Agent decision-making: the elephant in the room: enabling the justification of decision model fit in social-environmental models

Wijermans, N., Scholz, G., Chappin, E., Heppenstall, A. , Filatova, T., Polhill, J. G., Semeniuk, C. and Stöppler, F. (2023) Agent decision-making: the elephant in the room: enabling the justification of decision model fit in social-environmental models. Environmental Modelling and Software, 170, 105850. (doi: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105850)

Abstract

Agent-based models are particularly suitable to reflect the dynamics of humans, nature, and their interactions, making them a crucial approach for understanding social-ecological systems. The formalisations of human decision-making are central to resulting model behaviours. Despite awareness of the complexity of human behaviour in social-ecological systems research, scholars tend to represent human decision-makers as simplified, perfectly informed rational optimisers, without explicitly considering the fit with decision context. Key reasons are a lacking uptake of social theories and insights. To advance, we need a practice of reflecting, sharing, and inquiring on the justification of the decision model fit with its context. This paper stimulates this practice by 1) supporting the justification of decision model (DM) fit by describing the DM landscape and providing guiding questions; and 2) by supporting researchers in considering alternative DMs through a survey-based impression of modeller practices, and through highlighting DM frontiers as inspiration for future research.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Wijermans was supported by the Swedish Research Council Formas [ 2018-00401]. Heppenstall was made possible by ESRC’s on-going support for the Urban Big Data Centre [ES/L011921/1 and ES/S007105/1] and grants from UKPRP [MR/S037578/2], Medical Research Council [MC\_UU\_00022/5] and Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office [SPHSU20]. Polhill was was supported by the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division [ JHI-C5-1].
• Keywords: Agent-based social simulation, decision-making, formalisation, behaviour, social-ecological systems, frameworks.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Heppenstall, Professor Alison
• Authors: Wijermans, N., Scholz, G., Chappin, E., Heppenstall, A., Filatova, T., Polhill, J. G., Semeniuk, C., and Stöppler, F.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Environmental Modelling and Software
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1364-8152
• ISSN (Online): 1873-6726
• Published Online: 10 October 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Environmental Modelling and Software 170: 105850
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
190698		Urban Big Data Research Centre	Nick Bailey	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/L011921/1	S&PS - Urban Big Data
304042		UBDC Centre Transition	Nick Bailey	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/S007105/1	S&PS - Administration
313944		System-science Informed Public Health and Economic Research for non-communicable Disease Prevention (the SIPHER consortium)	Petra Meier	Medical Research Council (MRC)	MR/S037578/2	SHW - MRC/CSO Social & Public Health Sciences Unit
304823	1	Systems science research in public health	Petra Meier	Medical Research Council (MRC)	MC_UU_00022/5	HW - MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit
304823	1	Systems science research in public health	Petra Meier	Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSO)	SPHSU20	HW - MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit