Confessions of an Imposter
When:
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Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
Writing abstracts makes me nervous. What will happen if I over-promise? People will be disappointed by the talk, and they won’t just shrug and think I’m having a bad day. They’ll see right through me. Who is this woman who dares to call herself a Professor?
In this lecture I’ll talk about feelings of this kind among women in psychological science - and among others whose faces don’t quite fit. I’ll ask whether it helps or exacerbates the problem to label them ‘Imposter Syndrome’. The term risks individualising what are often structural obstacles, and medicalising forms of doubt that may be entirely rational. Yet I have also found the concept clarifying and, at times, steadying. I’ll consider how the causes and consequences of these feelings can be understood and tamed, and argue that researchers who feel out of place are well-placed to question received wisdom. Being an outsider can be a source of intellectual strength.
The lecture will begin at 5pm, followed by refreshments at 6pm. Please note that the booking fee contributes towards the cost of catering.
Contact name: External Relations Events
Speakers-
Professor Cecilia Heyes
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Cecilia Heyes is Professor of Psychology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College. She was the first in her family to attend university. Her research explores the origins of human cognition, with a particular focus on cultural evolution and the idea that many of our distinctive mental capacities are shaped by social learning rather than genetic inheritance.
She is the author of Cognitive Gadgets (2018), which challenges traditional evolutionary psychology by arguing that abilities such as imitation, mindreading, and language have culturally evolved. Professor Heyes is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society, and a past President of the Experimental Psychology Society.
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