An Agent-Based Model of Status Construction in Task Focused Groups

Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 18 (2) 4, 2015

18 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2015

See all articles by Andre Grow

Andre Grow

KU Leuven - Centre for Sociological Research

Andreas Flache

University of Groningen - Department of Sociology

Rafael Wittek

University of Groningen

Date Written: March 31, 2015

Abstract

Status beliefs link social distinctions, such as gender and race, to assumptions about competence and social worth. Recent modeling work in status construction theory suggests that interactions in small, task focused groups can lead to the spontaneous emergence and diffusion of such beliefs in larger populations. This earlier work has focused on dyads as the smallest possible groups in which status beliefs might emerge from face-to-face interaction. In today's societies, however, many task focused interactions take place in groups larger than dyads. In this article, we therefore develop an agent-based computational model that enables us to study the emergence of status beliefs in groups larger than dyads. With this model, we address questions such as: Do basic principles of task focused interaction systematically favor the emergence of status beliefs in groups larger than dyads? Does the time-frame over which small groups interact affect the likelihood with which status beliefs emerge? How does group size affect the emergence of status beliefs? Computational experimentation with the new model suggests that behavioral principles known to spontaneously create hierarchical differentiation between individual group members also tend to align these hierarchies with categorical differences and thereby facilitate the emergence of status beliefs. This tendency is stronger in smaller groups, and in groups that interact either for a very short or very long time.

Keywords: Status Characteristics, Status Beliefs, Status Construction, Task Focused Groups, Agent-Based Computational Modeling

JEL Classification: C91, C63

Suggested Citation

Grow, Andre and Flache, Andreas and Wittek, Rafael, An Agent-Based Model of Status Construction in Task Focused Groups (March 31, 2015). Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 18 (2) 4, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2662193

Andre Grow (Contact Author)

KU Leuven - Centre for Sociological Research ( email )

Oude Markt 13, 3000
Leuven
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://www.andre-grow.net/

Andreas Flache

University of Groningen - Department of Sociology ( email )

Groningen
Netherlands

Rafael Wittek

University of Groningen ( email )

Department of Sociology
Grote Rozenstraat 31
Groningen, 9712TG
Netherlands
+31503636282 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.rafaelwittek.eu/

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