impostor syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud".

of course it's about alienation, not that they're lazy or inherently bad in some way:

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike. Just go in every day and do it really half assed. That's the American way!" - comrade Homer Simpson

  • Good_Username [they/them,e/em/eir]
    1·
    4 years ago

    Nah, I disagree. Imposter syndrome is very real, at least among mathematicians and I'd assume other mentally taxing fields. It's very easy to convince yourself you know exactly no math and why on earth did anyone let you into this grad program anyway, clearly the admissions committee made a huge mistake because everyone else obviously knows what they're doing, especially Phil who always asks lots of profound questions in class and says the homework sets are easy. Not that this is based on personal experience or anything...

    (It is. It is based on personal experience. Turns out, everyone else was also confused, they just nodded along in class because class is scary. And during like my third breakdown in his office, my algebra professor literally told me that Phil was actually full of shit and his questions were designed to make him look smart.)

    Anyway, that was a fun little nostalgia trip back to my first year in grad school! Point is, imposter syndrome exists.