Copycat

Mangopyahay. It is saddening to see your work being claimed by others as theirs. There is this weight in the heart which lingers when you see the things you conceptualized being enjoyed by others claiming it as theirs.

Human beings often mimic or imitate others unconsciously. Mimicry has social benefits. Imitating others helps build rapport between two people or bond together social groups. Copying others, more broadly, can range from non-conscious processes whereby perception (seeing others engage in a certain behavior) becomes directly linked to our own behavior, to conscious strategies, where we choose to imitate either because we’re uncertain about the best course of action or because we want to fit in (Samson, 2012).

But in many instances, the one with the intellectual process of conceptualizing stuff and copied by others feel uncomfortable and others often get angry since they feel betrayed being robbed with the ownership of such output of the “creative process.” Instead of feeling privileged of being “idolized” the original creator often get offended.

New research by White and Argo (2011) demonstrates what may happen in those types of situations. While an imitated person can feel and behave positively towards the mimicker (being copied is flattering!), reactions are often different from people who are aware of being copied and feel that their distinctiveness is being compromised.

This might be another case of selfishness. The copycats do not consider the creator since the important thing is to feed the deficit in him/her. Take for example the petty quarrels happening in social media sites when others grabbed photographs claiming them as theirs not recognizing the original owner. The copycats do not mind…They say “sorry” but they are actually not.

Once unattended, the petty copycat activities might lead to a disorder.

Mirroring occurs when people with Personality Disorders have a vacant or distorted self-image, which can manifest itself as an imitation of another person’s speech, mannerisms, behaviors, dress style, purchase preferences or daily habits.

In more extreme manifestations of this behavior, the person doing the mirroring might begin to believe they actually are the other person, to the extent they might call themselves by their name, claim to be them or ‘borrow’ elements of the other person’s life such as relationships, past experiences, career or family history and claim these as their own (Johnson, 2014).

There is nothing wrong about being inspired by an event or a person. But to deprive of the person of the credits of his/her original creation is another story. There are those who may say that “NO ONE has the ownership of an idea or a concept” but others really see them as something NOT good. If deficits are being filled, people these days see the intentions and would see warning signs in their heads about the personality of the ones copying others.

Imitate long enough, and imitate hard enough, and there won’t be much innovation left in you or your spirit. Constant imitation means you’ll rarely take risks. It means you will wait for someone else to blaze trails. Imitators are always one, two or five steps behind. They have to wait for the next product, approach or strategy to be revealed. Then they madly copy. If you are always imitating, your trajectory will never be greater than the person you’re copying. Ever. It will always be a shadow of theirs (Nieuwhof, 2017).

People who constantly imitate rarely innovate.

So, when an event or party is thrown, post the photos on the sites giving credits to the hosts not as if you were the one to organize and created the event. When you dine out and someone invited you, give thanks through the post and do not feign wealth by grabbing pictures and posting them as if you went to the place when in fact, you did not. It is NOT healthy.

Intellectual properties must also be respected. Copyright is based on the idea that we are all entitled to the fruits of our labors. It is the ownership of intellectual property. Copyright is a legal concept giving the creator of an original work of authorship exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time, after which the work enters the public domain. Generally, it is "the right to copy," but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may financially benefit from it, etc.

In the end, it is our original creations and concepts which could be considered as our own footprints in this journey we call LIFE.