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The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous

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Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous

#51

Post by Izkata »

Erem wrote: post #42
oneoff786 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who neither took notes nor studied for basically anything I disagree. I cannot study effectively. I would cram some facts in 30 minutes prior to a test and that’s it. I don’t think I was alone. It had nothing to do with looking uncool. Most stuff is simply taught in class and if you pay attention and remember it you will be fine. Teachers tend not to test stuff they did not teach. I always thought studying…

Wait so after a lecture on the principles of, say, kinematics you would then be able to nail an exam that required you to compute against those principles? I think that's unusual. For me in class even if I could follow the teacher perfectly, only through applying concepts in study (read: solving many problems) could I gain the deeper level of insight and comfort with the material that it took to ace exams.

As someone else who was the same: Yes. The teacher would be demonstrating sample problems to the class at a much slower rate than I could apply it, so I was checking that I understood the material in real time.

Homework was sometimes useful (the repetition ensuring it wouldn't fade like cramming before a test does), but I didn't need as much as was assigned and never studied beyond that.

Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous

#52

Post by oneoff786 »

knaik94 wrote: post #50
oneoff786 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who neither took notes nor studied for basically anything I disagree. I cannot study effectively. I would cram some facts in 30 minutes prior to a test and that’s it. I don’t think I was alone. It had nothing to do with looking uncool. Most stuff is simply taught in class and if you pay attention and remember it you will be fine. Teachers tend not to test stuff they did not teach. I always thought studying…

How much of it do you remember now? How much of it do you care to remember long term? I know you weren't alone, I was one of those kids too, at certain times and certain tests. For most people, it was about pride, being able to say you didn't study or social standing and "coolness". Later in life I learned I have ADHD and that went a long way to explain a lot of my bad habits. I think it depends on the level of curri…

Imo I remember it very well. At least conceptually. History is the hardest.

I took 11 AP tests, 3 of them without taking the class over two years. My teachers were generally not PhDs but think these classes were better than my undergrad classes. I suspect you are right on the hard science assessment. Those do require simply memorizing many facts. I avoided those classes.

Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous

#53

Post by Izkata »

shureluck wrote: post #48
drewcoo wrote: post #41

Everyone doesn't feel like an imposter. But most of us feel we're surrounded by them. I hear "fake it til you make it" coming from children's mouths these days, not just startup hustlers.

This is exactly right. Been seeing this a lot, especially in the last five years. Most of my tech interview strategy has adapted to weed out candidates that are imposters.

This has always been a problem though, it's how simplistic programming tests like FizzBuzz got started: Non-imposters find it trivial, imposters can't figure it out on the fly. Then that one got too popular, solutions are all over the internet, the imposters started memorizing it, and now we've ended up with a crazy variety of programming tests that have drifted extremely far from the original intent.

Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous

#54

Post by Izkata »

drewcoo wrote: post #40
quectophoton wrote: post #26

To balance things out, the opposite is the Dunning-Kruger Effect. "I'm bad at this. Oh, but maybe it's the Impostor Syndrome and that means I'm actually good? Oh but then maybe that's the Dunning-Kruger Effect and I'm actually bad." Repeat until both cancel out and your mind settles on some middle point, not worrying about "maybe I'm bad and nobody else knows", and not being overconfident.

Dunning-Kruger's not real: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-do-you-know/2020...

This doesn't seem like it's debunking anything to me, instead debunking the author's own understanding. The alternate explanation they come to is how I've always understood it, which the footnote at the bottom kind-of acknowledges.

Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous

#55

Post by Erem »

oneoff786 wrote: post #44
Erem wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait so after a lecture on the principles of, say, kinematics you would then be able to nail an exam that required you to compute against those principles? I think that's unusual. For me in class even if I could follow the teacher perfectly, only through applying concepts in study (read: solving many problems) could I gain the deeper level of insight and comfort with the material that it took to ace exams.

I mean yeah. I sat in the front. I listened and took no notes. If you’re being tested on details from a book you need to read the book. Think English tests that really just want to Make sure you actually read. If you’re being tested on the gist of what was taught then you can probably just pay attention in class. Think… biology or history. If you’re being tested on your ability to apply things you just need to be con…

> I mean yeah. I sat in the front. I listened and took no notes

The reason I commented is because I also did all of those things! But only through adding in study could I sit exams and make 0 mistakes.

I was a bio major -- the gist was not enough. For example I needed to memorize every reactant and product of the Krebs and Calvin cycles. And the exam would have so much more to both memorize and process then just that. I just couldn't have stuck that knowledge through one-shotting class, and never imagined anyone could.

You truly have a blessed mind.

Re: The concept of Impostor Syndrome has become ubiquitous

#56

Post by 1shooner »

wahern wrote: post #14
_yb2s wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, as a man in academia, all of the men I know closely also experience this. It’s pretty much universal for men and women. If it’s more associated with women, I think that is because it’s less socially acceptable for men to be vulnerable, or discuss their feelings. It makes sense to me that it is in a sense a consequence of privilege, success, and opportunities. If nobody believes in you, or expects a lot f…

> I think that is because it’s less socially acceptable for men to be vulnerable, or discuss their feelings. This is also true in the broader sense of public discourse. I remember talk shows like Oprah Winfrey in the 1990s discussing women's sexual health and how women never get to discuss or explore women's sexual health issues. Fast forward 30 years and I've come to realize that this narrative--1) women experience…

I wouldn't consider the last century, 30 years, or even 5 years as providing a constant pattern for the level and access to discourse about issues impacting non white males. There is a world of difference between Oprah in the 80s and 90s making a space to address these things, and NPR today.
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