Feeling Like a Fraud Is Normal
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 6, 2008
Here’s the headline from the NYT article: “Feel Like a Fraud? At Times, Maybe You Should.” Sometimes when I read these articles about studies that probe into the way people think, feel or act, I wonder if there’s anything really new or significant in them. Is this stuff already obvious? Apparently not, since there was a “study” about it. Did you already know this, for example?
“Particularly when people think that they might not be able to live up to others’ views of them, they may maintain that they are not as good as other people think,” Dr. Mark Leary, the lead author, wrote in an e-mail message. “In this way, they lower others’ expectations — and get credit for being humble.”
Well, now you *know* since it’s an outcome of a study. Similarly, this conclusion:
From her study, Dr. McElwee concluded that impostor fears most likely came and went in most people, and were most acute when, for example, a teacher first had to stand up in front of a class, or a new mechanic or lawyer took on real liability.
At those times feeling like a fraud amounts to more than the stirrings of an anxious temperament or the desire to project a protective humility. It reflects a respect for the limits of one’s own abilities, and an intuition that only a true impostor would be afraid to ask for help.
I like reading these kinds of articles, but I wonder why. Perhaps I like having science confirm what I already had figured out for myself.
