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Imitation

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 79 Accesses

Synonyms

Copying; Emulation

Definition

Imitation in economics and the social sciences is the process by which individuals adopt the strategies and practices of others. Typically we imagine that it is success that is imitated rather than failure.

Introduction

Imitation plays a key role in the economic study of competition, innovation, and evolution: the imitation of good ideas serves as a crucial way in which those ideas spread throughout a population. A key theme in the literature is that imitation improves economies and tends to foster efficiency. Imitation, however, bootstraps off of innovation: without new ideas to imitate stagnation is likely to result.

Three Types of Imitation

There are three broad strands of literature in economics studying imitation. The first is the role of imitation in competitive economies. The second is the role of imitation in pushing the process of innovation and growth. The third is the role of imitation in determining long-run outcomes in evolutionary...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. European University Institute, St. Louis, MO, USA

    David K. Levine

  2. Department of Economics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    John H. Biggs

Authors
  1. David K. Levine
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  2. John H. Biggs
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David K. Levine .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of South Carolina - Beaufort, Bluffton, SC, USA

    Carey Fitzgerald

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Levine, D.K., Biggs, J.H. (2018). Imitation. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2380-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2380-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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