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>Imposter syndrome is totally expected when you have no public role models doing what you do, and all of your teachers are "not like you" as are all the books a
by imanaccount247 12y ago
>Imposter syndrome is totally expected when you have no public role models doing what you do, and all of your teachers are "not like you" as are all the books and education materials
Except that imposter syndrome is just as common in men.
- scott_s 12y agoHave you seen studies on it? I know some men feel it (anecdotally, I have), but saying "just as common" implies having some actual data on it.
- imanaccount247 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome#cite_note-Langford-9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome#cite_note-Lan... cites a few studies showing no difference between the sexes.
- tptacek 12y agoThe paper you linked to does not say that men and women experience the thing we are haphazardly referring to as "impostor syndrome" in the same way. In fact, it reinforces the claims made on this thread by suggesting that males respond to the phenomenon by developing a higher tolerance for risk.
- meowface 12y agoHow do you know though? Obviously imposter syndrome is common in men, but how do you know if it's more or less common in men than women in tech jobs? Do you have something to back that up?
- imanaccount247 12y agoWikipedia articles often have sources, which makes them a good first place to check for stuff like this. "Clance & Imes (1978) postulated that the experience would be more prevalent among females because of societal stereotyping of women as less capable than men ... Studies of college students (Harvey, 1981; Bussotti, 1990; Langford, 1990), college professors (Topping, 1983), and successful professionals (Dingman, 1987) have all failed, however, to reveal any sex differences in impostor feelings"
- meowface 12y agoThanks, but it would probably have been better to link the article or the source beforehand. People make unfounded claims all the time on reddit and HN, so without a source it's often safe to assume they're basing it on anecdote or belief. I don't always have the time or willpower to research claims that are made.
- imanaccount247 12y agoI don't keep millions of links to every random thing I've ever read handy.
- tptacek 12y agoPinboard.in is handy for that.
- yarou 12y agoInteresting. Those studies are quite dated, however, and I'm not sure how valid the conclusions are anymore. Gender mores have changed quite significantly from the 80s, as have societal norms including societal expectations of a particular gender. One could easily argue that imposter syndrome is more prevalent in women today, because they are in industries which they were not in previously.
- imanaccount247 12y agoYes, one could assume all sorts of things based on misconceptions (women were more prevalent in CS back then, not less). But assuming evidence is wrong because we don't like it isn't particularly convincing.
- yarou 12y agoColumbus sailing westward hit land, thinking he had reached India. The evidence supported his assumption at the time, in fact drawing any other conclusion would have been erroneous. My point is that a handful of studies decades ago may have been correct: then. However, I think any sane person would agree that the conclusions drawn from that era have very little bearing on how the world operates today. Information asymmetry was extremely high in academia back then, because academics were not really scrutinized as they are today.