Computational Model Library

Displaying 10 of 32 results success clear search

This model aims to investigate how different type of learning (social system) and disturbance specific attributes (ecological system) influence adoption of treatment strategies to treat the effects of ecological disturbances.

The largely dominant meritocratic paradigm of highly competitive Western cultures is rooted on the belief that success is due mainly, if not exclusively, to personal qualities such as talent, intelligence, skills, smartness, efforts, willfulness, hard work or risk taking. Sometimes, we are willing to admit that a certain degree of luck could also play a role in achieving significant material success. But, as a matter of fact, it is rather common to underestimate the importance of external forces in individual successful stories. It is very well known that intelligence (or, more in general, talent and personal qualities) exhibits a Gaussian distribution among the population, whereas the distribution of wealth - often considered a proxy of success - follows typically a power law (Pareto law), with a large majority of poor people and a very small number of billionaires. Such a discrepancy between a Normal distribution of inputs, with a typical scale (the average talent or intelligence), and the scale invariant distribution of outputs, suggests that some hidden ingredient is at work behind the scenes. In a recent paper, with the help of this very simple agent-based model realized with NetLogo, we suggest that such an ingredient is just randomness. In particular, we show that, if it is true that some degree of talent is necessary to be successful in life, almost never the most talented people reach the highest peaks of success, being overtaken by mediocre but sensibly luckier individuals. As to our knowledge, this counterintuitive result - although implicitly suggested between the lines in a vast literature - is quantified here for the first time. It sheds new light on the effectiveness of assessing merit on the basis of the reached level of success and underlines the risks of distributing excessive honors or resources to people who, at the end of the day, could have been simply luckier than others. With the help of this model, several policy hypotheses are also addressed and compared to show the most efficient strategies for public funding of research in order to improve meritocracy, diversity and innovation.

Spatial model of the noisy Prisoner's Dilemma with reward shift

Matus Halas | Published Thursday, March 05, 2015 | Last modified Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Interactions of players embedded in a closed square lattice are determined by distance and overall gains and they lead to shifts of reward payoff between temptation and punishment. A new winner balancing against threats is ultimately discovered.

WaterScape

Erin Bohensky | Published Monday, February 06, 2012 | Last modified Saturday, April 27, 2013

The WaterScape is an agent-based model of the South African water sector. This version of the model focuses on potential barriers to learning in water management that arise from interactions between human perceptions and social-ecological system conditions.

Variations on the Ethnocentrism Model of Hammond and Axelrod

Fredrik Jansson | Published Saturday, November 10, 2012 | Last modified Saturday, April 27, 2013

Agents co-operate or defect towards other agents in a prisoner’s dilemma, with strategy choice depending on whether agents share tags or are kin in different social structures.

Will it spread or not? The effects of social influences and network topology on innovation diffusion

Sebastiano Delre | Published Monday, October 24, 2011 | Last modified Saturday, April 27, 2013

This models simulates innovation diffusion curves and it tests the effects of the degree and the direction of social influences. This model replicates, extends and departs from classical percolation models.

The role of spatial foresight in models of hominin dispersal

Colin Wren | Published Monday, February 24, 2014 | Last modified Monday, July 14, 2014

The natural selection of foresight, an accuracy at assess the environment, under degrees of environmental heterogeneity. The model is designed to connect local scale mobility, from foraging, with the global scale phenomenon of population dispersal.

NetCommons

Francisco Miguel Quesada | Published Wednesday, May 18, 2011 | Last modified Saturday, April 27, 2013

NetCommons simulates a social dilemma process in case of step-level public goods. Is possible to generate (or load from DL format) any different networks, to change initial parameters, to replicate a number of experimental situations, and to obtain a event history database in CSV format with information about the context of each agents’ decision, the individual behavior and the aggregate outcomes.

Aspiration, Attainment and Success: An agent-based model of distance-based school allocation

James Millington | Published Friday, November 02, 2012 | Last modified Friday, July 03, 2015

The purpose of this model is to investigate mechanisms driving the geography of educational inequality and the consequences of these mechanisms for individuals with varying attributes and mobility.

Model to assess factors that influence local communities compliance with protected areas policies

Gustavo Andrade | Published Monday, November 21, 2011 | Last modified Saturday, April 27, 2013

We built a model using R,polr package, to assess 55 published case studies from developing countries to determine what factors influence the level of compliance of local communities with protected area regulations.

Displaying 10 of 32 results success clear search

This website uses cookies and Google Analytics to help us track user engagement and improve our site. If you'd like to know more information about what data we collect and why, please see our data privacy policy. If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies.
Accept