Summary by Sara Lapsley and the North American Research Committee
Highlights
- Describes the mimicry-deception theory (MDT) used by humans and members of other species to deceive and exploit others in their communities.
- Identifies two types of predators that use short-term versus long-term strategies to deceive others.
- Explains how MDT can be used to understand different types of financial fraud and the behavior of individuals with psychopathic and Machiavellian traits.
In his article, Jones describes how humans, animals (e.g., snakes, birds), and even organisms such as bacteria and viruses use deceptive tactics to exploit the resources of others in their communities. He highlights how pervasive and disruptive financial exploitation is in human society, citing a statistic which suggests that financial fraud costs roughly 680 billion dollars annually across the world.
Jones outlines the Mimicry-Deception Theory (MDT), which explains how humans and a wide variety of other species use both short and long-term strategies to deceive and exploit others. Long versus short term strategies differ in key areas such as how predators attack or invade a host, how they take resources away from others, and how they avoid the risk of detection.
Complex financial deception occurs slowly over the long term. In the case of humans, a person may build trust over time based on the appearance of good standing and a positive reputation in the community. This allows them access to the resources of others, such as money or property. Predators of this type extract resources slowly, by integrating themselves into a specific business or organization. As a result of the trust they have built and their use of complex tactics (e.g., providing official-looking documentation) to extract resources, such predators can go undetected for long periods of time. Bernie Madoff and his sophisticated Ponzi scheme provide a good example of a complex financial deception using long-term strategies. Madoff built trust and credibility with his clients over many years, and not even those closest to him suspected that he was defrauding investors of billions of dollars.
Short-term deception strategies are simpler and more immediate. They are associated with superficial efforts to commit fraud that are carried out quickly, as in the case of phone or email scams or credit card fraud. All of the resources are taken at once, as predators seek to drain bank accounts and take the most money in the shortest amount of time. In contrast to long-term strategies that cultivate a few victims over time, predatory individuals using short-term strategies contact numerous potential victims, for example through spam emails or phone calls. The risk for detection is high with short-term strategies, as people are often suspicious of these kinds of scams.
This theory is said to apply to individuals with psychopathic and other predatory personality traits such as Machiavellianism, as these traits are associated with a propensity to exploit others for their own gain. MDT may shed light on the short and long-term tactics that these individuals use to exploit others.
Jones suggests the MDT framework can be used to better understand financial deception. Further research is needed to continue to raise awareness so that individuals and communities can develop ways to protect themselves against financial deception by individuals with predatory personality traits.
Reference
Jones, D. N. (2014). Predatory personalities as behavioral mimics and parasites: Mimicry-deception theory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9(4), 445-451.
