Social Exploitation
Symptoms of illness have recently been discussed as being signals, and
dishonest signalling has been suggested as a means of social
exploitation (Tiokhin 2016). Dishonest symptoms are posited to be a
means for individuals to gain social advantage, such as avoiding
engaging in costly cooperative behaviours and eliciting social or
material support. See Tiokhin (2016) for a thorough discussion of these
ideas.