Periodically I hear from people at EA organizations who are experiencing imposter syndrome or other anxiety about how well they're performing at work, especially when starting a new role. I wrote up two guides on this, one for interns/new staff and one for their managers.
Guide to welcoming interns (for managers)
Countering imposter syndrome and anxiety about work (for new staff and interns)
I have never experienced Imposter Syndrome and have a strong sense that I never would under any circumstances. I have clearly have psychological characteristics that would prevent me from experiencing Imposter Syndrome, for example I seem to have low priors about other people's competence almost always, for better or worse.
I also model myself as having philosophical antibodies against it. But I can't tell the extent to which these antibodies are actually impactful vs. my personality.
For example: I would argue that if I'm surprised at how competent people think I am, and I strongly think they are wrong, then this means I am good at seeming competent, which is valuable. So this should only boost my view of my capabilities.
Another example: If I'm trying to decide whether I belong in a set of people based on a competence threshold, I should always compare myself to the least competent person in the set. The most competent people aren't relevant at all, but people with Imposter Syndrome seem to focus on them to the exclusion of the least competent people.
Do people who experience Imposter Syndrome also possess these beliefs, and it just doesn't matter? Or is this stuff useful to reflect on?
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I have never seen writing on Imposter Syndrome that acknowledges a possibility that you really are less competent may have no comparative advantages at all.
Let's imagine this possibility is true... So what?
I have identified relevant factors (nature of work, competitiveness) that should attenuate distress due to Imposter Syndrome, but as far as I can tell, these factors don't attenuate the distress for people with Imposter Syndrome. Would it be useful for people to imagine their worst fears are true, and evaluate how bad that would really be?
I'm interested in feedback.
I get quite bad imposter syndrome, and I can take a stab at this.
Here are some general points I'd make here.
1) My imposter syndrome seems to come from a quite separate psychological process. So I could have my rational assessment of the situation (including some beliefs that work against imposter syndrome) but still feel the imposter syndrome quite strongly. Obviously they aren't completely unrelated, but they often do seem quite separate.
2) Imposter syndrome for me isn't just the belief that I am the least competent person in the room/org, it is the belie... (read more)