You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

timujin comments on Stupid Questions December 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: Gondolinian 08 December 2014 03:39PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Article Navigation

Comments (341)
Tags: stupid_questions

Comments (341)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: timujin 09 December 2014 09:15:30AM 5 points [-]

I have a constant impression that everyone around me is more competent than me at everything. Does it actually mean that I am, or is there some sort of strong psychological effect that can create that impression, even if it is not actually true? If there is, is it a problem you should see your therapist about?

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 09 December 2014 10:50:04AM 6 points [-]

Impostor syndrome:

Despite external evidence of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be.

Psychological research done in the early 1980s estimated that two out of five successful people consider themselves frauds and other studies have found that 70 percent of all people feel like impostors at one time or another. It is not considered a psychological disorder, and is not among the conditions described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Comment author: timujin 09 December 2014 11:30:42AM 3 points [-]

Err, that's not it. I am no more successful than them. Or, at least, I kinda feel that everyone else is more successful than me as well.

Comment author: Elo 25 December 2014 01:11:48AM 0 points [-]

Consider that maybe you might be wrong about the imposter syndrome. As a person without it - its hard to know how you think/feel and how you concluded that you couldn't have it. But maybe its worth asking - How would someone convince you to change your mind on this topic?

Comment author: timujin 25 December 2014 05:40:06PM *  0 points [-]

By entering some important situation where my and his comparative advantage in some sort of competence comes into play, and losing.

Comment author: Elo 28 December 2014 08:57:21AM 1 point [-]

what if you developed a few bad heuristics about how other successful people were not inherently more successful but just got lucky (or some other external granting of success) as they went along; whereas your hard-earned successes were due to successful personal skills... Hard earned, personally achieved success.

its probably possible to see a therapist about it; but I would suggest you can work your own way around it (consider it a challenge that can be overcome with the correct growth mindset)

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit