DHB Modeling Time, Space, and Behavior: Combining ABM & GIS to Create Typologies of Playgroup Dynamics in Preschool Children

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Self-organizing animal and human groups have increasingly become the focus of research by scientists interested in social dynamics. While a substantial amount of literature exists on the behavioral interaction patterns found in animal groups, there is not a comparable body of work in the social sciences. From hunter-gatherers to city-dwellers, structured gatherings of humans appear in all cultures. These groups range from married couples and co-workers to large crowds and neighborhoods, with each type having a distinct structure and history. What is not clear, however, is how individuals, each with unique attributes and preferences, contribute to the formation of these groups. Even less is known about how the socio-developmental processes observed in groups modify its constituents. Because of this complexity, this study brings together a multi-disciplinary team that integrates human development, computer simulation, biology, mathematics, and geography to study how fundamental social processes are critical to human development and life-course trajectory. To investigate the fundamental properties of sociality, this study will, for 3 years, observe and catalog how and where 3-5 year old children form groups and dyadic friendships. The study of young children is fortuitous for answering process-driven questions about group formation and group stability for several reasons: (1) This is the first time that many of the children are consistently exposed to a large number of peers -- the sizeable pool of eligibles can provide information about the selection process in the formation and evolution of groups; (2) Given the relative social inexperience of this age group, there should be basic and simple process components common to all social entities (e.g., exchange of communicative signals, role differentiation); and (3) There is long-term societal utility for studying children's abilities to form and maintain relationships with their peers -- this phenomena has been closely associated with academic and social competencies. At the end of three years of data collection, computer models from the behavioral and geo-spatial data will be constructed to inform scientists and policy makers about how these critical social processes emerge and evolve. Although the focus is on young children, the core of this endeavor is an attempt to understand and model the reciprocal evolutionary dynamics basic to understanding all social processes. As such, the research is informed by multiple scientific disciplines ranging from human development, anthropology, and sociology to computer science, physics, biology, and applied mathematics.