Page Briscoe (bch0047 at uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu) wrote:
: Also, have you reassured her with specifics about what you think makes
: her a bright scientist? You've told us: she asks the right questions,
: etc. I have found that many times when I need reassurance, it helps if
: someone gives me the specifics of why they have faith in me, so I can
: repeat those things to myself to help my self-esteem.
I think this is truly excellent advice. If a student is"good" in
school, people are always telling her that, but inexperience
makes it difficult tell what behaviors are being rewarded. So,
a student prone to insecurities (and I think that I've read
that successful women are more likely to feel this way), feels
that there is this impending sense of doom, that she'll stop doing
well, and fall from grace. If the student can
be given a concrete sense of what's she's good at, it'll
work to dispell the notion that she's just been extraordinary
lucky in impressing people.
--
Bharathi Jagadeesh/bjag at ln.nimh.nih.gov
Lab of Neuropsychology
NIMH
Building 49, Room 1b80
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
(312) 496-5625 x270
