Maya Angelou couldn't escape the nagging doubt that she hadn't really earned her accomplishments. 马雅·安杰洛依然无法摆脱恼人的自我怀疑感，总认为那些赢得的成就她实在是当之有愧。

Albert Einstein experienced something similar. 爱因斯坦也有类似感受。

He described himself as an "involuntary swindler" whose work didn't deserve as much attention as it had received. 他形容自己是‘无意识的骗子’，认为自己的成果其实不值得那么多关注。

Accomplishments at the level of Angelou's or Einstein's are rare, but their feeling of fraudulence is extremely common. 安杰洛和爱因斯坦成就非凡，很少人能与之并肩，但他们体会到的冒名欺骗感却相当普遍。

Why can't so many of us shake feelings that we haven't earned our accomplishments or that our ideas and skills aren't worthy of others' attention? 为什么我们这么多人会无法摆脱这样的感觉：认为自己担不起所获得的成就，或认为我们的想法和技术不值一顾呢？

Psychologist Pauline Rose Clance was the first to study this unwarranted sense of insecurity. 最早研究这种没来由的安全感的是心理学家 Pauline Rose Clance。

In her work as a therapist, she noticed many of her undergraduate patients shared a concern: 她在作为一名治疗师时，发现她的许多大学生病人都有着相同担忧：

Though they had high grades, they didn't believe they deserved their spots at the university. 尽管他们成绩优异，却不相信自己值得进大学就读。

Some even believed their acceptance had been an admissions error. 有些人甚至认为他们之所以录取是因为行政疏失。

While Clance knew these fears were unfounded, she could also remember feeling the exact same way in the graduate school. 虽然 Clance 知道这些担忧都是没有根据的，却还是记得她读研究所时也有过完全一样的感受。

She and her patients experienced something that goes by a number of names—imposter phenomenon, imposter experience, and imposter syndrome. 她跟她的病人所经历的感受有很多称呼－－冒名顶替现象、冒名顶替感受，及冒名顶替症候群。

Together with colleague Suzanne Imes, Clance first studied imposterism in female college students and faculty. Clance 跟她的同事 Suzanne Imes 合作，首先研究女大学生和教职员的冒名顶替状态。

Their work established pervasive feelings of fraudulence in this group. 他们的研究成果确立了在这个群体中，冒名欺骗感相当普遍。

Since that first study, the same thing has been established across gender, race, age, and a huge range of occupations, 在那第一份研究之后，同样的冒名欺骗感也在不同性别、种族、年龄，以及广泛职业中确立，

though it may be more prevalent and disproportionately affect the experiences of underrepresented or disadvantaged groups. 尽管这种欺骗感可能在一些代表性不足或弱势族群中更为普及，且影响力不成比例地高。

To call it a syndrome is to downplay how universal it is. It's not a disease or an abnormality, 将这种欺骗感称作症候群，其实低估了它的普遍程度。它不是一种疾病或异常，

and it isn't necessarily tied to depression, anxiety, or self-esteem. Where do these feelings of fraudulence come from? 也不必然会跟忧郁、焦虑、或自尊有关。这种欺骗感是怎么来的呢？

People who are highly skilled or accomplished tend to think others are just as skilled. 技术精湛或成就卓越的人倾向认为其他人能力也那么好。

This can spiral into feelings that they don't deserve accolades and opportunities over other people. 这让他们陷入一种感觉，认为他们并不比其他人更值得获得赞美和机会。

And as Angelou and Einstein experienced, there's often no threshold of accomplishment that puts these feelings to rest. 而如同安杰洛和爱因斯坦经历到的，这种冒名欺骗感并不会因成就达到某种高度而平息。

Feelings of imposterism aren't restricted to highly skilled individuals, either. 此外，冒名顶替感也不局限在能力好的人。

Everyone is susceptible to a phenomenon known as pluralistic ignorance, 每个人都很容易受到一种‘多数人的无知’现象所影响 ，

where we each doubt ourselves privately but believe we're alone in thinking that way because no one else voices their doubts. 私底下自己怀疑自己，却以为只有自己这么想，因为没有其他人说出他们的自我怀疑。

Since it's tough to really know how hard our peers work, how difficult they find certain tasks, or how much they doubt themselves, 因为我们很难真正知道我们同侪到底付出多少努力、到底认为某个工作多难、或到底多么怀疑自己，

there's no easy way to dismiss feelings that we're less capable than the people around us. 所以没有一种方法能轻易消除这种不如旁人的感受。

Intense feelings of imposterism can prevent people from sharing their great ideas or applying for jobs and programs where they'd excel. 强烈冒名顶替感可能会让人不愿去分享好的想法，或不敢去申请能有突出表现的工作或计划。

At least so far, the most surefire way to combat imposter syndrome is to talk about it. 至少目前为止，要对抗冒名顶替症候群，最有可能成功的方法是将这种感觉说出来。

Many people suffering from imposter syndrome are afraid that if they ask about their performance, their fears will be confirmed. 许多深受冒名顶替症候群困扰的人，害怕如果询问别人他们表现如何，他们的担忧就会被证实。

And even when they receive positive feedback, it often fails to ease feelings of fraudulence. 而且即使他们得到正面回馈，也经常无法减轻冒名欺骗感。

But on the other hand, hearing that an advisor or mentor has experienced feelings of imposterism can help relieve those feelings. 但另一方面，当他们听到指导者或导师也曾有过这种冒名顶替感，心情却能得到舒缓。

The same goes for peers. Even simply finding out there's a term for these feelings can be an incredible relief. 听到同侪这么说也一样有帮助。就连单纯知道这种感受有个名称，都能让人释怀不少。

Once you're aware of the phenomenon, you can combat your own imposter syndrome by collecting and revisiting positive feedback. 一旦意识到这种现象，你就可以透过取得或重新检视正面回馈来对抗自己的冒名顶替症候群。

One scientist who kept blaming herself for problems in her lab started to document the causes every time something went wrong. 有位科学家曾因实验室的问题而不断责怪自己，后来她开始纪录每次事情出错时原因。

Eventually, she realized most of the problems came from equipment failure and came to recognize her own competence. 最后，她了解到大多数的问题都来自设备故障，进而认可自己的能力。

We may never be able to banish these feelings entirely, but we can have open conversations about academic or professional challenges. 我们可能永远无法完全抹去这种感受，但我们可以开启对话，讨论学术或专业领域上的挑战。

With increasing awareness of how common these experiences are, 当越来越多人意识到这些感受其实相当普遍，

perhaps we can feel freer to be frank about our feelings and build confidence in some simple truths: 也许我们就能更自在而坦然地面对自我感受、建立自信并接受一些简单事实：

You have talent, you are capable, and you belong. 你有天赋、你有能力，而且你当之无愧。