We extend the Flache-Mäs model to incorporate the location and dyadic communication regime of the agents in the opinion formation process. We make spatially proximate agents more likely to interact with each other in a pairwise communication regime.

The purpose of this model is to illustrate the use of agent-based computational modelling in the study of the emergence of reputation and status beliefs in a population.

This model makes it possible to explore how network clustering and resistance to changing existing status beliefs might affect the spontaneous emergence and diffusion of such beliefs as described by status construction theory.

Schelling and Sakoda prominently proposed computational models suggesting that strong ethnic residential segregation can be the unintended outcome of a self-reinforcing dynamic driven by choices of individuals with rather tolerant ethnic preferences. There are only few attempts to apply this view to school choice, another important arena in which ethnic segregation occurs. In the current paper, we explore with an agent-based theoretical model similar to those proposed for residential segregation, how ethnic tolerance among parents can affect the level of school segregation. More specifically, we ask whether and under which conditions school segregation could be reduced if more parents hold tolerant ethnic preferences. We move beyond earlier models of school segregation in three ways. First, we model individual school choices using a random utility discrete choice approach. Second, we vary the pattern of ethnic segregation in the residential context of school choices systematically, comparing residential maps in which segregation is unrelated to parents’ level of tolerance to residential maps reflecting their ethnic preferences. Third, we introduce heterogeneity in tolerance levels among parents belonging to the same group. Our simulation experiments suggest that ethnic school segregation can be a very robust phenomenon, occurring even when about half of the population prefers mixed to segregated schools. However, we also identify a “sweet spot” in the parameter space in which a larger proportion of tolerant parents makes the biggest difference. This is the case when parents have moderate preferences for nearby schools and there is only little residential segregation. Further experiments are presented that unravel the underlying mechanisms.

Diversity has become a defining feature of most Western societies, where boundaries of membership extend beyond ethnicity to encompass multiple intersecting categories, increasing the complexity of social integration. The aim of this model is to adapt the classical Schelling model of spatial segregation to this context and to identify mechanisms that may generate the hybrid segregation patterns where individuals are segregated from out-groups along one dimension while remaining integrated along others.

We extend the Schelling model using a discrete choice framework that incorporates dominant and secondary preferences among agents from two ethnic groups. Liberal agents prioritize cross-ethnic shared values over ethnicity, whereas conservative agents prioritize ethnic membership over shared values, although both retain some preference for the secondary dimension. The model is designed to explore how heterogeneous preferences and intersecting group memberships interact under different group compositions and initial distributions.

The model presented here is extensively described in the paper ‘Talk less to strangers: How homophily can improve collective decision-making in diverse teams’ (forthcoming at JASSS). A full replication package reproducing all results presented in the paper is accessible at https://osf.io/76hfm/.

Narrative documentation includes a detailed description of the model, including a schematic figure and an extensive representation of the model in pseudocode.

The model develops a formal representation of a diverse work team facing a decision problem as implemented in the experimental setup of the hidden-profile paradigm. We implement a setup where a group seeks to identify the best out of a set of possible decision options. Individuals are equipped with different pieces of information that need to be combined to identify the best option. To this end, we assume a team of N agents. Each agent belongs to one of M groups where each group consists of agents who share a common identity.
The virtual teams in our model face a decision problem, in that the best option out of a set of J discrete options needs to be identified. Every team member forms her own belief about which decision option is best but is open to influence by other team members. Influence is implemented as a sequence of communication events. Agents choose an interaction partner according to homophily h and take turns in sharing an argument with an interaction partner. Every time an argument is emitted, the recipient updates her beliefs and tells her team what option she currently believes to be best. This influence process continues until all agents prefer the same option. This option is the team’s decision.

This model represents individuals from two different groups interacting and sharing attitudes toward both groups. Through these interactions, individuals adjust their attitudes, which can lead to different outcomes in opinion dynamics. The model can study both intra-group and inter-group opinion dynamics. Under certain conditions, agents with initially moderate attitudes might enter a negative spiral, leading to increasingly extreme intergroup attitudes. Alternatively, these moderate attitudes can foster consensus between groups, resulting in agreement on intergroup attitudes. This model serves as a tool for exploring opinion polarization, particularly in contexts where attitudes evolve through interaction rather than remaining static.

By adjusting different parameters, one can examine the effects of variations in attitude distributions; group size and relative group size; contributions of xenophobia, opinion distance, and individual attitudes towards the outgroup; as well as ratio between xenophobia and attitudinal bias to the overall intergroup bias.

The model accompanies the paper When contact backfires, and when it does not: A computational model of the opinion dynamics of intergroup attitudes.

Agent-based model of hunting behavior of Ache hunter-gatherers from Paraguay. We evaluate the effect of group size and cooperative hunting

I model a forest and a community of loggers. Agents follow different kinds of rules in order to log. I compare the impact of endogenous and of exogenous institutions on the state of the forest and on the profit of the users, representing different scenarios of participatory conservation projects.

This spatially explicit agent-based model addresses how effective foraging radius (r_e) affects the effective size–and thus the equilibrium cultural diversity–of a structured population composed of central-place foraging groups.