Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study
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The Krasnow Institute seeks to expand understanding of mind, brain, and intelligence by conducting research at the intersection of the separate fields of cognitive psychology, neurobiology, and the computer-driven study of artificial intelligence and complex adaptive systems. These separate disciplines increasingly overlap and promise progressively deeper insight into human thought processes. The Institute also examines how new insights from cognitive science research can be applied for human benefit in the areas of mental health, neurological disease, education, and computer design.
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Browsing Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study by Author "Cioffi-Revilla, Claudio"
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Item A Computational Theory of Endogenous Norm Change: The NormSim Agent-Based Model in MASON(2011-08-22) Rouleau, Mark D.; Rouleau, Mark D.; Cioffi-Revilla, ClaudioThe current study presents the NormSim Agent-Based Model in MASON. NormSim conducts a computational analysis of the International Relations theory of constructivism. NormSim explores the metastable dynamics of norms through the interactions of heterogeneous agents embedded within a complex social system. The goal is to explain how the social complexity of international relations generates metastability. The use of ABM and the MASON simulation toolkit make it possible to explore this process from a formal experimental perspective. This is advantageous for constructivist research that typically must rely on qualitative analysis alone to justify complex theoretical assumptions. NormSim demonstrates the use of ABM to test the logical consistency of constructivist claims. It also extends constructivist logic to better understand why international norms lead to complex conformity patterns and long run systemic change. NormSim provides a general computational theory to explain this phenomenon.Item A General Social Agent-Based Model of Opinion Dynamics with Applications to STEM Education and Radicalization(2016) Harrison, Joseph Francis; Harrison, Joseph Francis; Cioffi-Revilla, ClaudioMany aspects of our society are affected by how opinions change and ideology spreads (e.g., interest in STEM and political radicalization), but the underlying processes are not well understood. Previous attempts at modeling these phenomena have suffered from a lack of empirical data and/or insufficient grounding in social-psychological theory. Moreover, the field of opinion dynamics would benefit from a broader view of the discipline that captures the commonalities between different domains.Item An Agent Based Model of Community Authority Structure Resilience(2016) Mcfarlane, Hugh James; Mcfarlane, Hugh James; Cioffi-Revilla, ClaudioThis dissertation presents a theoretical model based on social exchange theory that explains the resilience and adaptation of authority structures in urban communities. Communities where non-state actors undermine or replace government institutions are a persistent public policy concern in many cities. The structure of instrumental relationships between authorities and residents in these communities is a key variable associated with a wide range of human security and governance challenges. Altering these structures is often necessary to enable other public policy goals. However, there is an absence of theoretical frameworks that address the dynamic characteristics of these structures. This hinders policy development by limiting insights into the effects of efforts to support or undermine particular groups or to alter social conditions on authority structures. The theory developed here describes authority structures as an emergent feature of a community-level complex adaptive social system. In this system, individual actors select relationship partners based on past experiences, preferences, environmental conditions, and information from other actors. Changes to structure are the result of changes to the set of actors in the system and how these actors value particular relationships. A comparative case study of three sub-Saharan African communities located in Nairobi, Cape Town, and Lagos and several additional experiments are performed using an agent-based model implementing this theory. The results demonstrate the practical application of the theory to public policy analysis and support the choice of social exchange theory as the basis for actor decision-making. More broadly, this effort extends existing theoretical and agent-based models of contentious polities and authority structures. It also demonstrates the utility of computational modeling in advancing the research programs in social exchange theory, political authority, and comparative urban politics.Item Computational Modeling of Climate Change, Large-Scale Land Acquisition, and Household Dynamics in Southern Ethiopia(2013-08) Hailegiorgis, Atesmachew Bizuwerk; Hailegiorgis, Atesmachew Bizuwerk; Cioffi-Revilla, ClaudioCOMPUTATIONAL MODELING OF CLIMATE CHANGE, LARGE-SCALE LAND ACQUISITION, AND HOUSEHOLD DYNAMICS IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIAItem Essays on the Drivers of Political and Ideological Extremism(2016) Alizadeh, Meysam; Alizadeh, Meysam; Cioffi-Revilla, ClaudioThe problem of interest in this dissertation is the phenomenon of drifting toward opinion extremes. The process is called Radicalization and has received a great deal of attention in social psychology and sociology from its inception. Although it is extremism of behavior that is of greatest interest, it is important to study opinion extremism since it has been shown to be a plausible preceding step of violent extremism. One of the longstanding quests in counter-radicalization studies is to know what drives extremists to adopt extreme ideologies. However, it is unlikely that extremists will volunteer for experimental studies.Item Implementing a Complex Social Simulation of the Violent Offending Process: The Promise of a Synthetic Offender(2016) Dover, Thomas J.; Dover, Thomas J.; Cioffi-Revilla, ClaudioThere are limitations to traditional methods of capturing the dynamics of violent interactions. These limitations are due to outcome driven approaches, data sampling issues, and inadequate means to capture, express, and explore the complexity of behavioral processes. To address these challenges, it is proposed that “violent offending” be re-framed as an emergent feature of a complex adaptive social system. This dissertation abstracts and computationally implements a theoretical framework that forms the basis of a complex social simulation of the violent offending process. The primary outcome of this effort is a viable synthetic offender that emerges from simulated interactions between potential offenders (subjects) and potential victims (targets) within an environment. The results of calibrating this model to a real-world murder series are discussed, as well as, the comparison metrics used to assess goodness-of-fit of simulated and real-world event-sites. A synthetic offender promises valuable insights into individual offending trajectories, offender tactical processes, and the emergence of geospatial and temporal behaviors. Furthermore, this approach is capable of reproducing the violent offending process with sufficient detail to contribute new scientific understanding and insights to criminology and the social sciences.