Thread by @davidawinkler

Did you know PhD students often struggle with self-efficacy and accurately assessing their self-worth?

I've been reading a lot in this area recently.
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"Imposter syndrome" is a catchy phrase, but it doesn't completely capture the struggle. There can be far more sinister questions than "Do I belong here?"

Questions like, "Am I worthy?" or "Am I capable?"

Some scholars (Lambie & Vacarro, 2011; Sverdlik, 2019) contend that doctoral students often feel a greater sense of self-efficacy when they achieve desired goals, such as publishing an academic article or presenting at a conference.

But what if those opportunities are elusive?

Doctoral students with low levels of self-efficacy are more likely to incorporate "self-handicapping" behaviors into their work to avoid being perceived as incompetent (Schwinger & Stiensmeier-Pelster, 2011).

What are some of these behaviors? They are familiar to all of us:

Overcommitment, busyness, focusing on low-priority tasks, procrastination, perfectionism, disorganization, and so on and so forth.

These behaviors aren't unique to doctoral students, rather, they are socially promoted and acceptable ways of failure avoidance.

It's not merely the academic work—while all-encompassing and highly taxing at times—that is exhausting doctoral students, but a culture of self-worth protection strategies ingrained in our very social institutions.

We avoid failure because we assume it is an end to something—the final word.

Yet, it's in failure that we learn to produce better work. Perhaps we should welcome failure. Maybe we should practice failure.

Doctoral programs are great places to develop a "discipline of failure." Self-handicapping and self-worth protection strategies may seem to be the right answer in the moment, but they can lead to burnout or an outright resentment of academia.

If you're a doctoral student and you are nearing burnout, resentment, or you just need reassurance that you DO have worth and that you ARE capable, know this:

You do and you are.

But it may not feel like it all the time. Disappointment in failure reminds us of our worth and value. Failure means that we are capable of better.

Don't let the fear of failure eat at your self-efficacy. Let it spur you on to better things. #HigherEd @AcademicChatter