This often is used for relationships, such as the scenario in the movie Catfish. Īn internet user uses a fake identity to persuade another to believe they are the person they portray. This is attributed to the Online Disinhibition Effect where online users feel more comfortable sharing information, some of which may be untrue, on an online forum than through in person communication. Practice and sociology Ĭatfishing has been thought to have grown in popularity as it allows participants to disassociate from one's everyday identity, shielding from moral obligation or responsibility. The term also spiked in popularity during an incident involving University of Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o in 2013.

The term catfishing has become more widely known throughout the subsequent decade, thanks to a television series which followed the main star of the movie, Yaniv (Nev) Schulman, helping other people investigate their possible catfish situations. This myth originated in the fiction writing of Henry Nevinson (1913, Essays in Rebellion) and Charles Marriott (1913, The Catfish). The myth describes how live cod fish were shipped with catfish in the same tanks to keep the cod active, ensuring the quality of the cod whereas being shipped alone the cod would become pale and lethargic. In the documentary, it is mentioned that the woman's husband came up with the term as he found comparison to a myth how cod and catfish act when shipped in different tanks. The woman with whom he had been communicating was actually a 40-year-old housewife. He had cultivated a relationship with what he thought was a 19-year-old girl from the Midwestern United States. The documentary follows Nev Schulman, the executive producer, as a victim of catfishing.

The modern term originated from the 2010 American documentary Catfish.

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