Illegitimacy syndrome: what it is and how it affects us

For things in life, one can start studying psychology and, later, study engineering. Others start with graphic design and end with a degree in classical philology. There are few who accumulate disparate formations just out of the mere desire to learn, but forgetting to envision a clear and objective training course.

The illegitimacy syndrome is increasingly present, especially in people whose minds are restless and want to know a little about everything, but nothing in depth. This syndrome usually occurs when we resort to a diffuse and heterogeneous academic training.

This syndrome can be an obstacle when looking for a job, both due to the fact that in the labor market specialized profiles are usually sought, as due to the self-perception of feeling that one is less expert than the the rest. Let's take a closer look at the characteristics of the illegitimacy syndrome.

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What is illegitimacy syndrome?

More and more people whose curricula vitae are the most varied, accumulating titles that do not seem to have much relationship between them. People who, for example, first studied engineering and then decided to try fine arts. Or people who first did Hispanic philology and later do Psychology. There are those who first studied chemistry and then philosophy. The list of examples is endless, with all possible combinations.

What all people whose educational backgrounds are this disparate have in common is that they know many things but not at an expert level as would be expected of someone who had continued on one and the same path.

Their passion for studying and not wanting to fit into a single profession or branch has led them to venture into the learning many different things, sometimes giving them the feeling of not even mastering the knowledge they do possess. They feel that their desire for knowledge has made them worthless, and for this reason they suffer from the illegitimacy syndrome.

The illegitimacy syndrome could be summed up in a single sentence: I like everything, but I'm good at nothing. This peculiar syndrome defines more and more people, restless minds that want to know everything but in practice feel that they do not know anything in depth. It happens when we have been studying everything, having a dispersed and heterogeneous academic training. Without realizing it, we are accumulating courses on very different themes, carried out out of the mere desire to learn, but losing sight of the clear and organized professional path that we should have.

For example, a person who has studied psychology wants a change of scene and now decides to prepare to be a physical education teacher because he likes sports a lot. He finishes these studies and decides to continue his training, this time with a language. He starts out studying German but, after a while, he opts for another, simpler language. At the end of all this and despite having the training, he gives him the feeling of not being an expert in anything and, when he goes to apply for a job as a psychologist or as a gymnastics teacher, feels that they have to compete with many other professionals whose curricula are more specialized.

This scattered and, why not say it, chaotic trajectory ends up being problematic because a lot of money and time has been invested in being a person who, basically, is an expert in nothing. And in the world in which we live, having extremely dispersed resumes is a huge disadvantage, despite the fact that the more knowledge we have, the better.

Society is becoming increasingly competitive, offering all kinds of extremely specialized positions. Very specific profiles are needed, who expertly dominate a particular discipline or branch. It requires people who, after having finished their degree, training cycle or whatever training, have continued studying along the same path and have been becoming more and more specific as expert professionals in a matter. In terms of work, the more expert in something, the better.

Clinical psychologists, electrical engineers, pharmacy assistants, otolaryngologists, early childhood education teachers... all of these and many other professions are profiles of people who first studied a career and, later, continued studying something related. In this way they have become expert professionals in matters of something that they had previously studied, establishing their knowledge well.

The opposite case, people with very diverse studies do not necessarily have to have little job success. However, the feeling that having studied everything will help them form the idea that as they are not experts in something specific they are not worth it and, as we have said, this works against them.

Also, if your resume is extremely varied and there are no signs of expertise anywhere, your job success will be less. It is unlikely that you will need a psychologist who has done a degree in Catalan philology or a doctor who has obtained an economics degree, for example.

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General studies

At this point, we understand the importance of having carried out several training sessions that are related to each other but, it also happens that there are careers that in themselves are very generalists. One case of them is Psychology, whose university degree offers a varied range of subjects that touch on everything on the human mind and behaviors: clinical, educational, statistical, biology, social, psycholinguistics ...

Psychology students, once they have finished the degree, have the sensation of many things, but with little depth, that is, they feel the syndrome of illegitimacy. And if on top of that it gives them the feeling that the psychology degree is too big for them, something typical of another famous syndrome, that of the impostorThis can be very discouraging to seek employment and gain experience. It may even make them consider starting another career, believing that the four years they have spent earning a psychology degree have not served them well.

Fortunately, this can be easily solved by deciding to enroll in a postgraduate training, a master's degree or looking for a job from what they have studied directly. The feeling of the illegitimacy syndrome will eventually fade once they see that they are building themselves as experts in a certain subject., be it psychologists or any other career.

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What is illegitimacy syndrome?

The illegitimacy syndrome can manifest itself in many ways. It is important not to confuse it with imposter syndrome, a condition in which a person is an expert in a a certain subject but gives him the feeling that he does not have enough knowledge or experience with it.

In the case of illegitimacy syndrome really there is no experience or, if there is one, it is hidden under other titles and formations that have nothing to do with it.. There is the feeling that much is known but with little depth, as we have already commented.

People who suffer from the illegitimacy syndrome have profiles that are perceived as too generalist, accumulating many skills, studies and skills. As it ends up giving them the feeling that someone who covers a lot, little squeezes, they begin to perceive themselves as a fraud. This too heterogeneous and shallow training, combined with their insecurity, can put them at a certain disadvantage compared to professionals who do have a specialized profile.

Today the demand for specialist professionals is increasingly high, something that has its origins in the Second World War. After the conflict, many cities were devastated, so much so that while all labor was welcome, people were needed who knew how to rebuild them intelligently and efficiently. Skilled, skilled and efficient workforce was required in specific areas. This perspective created a new framework in the field of work and training, which is still in force today.

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The illegitimacy syndrome and talent

As we were saying, people with illegitimacy syndrome perceive themselves as individuals who know a little about everything but nothing in a profound way, the result of having wanted to study a wide variety of things. The problem with this, leaving aside the employment implications, is that they think they lack talent because they do not excel at something specific. They are not geniuses of mathematics or letters, but they are curious minds that jumped from one subject to another.

This perception is the result of a misconception of what talent is. It is common for schools to say that a child is talented when he excels in a subject. However, research in this area indicates something important with respect to what is the talent, as is the case with research carried out at Mendel University in Brno (Republic of Czech).

From his study, talent is understood as a skill that must be educated through motivation. Without effort or will, an aptitude can come to nothing. People with varied and heterogeneous knowledge are moved by curiosity, by the desire to have knowledge, what happens is that If there is something that motivates them at first, after a while they are interested in something else and for that reason their curriculum can be so varied.

When a person has knowledge of various fields but does not feel that he or she really excels in anything can be self-perceived as a fraud. This can have the negative consequence that you choose jobs that require less training than you have, inferior jobs that he or she considers suitable because he or she is perceived as a “non-expert” and, therefore, may be play.

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Impact on finding a job

The illegitimacy syndrome is experienced by many students who have just finished their degree or other trainings, especially if they are psychology-style careers whose training curricula are very varied and from if.

This makes them perceive themselves as worthless. When they look at job offers they feel like they are not up to scratch. Lack of experience and the perception of not having yet acquired the required skills slows them down when applying for any job proposal related to what they have studied.

This happens both to recent graduates and to those with very heterogeneous backgrounds. When you have experience and knowledge but are scattered, you assume that it will be difficult to be hired. They are people who doubt their legitimacy because they do not believe that they are experts in anything. This is where social comparison comes into play from Leon festinger, a social psychologist who explained very well how people sometimes become obsessed with thinking that others are better than us. We minimize our capabilities just because we don't have a track record that we think would be the specialized one.

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Heterogeneity as an advantage

Although the ideal is to have a specialized curriculum, this does not mean that being a curious person, eager for knowledge and interested in all kinds of things should be a problem. We live in a time when, although specialization is valued, professionals are also required who are flexible and willing to learn new things, either to expand their field of intervention or to update their knowledge.

In a dynamic society, generalist and heterogeneous profiles are valuable. It is true that a too heterogeneous profile may indicate that the person is undecided as to what he wanted to study, but it can also happen that she is interested in so many things that she has simply been doing a little of everything to her rhythm. You may have multiple transversal competencies and skills, really are an expert in some of them, and that what has happened is that, simply, he has a curious mind that has wanted to go beyond a field of study in concrete.

People who are interested in many things and excel at them are what have been called T or Renaissance personalities, skilled in various areas. Behind them may be High capacities and talents, or also a great effort and motivation to learn. They are more and more and they can be a labor gold mine, a diamond in the rough that should not be ignored. Specialization is not everything in this life.