I've encountered a few of these "copycat" or parasitic personalities through social media, and they remind me of certain individuals I've known in Elementary school and later on in life. Their typical MO is to attach themselves to someone they believe has advantageous qualities over them and try to emulate them. They don't seem to assimilate, process or internalize these qualities on their own, but merely adopt them by rote or artifice. At some point, they seem to confuse their own psychology with the object of their emulation and enter into a fiercely one-sided competition, often projecting their own deficiencies, insecurities and patterns on them. They can become quite argumentative, antagonistic and even hostile when confronted with their behavior, especially since they are astonishingly unaware of it.
