New Books Network Thomas Hegghammer and Diego Gambetta eds., "Fight, Flight, Mimic: Identity Mimicry in Conflict" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Mar 28, 2026
Thomas Hegghammer, senior research fellow and scholar of militant Islamist movements, discusses deceptive identity mimicry in conflict. He highlights signaling like time spent versus talk, how online forums change trust cues, and why profile longevity and activity matter. He also explores tradeoffs of lurking versus participation, links between online and offline behavior, and how AI shifts the dynamics.
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How Deceptive Mimicry Uses Social Signs
- Deceptive mimicry exploits manipulable social signs to impersonate trusted identities online and offline.
- Thomas Hegghammer illustrates this with police uniforms and scars as costly signals that verify identity in physical spaces.
Lurking Revealed Which Posters Earn Trust
- Hegghammer lurked on radical Islamist forums from the early 2000s to observe signaling without altering the community.
- He used public posts to see that loud verbal claims were distrusted while long-standing posters earned credibility.
Self Incrimination Serves As Costly Proof Of Loyalty
- Self-incrimination and costly participation act as verifiable signals of loyalty in risky online communities.
- Posting pro-ISIS content repeatedly signals someone 'doesn't care' about legal risk, which builds trust among peers.
