Stop that imposter!

It is no secret that gender disparities exist in academia and especially in the STEM fields. The chair of my Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department held an informal panel with female graduate students to discuss the large gap between the numbers of women in PhD programs and the much lower numbers in tenure positions. The department also organized a seminar series with successful female scientists on work/life balance where graduate students and postdocs were encouraged to engage with the speaker over lunch. 

Most of the discussion centered on the difficulty for women to become mothers while pursuing a career in science. For example, when is the best time to have children? I’ve heard everything from during graduate school, after becoming an assistant professor, to never. When do you tell your PI that you are planning to have children? Before you are pregnant, after you are already showing, or never? And how does one find the time for research and motherhood? One couple (a graduate student and postdoc) took opposite shifts in lab so that someone was always with the baby. It wasn’t clear if/when they had time for each other, or sleep, for that matter. This is to say that we have a long way to go in preventing the attrition rate of female scientists who feel they need to choose between motherhood and their career.  

But this is not what I am discussing today. Rather, I want to talk about the oft not discussed imposter phenomenon, which may be a hindrance to many intelligent women. Alas, I only learned of its existence towards the end of my PhD after admitting to a friend how inadequate I had felt. As soon as she said the words “imposter”, it clicked. I felt like an imposter.

Throughout my life I often believed I had tricked people into thinking I was more intelligent than I was and that one day someone would realize this and tell the world. There were apt opportunities for such revelations in graduate school. Up to that point, studying for long hours was enough to get good grades on what were mostly multiple-choice tests. But in graduate school you had to think critically and on your feet to a lecture-room full of peers and established (even Noble Prize-winning) scientists. And let’s not even go into the trauma that is graduate board oral exams. Unsurprisingly, the first few years of graduate school was anxiety-ridden.

The phenomenon was first recognized in high-achieving women (Clance and Imes, 1978). In a 1985 paper, Dr. Clance writes, “Impostors believe they are intellectual frauds who have attained success because they were at the right place at the right time, knew someone in power, or simply were hard workers—never because they were talented or intelligent or deserved their positions” (Clance, 1985).

While there is some debate as to the prevalence in men versus women (I tried to find more studies about this, but many were unpublished dissertations or stated on the internet without a primary source), more recent studies find that women are indeed more likely to experience imposter phenomenon (Kumar and Jagacinski, 2006, McGregor et al., 2008). Additionally imposter feelings affect the two sexes differently and is more likely to negatively affect the mental well being of women (Kumar and Jagacinski, 2006). In the same study, looking at undergraduate students, women were more likely to doubt their intelligence than men (Kumar and Jagacinski, 2006). I have to wonder if it is another symptom of our society and the cultural stereotypes of women. When internal feelings of inferiority are mixed with external pervasive stereotypes of women, it can be even harder to break free of feelings of insecurity.

Most people are familiar with the idea that women are less likely to negotiate their salary or ask for a raise. But many people don’t realize that this may be the best decision, career-wise, in our culture. Studies show that women are more likely to be perceived as aggressive and “bossy” if they do negotiate (Babcock et al., 2006, Bowles et al., 2007). So although a woman may get the initial raise, she may be hurting herself in the long run. A recent study found that having a feminine name impacts how scientists considering job applications perceive your achievements. This is all to say that gender discrimination in the workplace is complicated and the lack of retention of women in the sciences is not just about babies. Stop blaming the babies.  

So what can be done?

One of the psychologists who first categorized the phenomenon, Dr. Clance, says that the first step to overcoming the feelings of self-doubt and insecurity is to recognize that one is suffering from imposter feelings (Clance, 1985). Dr. Clance has created a test to quantify the extent of imposter feelings.

Looking back, I still cringe remembering wrong answers I gave and am more likely to focus on failure. What would have been helpful for me at the time was to know I was not alone: that many high-achieving and successful scientists felt the same way. A department could include a short introduction into imposter feelings as one of the many orientations and trainings new students have to attend.

References:

Babcock, L. Gelfand, M. Small, D., and Stayn, H. (2006). Gender differences in the propensity to initiate negotiations. In D. D. Cremer, M. Zeelenberg and J.K. Murnigham (Eds.) Social psychology and economics, 239-259. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bowles, R.B., Babcock, L., and Lei L. (2007). Social incentives for gender diVerences in the propensity to initiate negotiations: Sometimes it does hurt to ask. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 103, 84–103.

Clance, P.R., and Imes, S.A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic interventions. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. 15, 241–247.

Clance, P.R. (1985). The impostor phenomenon: When success makes you feel like a fake. New York: Bantam Books. 

Kumar, S. and Jagacinski, M. (2006). Imposters have goals too: The imposter phenomenon and its relationship to achievement goal theory. Personality and Individual Differences. 40, 147-157.

McGregor, L.N., Gee, D.E., and Posey, K.E. (2008). Social Behavior and Personality 36, 43-48.