Computational Sociology

Friendship Dynamics: Modelling Social Relationships through a Fuzzy Agent-Based Simulation

by Mauricio Salgado

Published in Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, Volume 2011 (2011)

Social relationships such as friendship and partner choice are ruled by the proximity principle, which states that the... more Social relationships such as friendship and partner choice are ruled by the proximity principle, which states that the more similar two individuals are, the more likely they will become friends. However, proximity, similarity, and friendship are concepts with blurred edges and imprecise grades of membership. This study shows how to simulate these friendship dynamics in an agent-based model that applies fuzzy sets theory to implement agent attributes, rules, and social relationships, explaining the process in detail. Although in principle it may be thought that the use of fuzzy sets theory makes agent-based modelling more elaborated, in practice it saves the modeller from taking some arbitrary decisions on how to use crisp values for representing properties that are inherently fuzzy. The consequences of applying fuzzy sets and operations to define a fuzzy friendship relationship are compared with a simpler implementation, with crisp values. By integrating agent computational models and fuzzy set theory, this paper provides useful insights into scholars and practitioners to tackle the uncertainty inherent to social relationships in a systematic way.

The Challenge of Social Simulation: An Introduction to the Special Issue, Special Issue on Social Simulation

by Flaminio Squazzoni

Published in "Mind & Society", 2, 2009

Individual behavior and macro social properties. An agent based model

by Flaminio Squazzoni

(co-authored with Riccardo Boero and Marco Castellani) published in CMOT-Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 2008, 2, pp. 156-174

The paper aims at presenting an agent-based modeling exercise to illustrate how small differences in the cognitive... more The paper aims at presenting an agent-based modeling exercise to illustrate how small differences in the cognitive properties of agents can generate very different macro social properties. We argue that it is not necessary to assume highly complicated cognitive architectures to introduce cognitive properties that matter for computational social science purposes. Our model is based on different simulation settings characterized by a gradual sophistication of behavior of agents, from simple heuristics to macro-micro feedback and other second-order properties. Agents are localized in a spatial interaction context. They have an individual task but are influenced by a collective coordination problem. The simulation results show that agents can generate efficiency at a macro level particularly when socio-cognitive sophistication of their behavior increases.

A (computational) social science perspective on societal transitions

by Flaminio Squazzoni

published on CMOT-Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 2008

This paper aims to illustrate how social sciences, sociology in particular, have theorized on societal transitions.... more This paper aims to illustrate how social sciences, sociology in particular, have theorized on societal transitions. The first section introduces some preliminary definitions. The assumption is that a societal transition is more than a social, economic or technological change. It is a large-scale and long-term macro process through which a given social system radically changes its structural basis, in terms of new socio-technical practices, governance rules, social and economic institutions, cultural frames, and patterns of social life. The second section provides an excursus on social science accounts on transitions. In particular, the attention has been given to Norbert Elias’ famous study on the rise and fall of the court society in France, between 17th and 18th century and to Manuel Castells’ recent analysis of the emergence of the network society. The third section discusses problems and challenges of standard approaches and suggests some building blocks of societal transition models, taken from complexity and social simulation literature. The concluding section suggests some way-forward measures towards a computational social science approach to societal transitions.

Computational and Mathematical Approaches to Societal Transitions

by Flaminio Squazzoni

(co-authored with Jos Timmermans and Hans de Haan) published in in Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 2008

After an introduction of the theoretical framework and concepts of transition studies, this article gives an overview... more After an introduction of the theoretical framework and concepts of transition studies, this article gives an overview of how structural change in social systems has been studied from various disciplinary perspectives. This overview first leads to the conclusion that computational and mathematical approaches and their practical form, modeling, up till now, have been almost absent in the research and theorizing of structural change or transitions in social systems. Second, this review of the social science literature suggests numerous theoretical constructs relevant for transition modeling. Relevant concepts include the conceptualization of the micro-to-macro link, the importance of explaining both stability and change, quantitative and qualitative definitions of structural change, the use of dichotomies, synchronic and diachronic reasoning in explaining structural change, definitions of basic patterns of social change, the conceptualization of resistance to change and intentional and normative aspects of social change. This article employs these theoretical concepts to describe and discuss the models presented in this special issue in order to develop an understanding of what exactly entails a computational or mathematical approach to societal transitions

The Micro-Macro Link in Social Simulation

by Flaminio Squazzoni

published in Sociologica, 2008

This paper aims to look at the problem of the micro-macro link in sociology from the new prospective of social... more This paper aims to look at the problem of the micro-macro link in sociology from the new prospective of social simulation. The adoption of a sociology modelling perspective allows us to sidestep typical domain problems (e.g. individualism vs. holism, action vs. structure, micro vs. macro sociology), for a more pragmatic approach. The first section summarises (due to shortage of space, not exhaustively) the present debate in sociology. The second briefly introduces social simulation as a field of research. The third section presents the analytical constructions that computational social scientists use in dealing with the micro-macro link. The fourth section introduces some clear examples of agent-based models of social outcomes, without entering into technicalities. These examples allow us to pin down some particular mechanisms that can help to map the micro-macro link. The last section summarises our findings and looks forward to questions and challenges that should be explored in the near future.

Why Bother with What Others Tell You? An Experimental Data-Driven Agent-Based Model

by Flaminio Squazzoni

Published in "Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation" 13 (3) 6, 2010

This paper investigates the relevance of reputation to improve the explorative capabilities of agents in uncertain... more This paper investigates the relevance of reputation to improve the explorative capabilities of agents in uncertain environments. We have presented a laboratory experiment where sixty-four subjects were asked to take iterated economic investment decisions. An agent-based model based on their behavioural patterns replicated the experiment exactly. Exploring this experimentally grounded model, we studied the effects of various reputational mechanisms on explorative capabilities at a systemic level. The results showed that reputation mechanisms increase the agents' capability for coping with uncertain environments more than individualistic atomistic exploration strategies, although the former does entail a certain amount of false information inside the system.

The impact of agent-based models in the social sciences after 15 years of incursions

by Flaminio Squazzoni

Published in "History of Economic Ideas", XVIII, 2010/2

This paper provides an overview on the impact of agent-based models in the social sciences. It focuses on the reasons... more This paper provides an overview on the impact of agent-based models in the social sciences. It focuses on the reasons why agest-based models are seen as important innovations in the recent decades. It is aimed to evaluate the impact of this innovation on various disciplines, such as economics, sociology, anthropology, and behavioural sciences. It discusses the advances it contributed to achieve and illustrates some comparatively new fields to which it gave rise. Finally, it emphasizes some research issues that need to be addressed in the future.