Agent-Based Models of Polarization and Ethnocentrism

Gain an effective toolkit for building, running and analyzing agent based modes of social interaction.

Michael Laver (Author)

9781108796408, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 April 2020

75 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 0.7 cm, 0.16 kg

Building on the Cambridge Element Agent Based Models of Social Life: Fundamentals (Cambridge, 2020), we move on to the next level. We do this by building agent based models of polarization and ethnocentrism. In the process, we develop: stochastic models, which add a crucial element of uncertainty to human interaction; models of human interactions structured by social networks; and 'evolutionary' models in which agents using more effective decision rules are more likely to survive and prosper than others. The aim is to leave readers with an effective toolkit for building, running and analyzing agent based modes of social interaction.

1. Introduction
2. Evolution of polarized public opinion
3. Evolution of public opinion on a network
4. Evolution of public opinion with cross-cutting cleavages
5. Ethnocentrism.

Subject Areas: Social research & statistics [JHBC], Society & social sciences [J], Coding theory & cryptology [GPJ]