Becoming a Resilient Scientist

SERIES

Workbook II:
Understanding Cognitive
Distortions & Imposter Fears

Dr. Sharon L. Milgram

Director NIH OITE
Bethesda, MD

This workbook is intended to accompany

Becoming A Resilient Scientist Series II: Understanding Cognitive Distortions & Imposter Fears.

It is most effective when it is used after attending/watching the workshop lecture. The exercises
in this workbook are to help you process and solidify what you’ve learned in the lecture and to
provide you with additional resources. Although it is encouraged that you complete the
exercises, it is not required.

[email protected]

@sharonmilgram & @NIH_OITE THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

 COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS
AN OVERVIEW

To become resilient,
we have to understand our distorted self-talk.

Our thoughts impact our feelings,

1
and thus affect our behavioral reactions.

THOUGHTS
What we think affects
how we feel and act

BEHAVIOR EMOTIONS
What we do affects How we feel affects
how we think and feel what we think and do

1
https://beckinstitute.org/cognitive-model/ PAGE 1
 COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS
AN OVERVIEW

Often, when we are stressed, our

perceptions become distorted and dysfunctional.

Adversity and false stories we tell ourselves can lead to a change in our beliefs.

Our beliefs may cause us to suffer from negative behavioral consequences.

But if we learn to dispute the falsehoods we tell ourselves,

we can learn to combat adversity,
and benefit from a positive change in our consequential behavior

ADVERSITY

CONSEQUENCES

BELIEFS

THE STORIES WE
TELL OURSELVES
DISPUTE THEM

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 TYPES OF COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS

COGNITIVE
DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
DISTORTION

Your lab meeting presentation

went well; however, you stumbled
Your performance is either
All-or-Nothing Thinking on a question. Therefore, you view
perfect or it is a complete failure
the lab meeting presentation as a
failure.

You forget to put your samples

into the freezer and have to
throw them away the next day.
You exaggerate the implications of
Catastrophizing Therefore, your PI will never write
a set-back or mistake.
you a recommendation letter and
you will never get into grad
school.

Your PI congratulates you on

You downplay the importance of
receiving a travel award to go to a
Minimizing your accomplishments, positive
(Discounting the Positive) conference. You tell her everyone
qualities, or positive experiences. probably got one.

Your PI is grumpy and ignoring

You make assumptions about you today; you assume it's due to
what someone else is thinking or you taking so long yesterday to set
Jumping to Conclusions
(Mind-Reading/ you anticipate that things will turn up your experiment and buffers.
Fortune-Telling) You're sure you won’t get the
out badly, convince yourself that
scholarship your mentor suggests
they will, and act accordingly. you apply for, so you don’t work
very hard on the application.

You made a terrible mistake

You assume that your emotions today and feel stupid; You then
tell yourself (and others) “I am an
Emotional Reasoning reflect reality, and reason or draw
idiot”. You feel like you don’t
conclusions form how you feel. belong and tell yourself “I don’t
belong”.

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 TYPES OF COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS

COGNITIVE
DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
DISTORTION

Because you struggled on your

first journal club presentation you
You view a single negative event as assume you will always struggle
Overgeneralization
a predictable pattern for the future. in journal club. You also assume
you will not do well in other areas
of your internship.

Your supervisor gives you brief

instructions on how to analyze data
for a morning meeting. He forgets
You blame yourself for something to point out one critical step, and
Personalization
you are not entirely (or at all) you don’t analyze the data correctly.
responsible for. You take all the blame for what
happened and feel bad about
yourself.

You tell yourself “I am a grad

You criticize yourself using rigid student, so I should know how to
read a paper; or I am a postdoc, so
fixed language that does not
Should Statements I ought to be able to figure this
accurately reflect the nuances of a
technique out on my own. This
situation. (Should, must, ought) only serves to make you feel bad
about yourself.

You enjoy your research and get

along with your lab group, but you
had a poor interaction with
You pick out a single negative your mentor. When you think or talk
Mental Filter
detail and dwell on it. about your time in the lab, you
focus on this one negative
experience, ignoring all of your
positive experiences.

When your lab mate snaps at you,

Form of generalization: Assigning you tell yourself it is because he is
Labeling a person’s action to their disposition a jerk rather than realizing that
rather than looking the situation. he was in a hurry and possibly
under stress.

PAGE 4
NIH OITE, 2017 by SLM. Modified from http://sarconline.sdes.ucf.edu/files/2014/01/12_COGNITIVE_DISTORTIONS_IN_ACADEMICS1.pdf
and https://healthypsych.com/psychology-tools-what-are-cognitive-distortions/
 JOURNALING EXERCISE I

ENCOUNTERING ANTs

When you are having automatic negative thoughts, write them down.

Write whatever comes to mind, try not to filter.

Look back and see what you wrote. What stories are you telling yourself?

Identify the cognitive distortions in your negative thoughts.

PAGE 5
 JOURNALING EXERCISE II

EXPLORING IMPOSTER FEARS

Similar to cognitive distortions, imposters fears

(also called imposter syndrome or imposter phenomenon )
lead to a feeling that you don’t belong and make you feel like:

You are a fraud

Your success is due to luck, which leads you to discount your achievements

You have to work hard on tasks that are easy for everyone else

In what situations do you experience imposter fears?

How does that fear hold you back or undermine you?

PAGE 6
 YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Google accomplished individuals and try to

find those who also suffer from experiencing imposter fears.
List some individuals who surprised you when acknowledging their imposter fears.
Explain why it was surprising to you. Then remind yourself that you are not alone!
(We started the list for you!)

Individual Why it's surprising

Poet, novelist, and civil rights activist. She was awarded National
Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She once said, “I
Maya Angelou
have written 11 books, but each time I think, 'Uh-oh, they’re going to find
out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.'"

Serena Williams Serena is the former number one tennis player in the world.

Schultz was the CEO of the largest coffee-house chain the world
Howard Schultz
(Starbucks) and is estimated to be worth $4.3 billion dollars.

PAGE 7
 DEALING WITH COGNITIVE
DISTORTIONS & IMPOSTER FEARS

REMEMBER HATS

H – Hear your negative self-talk

A – Appreciate that you have a choice

T – Talk to yourself compassionately

S – Seek help and access resources

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 HATS EXERCISES

H – Hear your negative self-talk

Write down your negative thoughts and identify the distortions so you can work on
tackling it (You practiced this on page 5).

A – Appreciate that you have a choice and fact-check it

Think of this as a pros/cons list. Create two columns, support and against, and list
your evidence for the thoughts you are having (You forgot to put your sample in the
freezer. Can you redo the experiment? Can the experiment still be successful?).

The event and type of negative self-talk or distortion:

Evidence in support Evidence against

(continued on next page)

PAGE 9
 HATS EXERCISES

T – Talk back like a realistic giraffe

Instead of harsh self-talk, talk to yourself in a compassionate way as you would talk
to a friend (How would you talk to your friend who forgot to put their sample in the
freezer? What would you say to a friend when they are down and engaged in
cognitive distortion?).

What you would say to your friend:

Now give yourself the same kind of compassion. What can you tell yourself now?

S – Seek help and access resources

Look for resources on your campus that can help

Resources available on my campus:

Seek help and find a therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

PAGE 10
 GROWTH MINDSET EXERCISE

DEALING WITH COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS & IMPOSTER FEARS

Growth mindset can help you overcome cognitive distortions & imposter fears.

Rewrite these fixed mindset thoughts using growth mindset language.

"I give up! I tried three times to get this abstract written and it's still no good."

"I'm feeling down and my experiment probably won’t work, so I'll just check out during
lab today."

"Her poster is so much better than mine; mine will never look that good."

"I’m not a good public speaker – I don’t want to do this presentation."

"I’m really good at using PowerPoint."

(continued on next page)

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 GROWTH MINDSET EXERCISE

DEALING WITH COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS & IMPOSTER FEARS

Growth mindset can help you overcome cognitive distortions & imposter fears.

Rewrite these fixed mindset thoughts using growth mindset language.

"Lab math is just too hard."

"I won’t raise my hand and ask because my question is probably a bad one anyway."

"I'm SO stupid for making that mistake."

"I won’t know what to ask during the informational interview – I'll probably say
something foolish."

"I just lose my temper sometimes, sorry."

PAGE 12
 JOURNALING EXERCISE III

ACKNOWLEDGING OUR COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS

What distortions drive the stories you tell yourself – at school and at home? Are

you more of a jackal, a giraffe, or an ostrich?

Why do you think that is, and what shifts would you like to explore for yourself?

What will you do moving forward to change your unhelpful self-talk?

PAGE 13
 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

HELPFUL PUBLICATIONS & WEBSITES

Cognitive Distortions
Burns, D. D., & Beck, A. T. (1999). Feeling good: The new mood therapy.

Burns, David D. (1980). The Feeling Good Handbook: Using the New Mood Therapy in
Everyday Life. New York: W. Morrow.

Imposter syndrome
Clance, P.R. (1985). The impostor phenomenon: Overcoming the fear that haunts your
success (p. 25). Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers.

https://time.com/5312483/how-to-deal-with-impostor-syndrome/
https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2018/09/imposter-syndrome

Growth Mindset
Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House Digital, Inc..

When it matters and how to know if it matters or not

https://www.mindsetkit.org/
https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/201904/15-ways-build-growth-mindset
https://www.future-ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final-report_Teacher-Mindsets.pdf

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