A preliminary model of participation for small groups

Abstract

We present a small-group model that moderates agent behavior using several factors to illustrate the influence of social reflexivity on individual behavior. To motivate this work, we review a validated simulation of the Battle of Medenine. Individuals in the battle performed with greater variance than the simulation predicted, suggesting that individual differences are important. Using a light-weight simulation, we implement one means of representing these differences inspired in part by Grossman's (On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society. Little, Brown and Company, New York, 1995) participation formula. This work contributes to a general theory of social reflexivity by offering a theory of participation as a social phenomenon, independent of explicit agent knowledge. We demonstrate that our preliminary version of the participation model generates individual differences that in turn have a meaningful impact on group performance. Specifically, our results suggest that a group member's location with respect to other group members and observers can be an important exogenous source of individual differences.

Interactive Team Cognition

“…Recent social modeling efforts have focused on the rich context of other teammates in interactions and the mutual effects of teammates on one another, or social reflexivity (Morgan et al., 2010). According to Morgan et al., participation (vs. hesitation) is a social phenomenon that can be modeled “independent of explicit agent knowledge” (Morgan et al., 2010, p. 246). In this case, the computational cognitive model is able to display emergent group behavior through its focus on reflexivity of individual teammates.…”

“…Similar to the heated oil, pattern formation at the team level is not “encoded” in the team members but is both driven by and drives team member interaction. This reciprocal cause and effect was termed reflexivity by Simon (1954), and in social systems, it is referred to as social reflexivity (Morgan, Morgan, & Ritter, 2010). Emergence does not imply that team cognition is an epiphenomenon, however.…”

Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems

“…There are several situational factors that affect how users interact socially with others. Table 8.1 notes several factors that influence team performance based on a review of modeling teamwork (Morgan et al 2010). The importance of each of the factors will depend on the task itself, and the context in which it is performed.…”

Analyzing Intelligence on WMD Attacks Using Threaded Event-Based Simulation

“…In this paradigm, agent interactions are characterized in different ways: as forms of information diffusion [4]; as mechanisms that leverage social influence [11]; as trades, contracts or negotiations [2]; and as the consequences of some activity or strategy [3]. Agent-based approaches also offer a powerful means for representing agent-level capabilities using constraints such as geospatial effects [13], psychological limitations [18] and socio-cognitive effects [14].…”