Almost nobody's competent, Paul. It's enough to make you cry to see
how bad most people  are at their jobs. If you  can do a half-assed
job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind.
(Kurt Vonnegut)



:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A brief (?) response  to  A Gopher Hole of Verisimilitudes  on  the
subject of impostor syndrome from 5 March[0] follows.


That post claims that impostor syndrome is "most often felt by real
imposters" and  "most often  used as an  excuse to  avoid improving
oneself...". No evidence for either  'most' is provided in the face
of serious  academic study and reports  from well-known individuals
with solid reputations  in their fields that  they have experienced
it.


Is  it  possible  that  posting  was  in  response  to  incompetent
individuals  claiming  that  they  in  fact  suffer  from  impostor
syndrome? Many things are possible  and folks will claim any damned
thing if you let them. However I can't say as I've experienced even
one person claiming to have impostor syndrome as a cover for actual
incompetence. Perhaps I need to get out more. In fact I'm sure I do
need to get  out more for a  variety of other reasons.  But back to
that  thesis -  which  appears to  be that  if  you're claiming  to
have  experienced  impostor  syndrome then  you're  an  incompetent
individual  looking for  "...a shield  against reality  and against
their observations."


I won't deny its existence, but have never seen even one example of
it.


I was taught to try to give as much credit to an opposing viewpoint
as possible, to take the  most charitable view of what's presented.
What is offered  here seems to be one individual's  anecdotes of an
at least uncommon  situation that appears to make little sense.  If
you are claiming to have  impostor syndrome one of the requirements
would seem to be  that others behave as if you  are competent - the
syndrome is  /defined/ by  being accepted  as competent  but having
serious feelings that  one is not. Thus if one  is being accused of
incompetence then  claiming to have impostor  syndrome doesn't seem
like any defense at all ... unless no one in the room knows what it
is. Which  doesn't really say  anything about impostor  syndrome or
its validity.

The reality  of course is  that everyone's knowledge no  matter how
vast  has  gaps unless  their  area  of knowledge  is  surpassingly
small indeed.  Letting your  knowledge gaps  drive you  to paranoia
with  self-doubts is  impostor syndrome  and seems  to bear  little
resemblance to what the author  of A Gopher Hole of Verisimilitudes
describes.


Similarly  there  are  plenty  of   folks  who  do  misjudge  their
own  competence   or  incompetence   -  often   significantly.  The
Dunning-Kruger effect[2]  has a name  for a reason and  even people
who have  studied it  professionally have  stated that  they're not
immune to  it, even though they're  well aware of it.  So plenty of
people  do not  know they're  incompetent  and may  come across  as
impostors when they  are in fact just victims of  general traits of
human psychology.


Further  advice  is  offered  that  impostor  syndrome  is  'easily
corrected' by  making oneself competent  through effort.  If one is
actually suffering from  impostor syndrome - and  in fact seriously
underestimating  one's competence  - then  this is  terrible advice
likely to  drive the poor  individual into a cycle  of ever-greater
efforts to  improve in order  to feel  competent and drive  out the
feelings  of insecurity  that don't  go  away.  It is like  telling
someone with depression they ought to  just get over it - unhelpful
at  best  and probably  destructive  at  worst.  Telling an  actual
impostor to improve  themselves through effort seems  to be gnawing
at the  wrong end  of the  problem - getting  them to  stop /lying/
would seem to be the best first step.



I of course admit  there is the possibility of  something here that
I'm just not understanding.








'It's  an old story, 'Ryumin said.  'Something  like that  actually
happened  once; I  feel sure  of  it.  But I filed  off the  serial
numbers and made it my own.  (Bruce Sterling)


[0] gopher://verisimilitudes.net:70/02022-03-07
[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect





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