Artificial Societies and Social Simulation Using Ant Colony, Particle Swarm Optimization and Cultural Algorithms
Alberto Ochoa, Arturo Hernndez, Laura Cruz, Julio Ponce, F. Montes, Liang Li, Lenka Janacek · InTech eBooks · 2010
Particle Swarm Optimization and Cultural Algorithms 269 in collective behaviors.These behaviors as a whole help to define the workings of the network.ABM focuses on human social interactions and how people work together and communicate with one another without having one, single "group mind".This essentially means that it tends to focus on the consequences of interactions between people (the agents) in a population.Researchers are better able to understand this type of modeling by modeling these dynamics on a smaller, more localized level.Essentially, ABM helps to better understand interactions between people (agents) who, in turn, influence one another (in response to these influences).Simple individual rules or actions can result in coherent group behavior.Changes in these individual acts can affect the collective group in any given population.Agent-based modeling is simply just an experimental tool for theoretical research.It enables one to deal with more complex individual behaviors, such as adaptation.Overall, through this type of modeling, the creator, or researcher, aims to model behavior of agents and the communication between them in order to better understand how these individual interactions impact an entire population.In essence, ABM is a way of modeling and understanding different global patterns. Current ResearchThere are two current research projects that relate directly to modeling and agent-based simulation the following are listed below with a brief overview.• Agent based simulations of Market and Consumer Behavior, is another research group that is funded by the Unilever Corporate Research.The current research that is being conducted is investigating the usefulness of agent based simulations for modeling consumer behavior and to show the potential value and insights it can add to longestablished marketing methods.• Agent based modeling is most useful in providing a bridge between micro and macro levels, which is part of what sociology studies.Agent based models are most appropriate for studying processes that lack central coordination, including the emergence of institutions that, once established, impose order from the top down.The models focus on how simple and predictable local interactions generate familiar but highly detailed global patterns, such as emergence of norms and participation of collective action.(Macy & Willer, 2002) researched a recent survey of applications and found that there were two main problems with agent based modeling the selforganization of social structure and the emergence of social order.Below is a brief description of each problem Macy and Willer believe there to be; 1. "Emergent structure.In these models, agents change location or behavior in response to social influences or selection pressures.Agents may start out undifferentiated and then change location or behavior so as to avoid becoming different or isolated (or in some cases, overcrowded).Rather than producing homogeneity, however, these conformist decisions aggregate to produce global patterns of cultural differentiation, stratification, and hemophilic clustering in local networks.Other studies reverse the process, starting with a heterogeneous population and ending in convergence: the coordination, diffusion, and sudden collapse of norms, conventions, innovations, and technological standards."2. "Emergent social order.These studies show how egoistic adaptation can lead to successful collective action without either altruism or global (top down) imposition of control.A key finding across numerous studies is that the viability of trust, cooperation, and collective action depends decisively on the embeddedness of interaction."www.intechopen.