Cooperative Agents

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Nicole J. Saam, Bernd Schmidt

      Pages 1-4

3. Designing co-operative agents

   1. What are Agents and What are They for?

      • Bernd Schmidt

      Pages 5-20

   2. Agent Models of Software Technology

      • Erika Horn

      Pages 21-37

   3. Social Norms for Co-Operative Agents

      • Nicole J. Saam

      Pages 39-56

4. Agent-based social simulation

   1. Can Agent-Based Modelling Really be Useful?

      • Jim E. Doran

      Pages 57-81

   2. Fraud, Exchange and Co-Operation

      • Rita Cecchi, Rosaria Conte, Cristiano Castelfranchi

      Pages 83-107

   3. Hunting the Unicorn

      • Nigel Gilbert, Edmund Chattoe

      Pages 109-124

   4. Social Influence among Agents

      • Hans-Joachim Mosler, Wernher Brucks

      Pages 125-147

5. Hybrid forms of interaction between humans and artificial agents

   1. Enrolling Software Agents in Human Organisations

      • Ingo Schulz-Schaeffer

      Pages 149-163

   2. Hybrid Learning Communities in Agent-Based Intelligent Distributed Learning Environments

      • Andreas Harrer

      Pages 165-182

   3. Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation for Hospital Management

      • Rainer Sibbel, Christoph Urban

      Pages 183-202

6. Back Matter

   Pages 203-216

   PDF

Agent-based modelling on a computer appears to have a special role to play in the development of social science. It offers a means of discovering general and applicable social theory, and grounding it in precise assumptions and derivations, whilst addressing those elements of individual cognition that are central to human society. However, there are important questions to be asked and difficulties to overcome in achieving this potential. What differentiates agent-based modelling from traditional computer modelling? Which model types should be used under which circumstances? If it is appropriate to use a complex model, how can it be validated? Is social simulation research to adopt a realist epistemology, or can it operate within a social constructionist framework? What are the sociological concepts of norms and norm processing that could either be used for planned implementation or for identifying equivalents of social norms among co-operative agents? Can sustainability be achieved more easily in a hierarchical agent society than in a society of isolated agents? What examples are there of hybrid forms of interaction between humans and artificial agents? These are some of the sociological questions that are addressed.

• Agent-Based Modeling
• Norm
• environment
• learning
• model
• modeling
• simulation
• software agent

• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

  Nicole J. Saam

• Universität Passau, Germany

  Bernd Schmidt

Policies and ethics