Agent-Based Modeling: A New Approach for Theory Building in Social Psychology

Most social and psychological phenomena occur not as the result of isolated decisions by individuals but rather as the result of repeated interactions between multiple individuals over time. Yet the theory-building and modeling techniques most commonly used in social psychology are less than ideal f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and social psychology review 2007-02, Vol.11 (1), p.87-104
Main Authors: Smith, Eliot R., Conrey, Frederica R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Psychological theories
Psychological Theory
Psychology, Social
Research methodology
Social Environment
Social psychology
Social research
Theory
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Summary:Most social and psychological phenomena occur not as the result of isolated decisions by individuals but rather as the result of repeated interactions between multiple individuals over time. Yet the theory-building and modeling techniques most commonly used in social psychology are less than ideal for understanding such dynamic and interactive processes. This article describes an alternative approach to theory building, agent-based modeling (ABM), which involves simulation of large numbers of autonomous agents that interact with each other and with a simulated environment and the observation of emergent patterns from their interactions. The authors believe that the ABM approach is better able than prevailing approaches in the field, variable-based modeling (VBM) techniques such as causal modeling, to capture types of complex, dynamic, interactive processes so important in the social world. The article elaborates several important contrasts between ABM and VBM and offers specific recommendations for learning more and applying the ABM approach.
ISSN:1088-8683
1532-7957
DOI:10.1177/1088868306294789