May 28, 2022 21:00:00

What are the hidden benefits of 'impostor syndrome' that makes you feel like you're fooling others because you can't affirm your success?

'

Scammer Syndrome (Impostor Syndrome) ' is a concept advocated by psychologists Pauline R. Clans and Susanne A. Aims in 1978. It refers to the tendency to think, 'I'm not a person who deserves praise.' A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who studied such impostor syndrome reported that 'people with impostor syndrome often have the advantage of being good at teamwork and cooperation.'

The Impostor Phenomenon Revisited: Examining the Relationship between Workplace Impostor Thoughts and Interpersonal Effectiveness at Work | Academy of Management Journal
https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2020.1627

Study finds an unexpected upside to workplace impostor thoughts | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
https://news.mit.edu/2022/imposter-syndrome-upside-0415

There's a Surprising Upside to Imposter Syndrome, Research Shows
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-found-there-is-an-upside-to-imposter-syndrome-at-work

Clans and Iams, who advocated for impostor syndrome, found that women with particularly high careers tended to think of themselves as 'scammers' despite evidence of competence. discovered. Subsequent studies have also pointed out that impostor syndrome is more common in people with high careers and is generally more common in students of color and cultural minorities.

Impostor syndrome tends to focus on negative aspects such as decreased self-esteem and mental health problems, but people with impostor syndrome have in-postor syndrome, just as research originates from 'women with high careers' in the first place. Tends to have high abilities. So Basima Tewfik's research team at the MIT Sloan School of Business studied the 'positive aspects' of people with impostor syndrome in a total of 3603 subjects in four different studies and experiments.

An analysis of employees at investment management companies found that employees who were prone to impostor syndrome at the start of the survey were considered by their bosses to be 'working harder than their colleagues' and were more productive. There were no drawbacks to this. It was also found that two months after the start of the survey, it was easy for the boss to evaluate him as 'more capable than his colleagues in interpersonal relationships.'

In addition, in a survey of residents who interacted with patients in a doctor's training program, those who showed a tendency for impostor syndrome were more active in interacting with patients than those who did not. It turns out that I was trying. 'I also found a positive relationship. Residents with more impostor syndrome tendencies are interpersonally competent, more empathetic, well-listened, and well-informed by patients. Was evaluated to bring out. '

Analysis of the video recording of the actual interaction between the trainee and the patient revealed that the trainees who tended to have impostor syndrome looked at the patient more, made gestures, and nodded to the patient's story. .. It is believed that these factors were the reason why patients rated them as 'interpersonally competent.'

In addition, the research team conducted simulated interviews with subjects working in various industries and found that there was a causal relationship between subjects prone to impostor syndrome and

others-oriented tendencies. People with impostor syndrome, who showed a tendency toward others, were more likely to be evaluated as interpersonally competent by simulated interviewers.

The study shows that people who are prone to impostor syndrome become more cross-oriented, and as a result, are evaluated to have higher interpersonal abilities. 'The idea that it's always bad to think of yourself as a scammer in the workplace may not be true at all,' Tewfik said, arguing that impostor syndrome and its effects need to be revisited. ..

However, subjects with impostor syndrome have also been shown to have reduced self-esteem, so encourage the spread of impostor syndrome among workers and avoid ignoring or denying it. Tewfik points out that it should be. In addition, the research targeted occupations that can interact with other employees and related parties, but since there are few people who work in an environment without interpersonal relationships, even if they try to become other-oriented, there are few people to work with. There is a possibility that the merit will not appear.

The tendency to think of yourself as a scammer is commonly referred to as 'impostor syndrome,' but in this study, this idea does not persist for a particular employee, but establishes his or her position in the workplace. It turns out that it disappears as it goes on. Therefore, Tewfik says that the tendency of thinking seen in impostor syndrome is not called 'syndrome'.