own self-confidence and arrogance when I was younger - I've always tried to mitigate any aggrandisement of my abilities with a self-deprecating attitude so as not to appear to be arrogant, a basic method of making myself less intrusive and generally more palatable to the people around me.
This is probably based on a fear of being disliked. Thinking about it in detail, I can't decide whether this is due to too much confidence, or not enough. No wonder psychoanalysts drive big cars!
This post is also a wonderful insight into my inability to come to conclusions. Or is it?
See also the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is pretty much the opposite thing, although I know 'opposite' is too strong a word to use.
I wonder, are these just subsets of inferiority/superiority complexes?
