Do I Belong? Imposter Syndrome in Times of Crisis

While not a new phenomenon, impostor syndrome is still a relatively new topic among library professionals. Though prior studies for other professions exist, impostor syndrome in the library profession was not extensively researched until 2014. As the world fights the current global pandemic, new questions about impostor syndrome and work-from-home strategies arise. This article reviews the early history of impostor syndrome research, explores impostor syndrome research related to library professionals and work during an ongoing public health emergency, considers ways to combat the phenomenon, and suggests next steps

A Provident Mindset to Impostor Phenomenon of In-Service Music Educators

Impostor Phenomenon (IP) is a psychological construct that affects many high-achieving professionals to doubt their competence, intelligence, and self-worth. As a result, many with IP will overwork and self-sabotage as they constantly feel like a fraud within their profession or daily lives. Despite previous literature and research with pre-service and graduate students in music education, more data on the IP of In-Service Music Educators still needs to be collected. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to examine the provident mindset of IP among In-Service Music Educators. A quantitative MANOVA design method evaluated this phenomenon. The study collected quantitative data from (N = 5000 / n = 100), in-service kindergarten through twelfth-grade music educators from institutions across the United States, determining the extent to which they experience IP. Participants completed the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), the In-Service Music Educator Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (IME CIPS), and accompanying demographics to determine IP experiences. The causal-comparative quantitative method studied participants using both surveys to gain an in-depth understanding of their IP experiences as In-service Music Educators. The study used quantitative CIPS and IME CIPS findings to demonstrate the impact of IP within In-Service Music Educators and establish similarities between general and domain-specific IP within in-service music teaching. The analysis results indicated that the combination of general IP (as measured by the CIPS) and In-Service Music Educator domain-specific IP (measured by the IME CIPS) was a significant predictor of IP. Moreover, implications from this study demonstrated that In-Service Music Educators have a higher provident mindset of IP based on demographic variables, such as race, gender, age, teaching placement, area of specialty, and earned degree level

Impostor Phenomenon, College-Going Knowledge, and Staff Expectations: Ramifications on First Time in College Students Enrollment

A lack of technically trained, skilled, and educated workforce has become a critical issue in Texas. Furthermore, an educated workforce improves communities and individuals with economic, health, and personal benefits. Community colleges not only provide open-access admissions and low-cost tuition but are specifically aligned with educating the technical and industrial skilled workforce. Although a post-high school education has never been more accessible or necessary for obtaining high-earning jobs, post-high school college enrollment is declining, and conventional reform strategies do not appear to be effecting change. Graduating high school students aspire to attend postsecondary training by applying and being accepted but are not following through to register and attend. Friction points occur between aspiring or applying to college and registering or attending school, leading to a phenomenon known as summer melt. Two identified possible friction points are impostor phenomenon (IP) and college-going knowledge. IP is a belief that one’s successes are not based on one’s abilities and aptitudes but instead on luck or other external forces, and therefore, the individual believes that he or she is a fake, living in fear of being discovered as an imposter. College-going knowledge is the knowledge regarding admissions, financial aid, housing, and other college jargon that makes up the students’ social capital easily transitioning to the higher education environment. IP is well documented in higher education and specifically in first-generation college students. Acting as institutional agents, student services staff may mediate high levels of IP feelings and low levels of college-going knowledge. The findings from this study indicated that many first-time in college students experience moderate to high levels of IP, with the majority frequently having occurrences of IP. There was no significant difference between first-generation college students and continuing-generation college students. Additionally, the college-going knowledge of the vi majority of students was high. New staff had higher expectations of students’ levels of college-going knowledge, while experienced staff held low expectations. Findings from this body of work can be used to influence curriculum development in higher education graduate programs and staff or faculty training on IP and how to assist students in redefining their academic identity

A Comparison of Impostor Phenomenon in Community College and Public University Students

Impostor Phenomenon (IP) is a feeling of illegitimacy or fraudulence despite evidence to the contrary. Most people experience feelings of impostorism in their lifetime, and it has been associated with several outcomes in the literature. Although there is some evidence higher education may facilitate feelings of IP, community college students have been largely excluded from the literature. The current study expanded the research by examining the prevalence of IP in community college (CC) students and analyzing differences based on demographic variables: gender, under-represented minority (URM) status, first-generation status, Pell Grant eligibility, and disability. Comparisons were made between CC students and students in their first or second year at a public four-year university. The effect of demographic variables and possible interactions were also explored in the total college student sample. The relationships between self-reported grade point averages (GPA), intent to persist, and IP were investigated to see if IP or GPA were predictive of intent to persist. This study utilized a quantitative non-experimental design to examine survey data. The Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (Clance, 1985) and a short demographic questionnaire were given online to 829 participants. The CC students comprised 63.3% of the sample, and they were from three different community colleges. A factorial analysis of variance was selected to examine group differences. A t-test was conducted to look at IP differences between CC and four-year university students, and a multiple linear regression with correlational analyses were utilized to look at the relationships and predictive power of GPA, IP, and intent to persist. Results showed most CC students indicated frequent feelings of impostorism. There were no significant differences between CC and the four-year university students. Students with a diagnosed disability had significantly higher levels of IP in both the CC and the total college student sample. There were also significant differences based on URM. There were no significant interactions. IP was correlated with intent to persist and IP levels were found to have some predictive value for intent to persist; self-reported GPA did not

The Lived Experiences of Challenges Faced by Female STEM Degree Holders while in Their Programs: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological research study was to describe the challenges female higher education students (FHESs) experience in their science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree program. The central research question guiding the study was: How do female higher education STEM research participants describe their lived experiences while in their degree programs? Sub-Question one was, How do female higher education students describe the influence their personal history had on their choice to pursue a higher education STEM degree? Sub-question two was: How do female higher education students in STEM program describe their reality versus their expectation going into the field? Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy served as the lens to describe the participants’ experiences overcoming and successfully completing their STEM degree, despite facing challenges in their programs. A supporting theory for the study was post-modern feminist theory, to frame the experiences of being a female student in a male-dominated field of study like STEM. The study was conducted with 10 female research participants who had graduated with a STEM degree in the past 25 years. Data collection methods included initial questionnaires for identifying the prospective research participants, followed by individual interviews, a focus group, and a reflective writing prompt. Data analysis was conducted via van Manen’s hermeneutical method of phenomenological reflection, clarification, and explicit description of the meaning of the lived experiences of the female STEM degree holders. This study concluded that female STEM degree students continue to be challenged by a silent gender bias, the demands and requirements of their programs and the balance between home, family and school. This study also found that female STEM students were able to successfully complete their degree programs despite challenges

The Rise of Self Sidelining

This Article coins the term self sidelining as an experience emanating from two theories: impostor phenomenon and gender sidelining. The impostor phenomenon is a well-established psychological construct that describes the inability of some high-achieving women and men to internalize success. Gender sidelining, recently popularized in legal scholarship, describes the undermining of women\u27s achievements, as compared to men, that are unactionable as legal discrimination. In view of these theories, this Article contends that when internal fraudulent feelings (imposter phenomenon) are perceived to be externally validated by male gender preference (gender sidelining), women consciously or subconsciously discipline themselves to forgo their professional advancement. This false endorsement of inadequacy leads women to self sideline. Despite significant advances in legal theories and protections for traditionally diverse and underrepresented groups, there are still notable areas where the law is absent to balance injustices and compel inclusivity. Ultimately, this Article exposes the social harm of self sidelining, even absent adequate legal remedies, and urges its awareness and presence in the ongoing gender inequity discussion in the legal profession

Using Neutrosophic Trait Measures to Analyze Impostor Syndrome in College Students after COVID-19 Pandemic with Machine Learning

Impostor syndrome or Impostor phenomenon is a belief that a person thinks their success is due to luck or external factors, not their abilities. This psychological trait is present in certain groups like women. In this paper, we propose a neutrosophic trait measure to represent the psychological concept of the trait-anti trait using refined neutrosophic sets. This study analysed a group of 200 undergraduate students for impostor syndrome, perfectionism, introversion and self-esteem: after the COVID pandemic break in 2021. Data labelling was carried out using these neutrosophic trait measures. Machine learning models like Support Vector Machine(SVM), K-nearest neighbour (K-NN), and random forest were used to model the data; SVM provided the best accuracy of 92.15%

Predicting young imposter syndrome using ensemble learning

Background. Imposter syndrome (IS), associated with self-doubt and fear despite clear accomplishments and competencies, is frequently detected in medical students and has a negative impact on their well-being. This study aimed to predict the students' IS using the machine learning ensemble approach. Methods. This study was a cross-sectional design among medical students in Bangladesh. Data were collected from February to July 2020 through snowball sampling technique across medical colleges in Bangladesh. In this study, we employed three different machine learning techniques such as neural network, random forest, and ensemble learning to compare the accuracy of prediction of the IS. Results. In total, 500 students completed the questionnaire. We used the YIS scale to determine the presence of IS among medical students. The ensemble model has the highest accuracy of this predictive model, with 96.4%, while the individual accuracy of random forest and neural network is 93.5% and 96.3%, respectively. We used different performance matrices to compare the results of the models. Finally, we compared feature importance scores between neural network and random forest model. The top feature of the neural network model is Y7, and the top feature of the random forest model is Y2, which is second among the top features of the neural network model. Conclusions. Imposter syndrome is an emerging mental illness in Bangladesh and requires the immediate attention of researchers. For instance, in order to reduce the impact of IS, identifying key factors responsible for IS is an important step. Machine learning methods can be employed to identify the potential sources responsible for IS. Similarly, determining how each factor contributes to the IS condition among medical students could be a potential future direction

Feedback Loops: Feedback Fundamentals

Learning how to give and receive feedback is fundamental to the development of every student and professional. Yet few of us are ever taught anything like “feedback skills.” This book, which is the first in the Feedback Loops series, is designed to change that. Here is what students who have taken the University of Michigan Law School course on which the series is based have said about it: “One of the most memorable and useful classes I have taken in law school!” “Excellent, full stop.” “This class was always a fun highlight of my week.”https://repository.law.umich.edu/books/1115/thumbnail.jp

The Graduate Identity Formation Through Teaching (GIFT) Project as a Mitigating Tool for Imposter Phenomenon

This thesis is an exploratory analysis of the impact of the Graduate Identity Formation through Teaching intervention -- an intervention in which Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics graduate students act as subject matter experts through teaching scientific concepts to elementary teacher candidates -- on graduate students and how it may mediate impostor phenomenon. A sense of expertise, community, and belonging were used as proxy measurements for impostor phenomenon. Data from graduate student impact statements in reflection papers and post-semester interviews were analyzed to measure change in imposter phenomenon for each graduate student. As a result of the intervention, graduate students were found to have an increased sense of expertise, community, and belonging, indicating a decrease in symptoms of imposter phenomenon