Even after writing eleven books and winning several prestigious awards,
即便写出了11本书，获得了数个著名奖项，
Maya Angelou couldn't escape the nagging doubt that she hadn't really earned her accomplishments.
马娅·安杰卢仍被疑虑困扰，面对这些成就，她当之有愧。
Albert Einstein experienced something similar:
爱因斯坦也有相似经历：
he described himself as an "involuntary swindler" whose work didn't deserve as much attention as it had received.
他把自己成为“无意的骗子”，认为自己的工作不值得获得如此多的关注。
Accomplishments at the level of Angelou's or Einstein's are rare, but their feeling of fraudulence is extremely common.
少有人能像安杰卢和爱因斯坦一样取得如此高的成就，但是认为自己欺骗了别人的感受却相当普遍。
Why can't so many of us shake feelings that we haven't earned our accomplishments,
为什么有如此多的人认为自己配不上取得的成就，
or that our ideas and skills aren't worthy of others' attention?
或是觉得自己的想法和技能并不值得他人关注。
Psychologist Pauline Rose Clance was the first to study this unwarranted sense of insecurity.
心理学家保琳·萝丝·克兰斯率先开始研究这种没头绪的不安感。
In her work as a therapist, she noticed many of her undergraduate patients shared a concern:
在做心理咨询师期间，她发现许多大学生咨询者都有这样的担心：
though they had high grades, they didn't believe they deserved their spots at the university.
即便他们都取得很高的分数，但他们认为自己达不到这所大学的录取资格。
Some even believed their acceptance had been an admissions error.
有些人甚至认为接受自己入学是招生管理的失误。
While Clance knew these fears were unfounded, she could also remember feeling the exact same way in graduate school.
虽然克兰斯知道这些担忧都是毫无根据的，但她记得自己在深造时也有同样的感受。
She and her patients experienced something that goes by a number of names -- imposter phenomenon, imposter experience, and imposter syndrome.
她和她的父母都经历过这种冒名顶替现象，或冒名顶替经历，以及冒名顶替综合征。
Together with colleague Suzanne Imes, Clance first studied imposterism in female college students and faculty.
克兰斯与同事苏珊·因墨斯一起，首先对女性大学生和教职员的冒名顶替现象进行了研究。
Their work established pervasive feelings of fraudulence in this group.
研究发现这部分人群中广泛存在欺骗他人心理。
Since that first study, the same thing has been established across gender, race, age, and a huge range of occupations,
自第一项研究以来，同样的研究也在跨性别、种族、年龄和跨职业领域进行，
though it may be more prevalent and disproportionately affect the experiences of underrepresented or disadvantaged groups.
但在弱势群体和贫穷人群中这种症状更为普遍，也影响更大。
To call it a syndrome is to downplay how universal it is.
若要将其称为一种综合征，则需要淡化其广泛性。
It's not a disease or an abnormality, and it isn't necessarily tied to depression, anxiety, or self-esteem.
它并非一种疾病或是异常特征，它也未必与抑郁、焦虑或自尊有关。
Where do these feelings of fraudulence come from?
这种欺骗他人的感觉来自于何处？
People who are highly skilled or accomplished tend to think others are just as skilled.
能力杰出或成就非凡的人，倾向于认为他人与自己拥有同样的技能水平。
This can spiral into feelings that they don't deserve accolades and opportunities over other people.
这会进一步让他们认为自己不应得到其他人所没有的荣誉与机会。

And as Angelou and Einstein experienced, there's often no threshold of accomplishment that puts these feelings to rest.
安杰卢和爱因斯坦都有此经历，说明即便成就再高也无法使这种感觉停止。
Feelings of imposterism aren't restricted to highly skilled individuals, either.
并非只有能力杰出者才有此感受。
Everyone is susceptible to a phenomenon known as pluralistic ignorance, where we each doubt ourselves privately,
每个人都会受到名为“多数无知”现象的影响，即人们私下怀疑自己的能力，
but believe we're alone in thinking that way because no one else voices their doubts.
但因为没有人会说出这种疑虑，所以会认为只有自己有这样的想法。
Since it's tough to really know how hard our peers work, how difficult they find certain tasks, or how much they doubt themselves,
由于不知道其他人有多努力，也不清楚他们觉得某些任务难以完成，或是他们有多么质疑自己，
there's no easy way to dismiss feelings that we're less capable than the people around us.
因此，并没有简单的方法能够消除这种我不如人的感觉。
Intense feelings of imposterism can prevent people from sharing their great ideas or applying for jobs and programs where they'd excel.
严重的冒名顶替感受会妨碍人们分享自己的好主意，或让他们不敢申请自己擅长的工作和项目。
At least so far, the most surefire way to combat imposter syndrome is to talk about it.
至少在目前，对抗冒名顶替综合征最保险的方法就是将它说出来。
Many people suffering from imposter syndrome are afraid that if they ask about their performance, their fears will be confirmed.
许多受到冒名顶替综合征的人担心一旦询问他人自己表现如何，就会证实他们的担忧。
And even when they receive positive feedback, it often fails to ease feelings of fraudulence.
即便他们得到积极反馈，通常也无法消除欺骗感觉。
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，听到提供意见的人或导师也曾经历这种情绪有助于缓解冒名顶替感受。
The same goes for peers. Even simply finding out there's a term for these feelings can be an incredible relief.
对于同龄人来说也是如此。发现其他人都有这种感受可以是一种有效的缓解。
Once you're aware of the phenomenon, you can combat your own imposter syndrome by collecting and revisiting positive feedback.
一旦意识到这个现象，你便可以通过收集回顾积极反馈对抗自己的冒名顶替综合征。
One scientist who kept blaming herself for problems in her lab started to document the causes every time something went wrong.
一名科学家认为实验室出现的问题都是自己的错，她开始记录每次出错的原因。
Eventually, she realized most of the problems came from equipment failure, and came to recognize her own competence.
最终，她意识到大多数问题都是设备问题，并开始认识到自己的优秀能力。
We may never be able to banish these feelings entirely, but we can have open conversations about academic or professional challenges.
我们可能永远无法彻底消除这类情绪，但是我们可以对学术或专业难题进行公开讨论。
With increasing awareness of how common these experiences are,
随着不断认识到这种情绪的普遍性，
perhaps we can feel freer to be frank about our feelings and build confidence in some simple truths:
也许我们能够更自由地表露我们的感受，并且通过以下几个简单的事实建立信心：
you have talent, you are capable, and you belong.
你有才华，你很能干，你不是一个人。