Scientific Definition
Subjective feeling of not deserving one's success.
Plain-English Definition
Subjective feeling of not deserving one's success.
Feynman Explanation
The most competent people in the room often feel like frauds. So do the least.
Core Principle
Subjective feeling of not deserving one's success.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Subjective feeling of not deserving one's success.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
The most competent people in the room often feel like frauds. So do the least.
Examples
- Pervasive in high-achieving professional environments.
- Talent retention and confidence calibration.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Normalize. Discuss openly. Calibrate against objective feedback.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Normalize. Discuss openly. Calibrate against objective feedback.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
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Emotions spread through groups via micro-cues.
Threats to identity activate strong defensive responses.
Brain region tracking internal state and gut feeling.
Loss processed more intensely than equivalent gain.
Bad lands harder than good in the brain.
Cumulative physiological wear from chronic stress.
Emotional override of rational processing.
Brain region tracking conflict, error, and effort.
We treat AI as more humanlike than it is.
Attention is the most contested resource in modern work.
Task switches leave cognitive residue that degrades performance.