Short video transcript (Two Minute Papers) explaining impostor syndrome: describes the distorted self-evaluation of high achievers who attribute successes to luck or deception, gives examples (academic, actor Hayden Christensen), and outlines common treatments such as group therapy and learning to accept praise. Tone is informal, conversational, and explanatory.
Dear fellow scholars, this is two minute papers with who or what is an impostor? Simple definition. A person who deceives others by pretending to be someone else. Full definition One that assumes false identity or title for the purpose of deception. Wow. The full definition is a whopping seven characters. More. I don't even know what to do with this amount of time that I saved reading the simple definition. First lets look in the mind of someone who suffers from imposter syndrome and see the fickle understanding they have of their own achievements. 98 points out of 100. This surely means that they mixed up my submission with someone else's who was way smarter than I am. I went in for the next round of interviews, messed up big time, and I got hired with an incredible salary. This can of course only be a misunderstanding. I got elected for this prestigious award. I don't know how this could possibly have happened. Maybe someone who really likes me tried to pressure the prize committee to vote for me. I cannot possibly imagine any other way of this happening. I've been five years at this company now and still no one found out that I am a fraud. That's a disaster. Nothing can convince me that I am not an impostor who fooled everyone else for being a bright person. However, funny as it may sound, this is a very real problem. Researchers, academics and high achieving women are especially vulnerable to this condition, but it is indeed not limited to these professions. For instance, Hayden Christensen, the actor playing Anakin Skywalker in the beloved Star wars series, appears to suffer from very similar symptoms. I felt like I had this great thing in Star wars that provided all the opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little two handed to me. I. I didn't want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave. So as a response, he hasn't really done any acting for four years. He also said, if this time away is gonna be damaging to my career, then so be it. If I can come back afterward and claw my way back in, then maybe I'll feel like I earned it. The treatment of imposter syndrome includes group sittings where the patients discuss their lives and come to a sudden realization that not alone, and this is not an individual case, but a common pattern among high achieving people. As they are also very keen on dismissing praise and kind words. They are instructed to be more vigilant about doing that and to try to take in all the nourishment they get from their colleagues. These are the more common ways to treat this serious condition that poisons so many people's minds. Thanks for watching and for your generous support, and I'll see you next time.
