Impostor syndrome, or “a psychological experience of intellectual fraudulence where one struggles to internalize successes, instead attributing personal accomplishments to chance, luck, or trickery (Clance, 1985) has detrimental effects on individual performers, key support people, and the larger systems they learn, work, and live in. Impostor syndrome is caused by many factors, but perhaps the most common is low self-efficacy. Although we usually think of low self-efficacy and impostor feelings as “sadness, fear, worry, self-doubt, and a “fake it till you make it” mentality, impostor feelings can also lead to frequent comparisons to others, sensitivity to constructive criticism, procrastination, working extra to cover up a perceived lack of competence, and extreme anxiety. Emma Guthrie has extensively studied impostor syndrome in graduate students across the disciplines for the past two years and will use findings from this study to provide strategies for working through impostor feelings, and uplifting today’s thought leaders.

About Emma Lee Guthrie:

Emma Lee Guthrie is a 4th-year Rhetoric and Writing Studies Ph.D. candidate at Bowling Green State University. Emma's research interests are centered around graduate student education, writing transfer, and dispositions, and she is currently researching the impostor phenomenon's impact on graduate students' writing and mentoring experiences. In her free time, Emma works as a writing coach and enjoys hiking, camping, and traveling.