There's a lot of misunderstanding around the subject of impostor syndrome, so I went ahead and interviewed Dr. Valerie Young, one of the world leading authorities on the topic.
Impostor syndrome is characterised by high levels of self-doubt and an inner belief that you are less capable than others, don't belong, and will one day be 'found out'.
Some self doubt is a normal part of the learning journey and we shouldn't expect to feel confident at all times, but when that tips over into consistent, core feelings of inadequacy then it might be thought of as impostor syndrome.
Dr. Young and I discussed a range of contributors:
Family messages and expectations
For some people, it might be family messages and expectations. If you grow up in an immigrant family, for example, often the message is that you have to be successful academically because your success depends on it. I could spend the entire time just talking about family messages but there's other reasons as well.
Organizational cultures
Certain organizational cultures are known to fuel self-doubt. So medical culture, for example. I did an interview for a podcast with a British medical journal, and there was a medical student and what we would call in the US, ‘a resident’ - a few years into being a physician. They were lamenting the lack of positive feedback that you get in medicine, and in medical school. Apparently, in the UK the highest grade you can get in passing your final exams in medical school is ‘no concern.’ That sucks. You're working so hard. You're getting nothing positive back. Same thing with academic culture which is very much a culture of critique. Or people in certain creative fields - writing, acting - they're being judged by subjective standards by people, whose job title is professional critic.
Societal sources
I should also add societal sources. If you belong to any group for whom there are stereotypes about competence or intelligence, you're going to be more vulnerable to impostor syndrome.
Misunderstanding of competence
For me, in my research, the core source of impostor syndrome is our unrealistic, unsustainable expectations for ourselves about what it means to be competent.
Those dealing with impostor syndrome are living and behaving from a state of fear. The implications of that can be wide ranging - not pursuing aspirations for fear of not being good enough; defensiveness when feeling under threat of being 'found out'; false bravado to overcompensate; anxiety etc.
As with all traits, it's one thing to notice them, but another thing entirely to change them.
Here are a few common strategies I see to try to work on this: