Utility of the Agent-Based Model in Social Psychological Research :

On the Adaptive Perspective and Evolutionary Computer Simulations

Abstract

     Agent-based models in social psychology have been developed to study interpersonal/ group phenomena including social influence processes and social exchanges. These previous models have successfully delineated social mechanisms whereby group polarization and segregation emerge, and also identified scope conditions where altruistic behaviors become rational in groups. After discussing these developments, this paper reviewed some of the recent research, using agent-based models, on evolvability of social learning strategies under uncertainty, and adaptive values of the majority rule in group decision-making. We argue that agent-based evolutionary computer simulations help us derive theoretical hypotheses about various social psychological phenomena systematically, and promote the interaction among different disciplines such as biology and economics.