On Agent Based Modelling and Computational Social Science

Conte R and Paolucci M (2014). On Agent-Based Modelling and Computational Social Science. Front. Psychol. 5:668. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00668

Posted: 1 Jul 2011 Last revised: 25 Jun 2014

See all articles by Rosaria Conte

Rosaria Conte

National Research Council (CNR) - Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC)

Mario Paolucci

Italian National Research Council (CNR) - Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC)

Date Written: 2011

Abstract

In the first part of the paper, the field of Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) is discussed focusing on the role of generative theories, aiming at explaining phenomena by growing them. After a brief analysis of the major strengths of the field some crucial weaknesses are analysed. In particular, the generative power of ABM is found to have been underexploited, as the way back processes from the macroscopic effects of interaction to the modification of generating rules have been poorly investigated. In the second part of the paper, the renewal of interest for Computational Social Science (CSS) is focused upon, and several variants of it deductive, generative, and complex CSS, are identified and described. In the concluding remarks, an integrated variant, which takes after ABM, reconciling it with the quantitative one, is proposed as a fundamental requirement for a new program of the CSS.

Keywords: Agent Based Modeling, Social Simulation, Computational Social Science, Generative Explanation, micro-macro

JEL Classification: C69

Suggested Citation

Conte, Rosaria and Paolucci, Mario, On Agent Based Modelling and Computational Social Science (2011). Conte R and Paolucci M (2014). On Agent-Based Modelling and Computational Social Science. Front. Psychol. 5:668. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00668, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1876517 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1876517

Rosaria Conte

National Research Council (CNR) - Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC) ( email )

Via Palestro, 32
Rome, RM 00185
Italy

Mario Paolucci (Contact Author)

Italian National Research Council (CNR) - Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC) ( email )

Via Palestro, 32
Roma, RM 00185
Italy

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