Can Impostor Syndrome have positive sides?

[sumaiyakhatun25]

In cognitive psychology, there is the concept of priming – the influence of exposure to a stimulus on its processing or exposure to another stimulus. For example, financiers asked to read an article about a failed investment are less likely to make risky decisions later in the experiment.



A group of psychologists from Gdansk used priming in an interesting experiment.



The first group of people were told to imagine that they were getting into a balloon and asia rcs data flying high. The second group was told that they were riding in an elevator to a very deep basement. As a result, the first group had increased self-esteem, while the second group had decreased self-esteem.



Then both groups were given a few puzzles to solve. Which group do you think did better?



Theoretically, the first group should have done better. In reality, it was the other way around. Why? The poor well-being of the "elevator operators" made them try to prove that they could handle the task. Thanks to this, they did better.



Let's go back to the study on Impostor Syndrome that I described at the beginning. The women in the study were caught in a kind of loop. The more they felt they were cheating someone, the harder they worked. As a result, they achieved further success and were promoted. In a higher position, they again felt like the wrong person in the wrong place. So they worked even harder to prove to the world and to themselves that they were different. Do you see a connection?