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34IMPOSTOR SYNDROME AS A CAUSE OF LECTURER'S EMOTIONAL BURNOUT
SHABAN ZHANNA
PhD, Assistant professor of the Department of Microbiology, virology, immunology, Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Republic of Belarus
KIPKAEVA VICTORIA
Senior lecturer of the Department of Youth policy and socio-cultural communications, National Institute of Higher Education, Minsk, Republic of Belarus
Annotation. It is known that the psychological attitude of a lecturer is important in the organization of the pedagogical process and influences its outcome. At the same time, emotional burnout of a lecturer is a problem that can lead to the end of teaching activities. The impostor syndrome of the lecturer and measures to successfully overcome it and prevent emotional burnout are described. Data on the causes of impostor syndrome, its manifestations and impact on the effectiveness of teaching activities are analyzed. The prevalence and severity of impostor syndrome in a group of listeners at the National Institute of Higher Education has been studied. It was found that more than half of the respondents surveyed had moderate experience as an impostor. It is more common among women who have been teaching for more than 20 years and who teach subjects with a leading emotional and value component.
Keywords: impostor syndrome; emotional burnout; pedagogical process; psychological attitude of a lecturer.
Introduction.
The abundance of information dictates the new requirements for the lecturer. Lecturer skills affect the quality of lectures and classes. It is important that the lecturer has such psychological competencies as empathy, sympathy, the ability to create psychological contact, to support in a difficult situation. The lecturer must have pedagogical tact, be able to create a warm emotional atmosphere in the group and avoid conflicts [1].
Self-esteem largely shapes our positioning in life. The higher it is, the more ambition and incentive to develop. Low self-esteem can develop into impostor syndrome. Impostor syndrome can be interpreted as exaggerated self-criticism.
Impostor syndrome was described in 1978 by Clance Pauline R. and Imes Suzanne A. [3]. It is a subjective syndrome in which a person is unable to attribute her/his achievements to his own qualities, abilities and efforts. Impostor syndrome is not considered a mental disorder or trait of character. A predisposition to it can be associated with the peculiarities of upbringing and early socialization of a person, and realization occurs in a certain social and working environment. Signs of impostor syndrome are observed in 40-80% of people, and about 60% feel it constantly. Usually these are perfectionists who strive for professional heights and are very worried about minor shortcomings in their work. Impostor syndrome is more common in women. The public stereotype that women are less intellectually advanced than men often increases women's self-doubt.
The level of professional achievement is often inversely proportional to the frequency of the syndrome. For example, A. Einstein suffered from the impostor syndrome. The professional "risk group" includes lecturers, doctors, scientists who constantly set themselves difficult tasks and are forced to take on great responsibility. At the same time, for those around them, they are successful people, competent colleagues who have high qualifications and extensive work experience [5, 6, 8].
The "impostor" explains her/his professional success by luck, chance. A person with impostor syndrome underestimates himself, her/his skills and capabilities. Achievements and successes may seem to her/him the result of a favorable combination of circumstances, the result of someone's help and support.
She/he cannot accept her/his success as the result of his own work or abilities. The "impostor" has excessive self-criticism and is modest about his achievements and devalues her/his successes. She/he constantly compares herself/himself to other people and does not feel smart and effective enough. She/he believes that the job done was too easy and believes that all people can cope with similar tasks. It seems to her/him that no one is interested in her/his opinion. She/he devalues herself/ himself, is constantly under stress, and is afraid to act. She/he perceives constructive criticism not as a growth zone, but as a threat to her/his professionalism.
The "impostor" feels like a deceiver, believes that she/he has created an image of a smarter and more competent person than she/he really is and does not deserve the achieved success or position. She/he lives in anticipation of the exposure of her/his incompetence and fears that she/he will be fired. The fear of exposure greatly increases the fear of failure and makes her/him work hard, is constantly in a state of internal tension. Sometimes, fearing that he will not cope with new tasks, the "impostor" rejects interesting offers and blocks her/his career [3, 5].
"Imposters" tend to fall into one of two groups.
One part of the "impostors" has a close relative, who has already been designated, as a "smart" member in the family. They either believe in a family myth or they want to disprove it.
The other part of the impostors, are victims of high expectations syndrome. In the eyes of their family members, they are perfect. In life, they cannot always meet this, they have difficulties in achieving certain goals. Yet they feel compelled to live up to their family's expectations. They cannot continue to act forever and begin to question themselves. They often compare themselves to others, looking for their own shortcomings and gaffes, afraid not to meet the expectations and praise of significant people [2, 3].
The most common clinical symptoms of impostor syndrome are anxiety, self-doubt, depression, and frustration with being unable to meet self-established standards of achievement.
Impostor syndrome is emotionally draining and reduces motivation for development. The loss of faith in your strength negatively affects the quality of the tasks performed. Impostor syndrome can provoke:
- frequent change of interests due to perceived failures in each of them;
- a decrease in interest in self-development, isolation;
- progression of the inferiority complex;
- irritability and bitterness or, conversely, mildness and self-doubt.
Signs of burnout include feeling hopeless, chronic fatigue, decrease in self-care, having poor boundaries, becoming cynical, and isolating yourself.
Thus, impostor syndrome negatively affects the lecturer's quality of life, leads to emotional burnout, which adversely affects the quality of the educational process.
Results.
The Impostor Test technique was developed to help people determine if they have the characteristics of impostor syndrome and, if so, to what extent [7].
Google Forms service allows you to develop and conduct an online survey of respondents in a convenient environment for them at a convenient time [9].
To assess the degree of manifestation of impostor syndrome in the group of MP 2.6.1 listeners of the National Institute of Higher Education was created a questionnaire for online survey at Google Forms [4, 9]. To obtain reliable results, respondents were asked to submit anonymous questionnaires. Respondents were asked to provide the first response they could think of. However, respondents were not further informed about the research objectives and test evaluation criteria. In addition, respondents were asked to indicate length of teaching experience (up to 5 years; 5 - 10 years; 10 - 15 years; 15 -20 years; more than 20 years) and sex.
Respondents were also asked to answer the mandatory question «What discipline do you teach?». In answering this question, respondents were offered 5 options:
- With a leading intellectual component (mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.)
- With a leading emotional value component (literature, music, visual arts, history, philosophy, law, etc.)
- With a communication component (languages, etc.)
- With a leading valeological component (medical discipline, physical culture, physiology,
etc.)
- Other
Then the respondents were asked to answer 20 optional test questions to assess the severity of impostor syndrome. Respondents were asked to rate the following statements.
1. I was often successful in a test or task, although I was afraid I would not cope before I took it on.
2. I can give the impression that I am more competent than I really am.
3. I avoid valuations if possible and I fear others are valuing me.
4. When people praise me for what I have done, I fear I will not be able to meet their expectations for me in the future.
5. Sometimes I feel like I got my current position or my current success because I was in the right place at the right time or knew the right people.
6. I fear people important to me may find out I am not as capable as they think.
7. I tend to remember cases where I did not do my best more than I did back in the days when I was doing my best.
8. I rarely do a project or task as well as I would like.
9. Sometimes I feel or believe that my success in life or at work was the result of some kind of mistake.
10. I struggle to take compliments or accolades about my intellect or achievements.
11. Sometimes I feel that my success was due to some kind of luck.
12. I sometimes get frustrated with my current achievements and think I should have achieved so much more.
13. Sometimes I fear others will discover how much knowledge or ability I really lack.
14. I often fear that I may fail in a new task or undertaking, although I usually do well what I try.
15. When I have excelled at something and been recognizedfor my achievements, I have doubts that I can continue to repeat that success.
16. If I get a lot ofpraise and credit for what I have done, I tend to underestimate the importance of what I have done.
17. I often compare my abilities to those around me and think they can be smarter than me.
18. I often worry about not succeeding with a project or exam, although others around me have significant confidence that I will perform well.
19. If I am going to get promoted or get some recognition, I am hesitant to tell others until it is a fait accompli.
20. I feel bad and disappointed if I am not "the best" or at least "very special" in achievement situations.
When answering each question, respondents were asked to choose one option out of five options on the list (1 - Not true; 2 - Rarely; 3 - Sometimes; 4 - Often; 5 - Right). The interpretation of the impostor test is carried out as follows:
- total score is 40 or less - the respondent has few impostor characteristics;
- total score 41 to 60 - respondent has moderate impostor experience;
- a total score of 61 to 80 - the respondent often experiences impostor feelings;
- overall score above 80 - the respondent often has intense impostor experience. The higher the score, the more pronounced the "impostor syndrome" [7].
The anonymous version of the questionnaire required additional processing and analysis of the results, which are convenient to do with Google Tables [4, 9].
Fifteen participants (62.5%) from MP 2.6.1 group of National Institute of Higher Education took part in the survey. All respondents were lecturers of higher educational institutions in Minsk and were retrained in the system of higher education to obtain the qualification "Lecturer with knowledge of the English language".
The average index of the impostor in the group is 48, while for men it is 44 (range 28-60) and for women it is 46 (range 20-75). One questionnaire did not specify the sex of the respondent.
33.3% of the respondents have few characteristics of the impostor (total score up to 40); 53.3% have moderate experience of the impostor (total score from 41 to 60); 13.3% 13.3% often feel like an impostor (total score from 61 to 80).
The dependency of the impostor's index on teaching experience is shown in table 1.
Table 1. - Dependence of the impostor's index on teaching experience
- Teaching experience - Average - Impostor Index - Impostor Index - Range
- Up to 5 years - 39 - 25-52
- 5-10 years - 40 - 20-60
- 10-15 years - 43 - 28-60
- 15-20 years - 43 - -
- More than 20 years - 54 - 38-75
There is a trend towards an increase in the average impostor syndrome index with an increase in teaching experience. Moderate severity of the impostor syndrome is observed even in some lecturers with up to 5 years of experience. At the same time, it should be noted that there is a different degree of severity of the impostor syndrome in groups with different duration of teaching. Thus, teaching experience is not always a determining factor in the development of the impostor syndrome. This suggests that some experienced lecturers have few signs of impostor syndrome and avoid emotional burnout.
The degree of impostor syndrome, depending on the leading component of the discipline taught, is shown in table 2.
- Table 2. - Dependency of the impostor index on the lead component of the
discipline taught
- Lead component - of the discipline taught - Average - Impostor Index - Impostor Index - Range
- Valeological - (medical, physical, physiological, etc.) - 39 - 28-52
- Intellectual - (mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.) - 45 - 34-60
- Communicative - (languages and other) - 45 - 25-65
Emotional values (literature, music, visual arts, history, philosophy, law, etc.) - 50 - 20-60
Thus, more than half of the respondents surveyed had moderate experience as an impostor. It is more common among women who have been teaching for more than 20 years and who teach subjects with a leading emotional and value component.
At the same time, among the lecturers of intellectual and communicative disciplines there are both persons with a weak expression of the impostor syndrome, and with a moderate expression of this syndrome. At the same time, lecturers of valeological disciplines impostor syndrome is the least pronounced.
Conclusion.
Pedagogical communication between a lecturer and students is not only an exchange of educational information, but also the interaction of a lecturer and students, aimed at the education, upbringing and development of students [1].
In the process of pedagogical communication, the lecturer gives students general and professional knowledge, organizes their educational activities, satisfies their need for communication, creates a favorable emotional atmosphere in the classroom, and helps to avoid conflicts.
The outstanding lecturer possesses special professional knowledge, erudition, pedagogical intuition, highly developed intellect, high level of general culture, and professional skills in various methods of teaching.
Lecturer traits, behavior and skills are factors which encourage students to participate actively. In addition to scientific competence, lecturer's methodological training level, his willingness and ability to master the techniques of enhancing the audience's attention are critical factors in the effectiveness of the classes. It is known that the psychological attitude of the lecturer is important in the organization of the pedagogical process and influences its result.
Successful pedagogical activity is the result of the co-creation a lecturer and a student. Knowledge of the psychological underpinnings of this interaction increases its effectiveness. The role of the lecturer is to develop a supportive environment for the students. Lecturer has strong role in classroom participation in various dimensions like providing a healthy and friendly environment in the class, developing good rapport with students, encouraging discussion, enjoying jokes to reduce anxiety for fostering students' participation. Student-centered learning provides students opportunities to learn in a supportive environment [1].
Modern scientific information is constantly updated. This requires the lecturer to constantly develop professional competencies. Pedagogical skills in teaching students depend on the professional, communicative and psychological competencies of the lecturer. At the same time, the emotional burnout of a lecturer is a problem that can lead to the end of teaching activities.
Unfortunately, impostor syndrome is a very relevant and widespread problem in pedagogy. 53.3% of the respondents in our study had moderate experience as an impostor. At the same time, 13.3% of respondents often felt like impostors. It was more likely to be with women who have been teaching subjects with a leading emotional value component for more than 20 years. And only 33.3% of the respondents had few characteristics of the impostor.
Impostor syndrome is a condition where a person does not believe in their own strength, cannot recognize their abilities, intelligence or qualifications. Such people consider their achievements insignificant and do not feel worthy of their achievements. They are confident that they owe success to coincidences, luck, occasion, and not to talents and efforts. They expect harsh criticism from others, have a very strong sense of anxiety and powerlessness to change anything.
Interestingly, this is typical for people who have a high level of competence, deep knowledge in their field. This condition can make career and life in general very difficult. Therefore, everything possible should be done to overcome this syndrome and prevent emotional burnout.
Five types of impostor syndrome can be described.
1. Perfectionists set incredibly high standards for themselves and experience self-doubt when they cannot be achieved. Such people should review their experiences, focus on achievements and celebrate their successes. It turns out that they have a lot done and they are really good at their job. It
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is important to understand your own uniqueness, not to detract from your achievements and advantages. Stop comparing yourself to others. Comparisons can sometimes be helpful if you are comparing who you are today with an older version of yourself to see how far you have come.
2. Superheroes overload themselves with work to compensate for self-doubt, which affects their health. To overcome this condition, one should practice a kind and loving attitude towards oneself. A person who values and accepts himself retains a resource state for longer and his thinking works better.
3. Soloists feel isolated, want to solve problems on their own and struggle to turn to others for help. To overcome this condition, you should communicate with other people. This way a person can get support and understanding from other people who may also feel insecure.
4. Natural geniuses want to grab everything with ease and experience shame if they cannot master something instantly. They have a chronic fear of failure. It is important for such people to focus on positive reviews, to look for what will motivate. New areas of knowledge should be mastered to ensure their ability to learn and grow.
5. Experts base self-esteem on knowledge. They constantly doubt their own professional suitability. Such people live in fear of being exposed in incompetence. Success makes them feel ashamed, and failure is disappointing. Often they give up because of fears and early failures. Such people should change their attitude towards mistakes. If a person has mistakes, then there is experience. There are no people who are perfect, who did not make mistakes. Mistakes should not be a reason to stop. You should accept mistakes and failures as a natural part of life, gain confidence and learn to appreciate yourself.
It should not be forgotten that mistakes are inevitable in pedagogical activity. The one who does nothing is not mistaken. Unfortunately, too many people are simply overwhelmed by the feeling of failure rather than being able to stand back and look at the lessons it can teach us. Failure is one of the greatest tools in the learning process. Pedagogical mistakes should be treated correctly and considered as an incentive for further development.
Self-analysis with the impostor syndrome test helps to easily determine the degree of development of this negative quality. The best way to fight burnout is to prevent it in the first place. Get rid of the impostor syndrome is extremely important.
A mild degree of impostor syndrome can be overcome on its own. To prevent impostor syndrome, you need not detract from your own achievements and not lose confidence, surround yourself with positive people, switch activities, rest, relax and share emotions, and consider shortcomings as an incentive for development.
Realize that your perfectionistic tendencies contribute to burnout. It is important to value yourself and believe in your strength. When you start feeling frustrated or burnt out, force yourself to step away. When you notice signs of mounting stress or anxiety at work, take immediate action to relieve tension. Taking a break from work can help lessen burnout. Go for a walk, have a snack, listen to some music, or do anything else you need to recharge. Then, return to work with a refreshed mental state [5, 6, 8].
Lack of sleep can worsen feelings of overwhelm and make it harder for you to deal with stress. Get more sleep. A good night's rest can help you feel more capable of handling work stress. Find a better work/life balance. No one can work all day every day and not feel burnt out.
At the same time, the highly pronounced impostor syndrome requires the professional help of a psychologist. If you are experiencing extreme stress or sadness due to burnout, seek out the help of a therapist. Impostor syndrome psychotherapy is aimed at controlling it and unlocking its own potential.
Timely diagnosis of impostor syndrome in university lecturers is the first step towards overcoming it. Successful overcoming of the impostor syndrome helps to prevent the lecturer's emotional burnout.
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