UPDATE: wow, never thought this post would take off this much! thanks
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It’s basically the opposite side of the curve as the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
The less skilled you are at something, the less skill you have at noticing your own mistakes or knowing how much more you need to learn, because you don’t have enough knowledge to understand what you’re lacking. This can lead to an inflated sense of confidence, which is the Dunning-Kruger Effect: Not knowing enough to recognize when you’ve made a mistake.
Imposter Syndrome happens when you become more skilled and thus more able to notice your own mistakes, and also understand where you still have gaps in your knowledge. Therefore, because you are more aware of the mistakes you make, you’re more likely to suffer a lack of confidence in what you’re doing and think that the praise you receive for your skill is unearned, even though your skill is objectively higher than other people’s. That’s Imposter Syndrome: Knowing so much that you recognize how much you still don’t know.
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