Abstract
Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon that affects individuals who doubt their skills and abilities, despite possessing the necessary competencies. This can lead to a lack of confidence and poor performance. While research has explored the impacts of imposter syndrome on students and professionals in various fields, there is limited knowledge on how it affects code comprehension in software engineering. In this exploratory study, we investigate the prevalence of imposter syndrome among final-year undergraduate computer science students and its effects on their code comprehension cognition using an eye tracker and heart rate monitor. Key findings demonstrate that students identifying as male exhibit lower imposter syndrome levels when analyzing code, and higher imposter syndrome is associated with increased time reviewing a code snippet and a lower likelihood of solving it correctly. This study provides initial data on this topic and establishes a foundation for further research to support student academic success and improve developer productivity and mental well-being.
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Data Availability Statement
The high-resolution images of the code snippets, survey questionnaires, and participant data are available at: [1].
Notes
- 1.
From The Impostor Phenomenon: When Success Makes You Feel Like A Fake (pp. 20–22), by P.R. Clance, 1985, Toronto: Bantam Books. Copyright 1985 by Pauline Rose Clance. Reprinted by permission. Do not reproduce without permission from Pauline Rose Clance, drpaulinerose@comcast.net.
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We thank students who took the time to participate in our study.
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Chen, A., Wong, C., Tarrit, K., Peruma, A. (2024). Impostor Syndrome in Final Year Computer Science Students: An Eye Tracking and Biometrics Study. In: Schmorrow, D.D., Fidopiastis, C.M. (eds) Augmented Cognition. HCII 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 14694. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61569-6_2
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