Agent zero : toward neurocognitive foundations for generative social science /

Agent zero : toward neurocognitive foundations for generative social science /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Epstein, Joshua M., 1951- author.
Imprint:Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2013]
Description:xvi, 249 pages ; 25 cm.
Language:English
Series:Princeton studies in complexity
Princeton studies in complexity.
Subject:
Social sciences -- Computer simulation.
Social sciences -- Mathematical models.
Social sciences -- Computer simulation.
Social sciences -- Mathematical models.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/9956813
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780691158884 (hardback)
0691158886 (hardback)
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:"The Final Volume of the Groundbreaking Trilogy on Agent-Based ModelingIn this pioneering synthesis, Joshua Epstein introduces a new theoretical entity: Agent Zero. This software individual, or "agent," is endowed with distinct emotional/affective, cognitive/deliberative, and social modules. Grounded in contemporary neuroscience, these internal components interact to generate observed, often far-from-rational, individual behavior. When multiple agents of this new type move and interact spatially, they collectively generate an astonishing range of dynamics spanning the fields of social conflict, psychology, public health, law, network science, and economics.Epstein weaves a computational tapestry with threads from Plato, Hume, Darwin, Pavlov, Smith, Tolstoy, Marx, James, and Dostoevsky, among others. This transformative synthesis of social philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, and agent-based modeling will fascinate scholars and students of every stripe. Epstein's computer programs are provided in the book or on its Princeton University Press website, along with movies of his "computational parables." Agent Zero is a signal departure in what it includes (e.g., a new synthesis of neurally grounded internal modules), what it eschews (e.g., standard behavioral imitation), the phenomena it generates (from genocide to financial panic), and the modeling arsenal it offers the scientific community. For generative social science, Agent Zero presents a groundbreaking vision and the tools to realize it"--
Table of Contents:
  • Foreword
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Motivation
  • Generate Social Dynamics
  • A Core Target
  • The Model Components
  • Model Overview
  • Skeletal Equation
  • Specific Components
  • Organization
  • Part I. Mathematical Model
  • Part II. Agent-Based Model
  • Part III. Extensions
  • Replicability and Research Resources on the Princeton University Press Website
  • Part IV. Future Research and Conclusions
  • Part I. Mathematical Model
  • I.1. The Passions: Fear Conditioning
  • Fear Circuitry and the Perils of Fitness
  • Nomenclature of Conditioning
  • The Rescorla-Wagner Model
  • Social Examples
  • Fear Extinction
  • I.2. Reason: The Cognitive Component
  • I.3. The Social Component
  • Simple Version of the Core Target
  • Examples of Fear Contagion
  • Mechanisms of Fear Contagion
  • Conformist Empirical Estimates
  • Generalizing Rescorla-Wagner
  • The Central Case
  • Tolstoy: The First Agent Modeler
  • A Mathematical Aside on Social Norms as Vector Fields
  • Extinction of Majorities
  • I.4. Interim Conclusions
  • Part II. Agent-Based Computational Model
  • Affective Component
  • "Rational" Component
  • Social Component
  • Action
  • Pseudocode
  • II.1. Computational Parables
  • Parable 1: The Slaughter of Innocents through Dispositional Contagion
  • Parable 2: Agent_Zero Initiates: Leadership as Susceptibility to Dispositional Contagion
  • Run 3. Information Cuts Both Ways
  • Run 4. A Day in the Life of Agent_Zero: How Affect and Probability Can Change on Different Time Scales
  • Run 5. Lesion Studies
  • Part III. Extensions
  • III.1. Endogenous Destructive Radius
  • III.2. Age and Impulse Control
  • III.3. Fight vs. Flight
  • Case 1: Fight
  • Case 2: Flight
  • Capital Flight
  • III.4. Replicating the LatanĂ©-Darley Experiment
  • Threshold Imputation
  • The Dialogue
  • III.5. Memory
  • III.6. Couplings: Entanglement of Passion and Reason
  • Mathematical Treatment
  • III.7. Endogenous Dynamics of Connection Strength
  • Affective Homophily
  • General Setup
  • Agent-Based Model: Nonequlibrium Dynamics
  • III.8. Growing the 2011 Arab Spring
  • III.9. Jury Processes
  • Phase 1. Public Phase
  • Phase 2. Courtroom Trial Phase
  • Phase 3. Jury Phase
  • III.10. Emergent Dynamics of Network Structure
  • Network Structure Dynamics as a PoincarĂ© Map
  • Relation to Literature
  • III.11. Multiple Social Levels
  • Agent_Zero as Witness to History
  • III.12. The 18th Brumaire of Agent_Zero
  • III.13. Introduction of Prices and Seasonal Economic Cycles
  • Prices
  • A Christmas Story
  • III.14. Spirals of Mutual Escalation
  • Part IV. Future Research and Conclusion
  • IV.1. Future Research
  • IV.2. Conclusion
  • Civil Violence
  • Economics
  • Health Behavior
  • Psychology
  • Jury Dynamics
  • The Formation and Dynamics of Networks
  • Mutual Escalation Dynamics
  • Birth and Intergenerational Transmission
  • IV.3. Toward New Generative Foundations
  • Appendix I. Threshold Imputation Bounds
  • Appendix II. Mathematica Code
  • Appendix III. Agent_Zero NetLogo Source Code
  • Appendix IV. Parameter Settings for Model Runs
  • References
  • Index
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