Multiagent Systems as Simulation Tools for Social Theory Testing

As stated in ((25]) and ((12]) the eld of multiagent systems (MAS) (or distributed artiicial intelligence (DAI)) needs ideas from sociology in order to overcome some of the problems researchers are encountering. These problems are most of the time related to the limited (self)reeexivity the actors (agents) are equiped with and the limitations of the architecture of the individual agents. On the other hand, as stated in 12] and 3], simulation studies based on MAS can be used to test sociological theories in a way not possible in social reality. At the same time, the design of MAS should be based on cognitive and sociological theories about the architecture of individual agents as well as the relation between individual behavior and eeects on the level of the society that is formed by these individual agents. In 25] a hierachy of agent models based on both cognitive and sociological theories is introduced. In this article this framework will be further developed.