75. Paul Smaldino: Modeling Social Behavior, the value of false models, and research beyond traditional disciplines

Oct 6, 2023

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Paul Smaldino is an Associate Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences at UC Merced, where he studies the evolution of behavior in response to social, cultural, and ecological pressures. In this conversation, we talk about his new book Modeling Social Behavior, everything related to formal models of social behaviour, and Paul's path to where he is today.

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Timestamps
0:00:00: Paul's new book 'Modeling Social Behavior'
0:04:42: Paul's somewhat circuitous route to doing what he does today
0:25:54: Why so interdisciplinary?
0:36:58: The importance of (metaphorical) violence in modeling
0:46:26: Newton's model of gravitation ignores almost everything
0:52:11: Exact vs inexact sciences
1:00:02: From simple to complex models of cooperation, and the complementarity of simulations and equations
1:11:48: When is formal modeling appropriate and when is it too soon?
1:27:47: A book or paper Paul thinks more people should read
1:32:46: What Paul wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:36:20: Any advice for PhD students or postdocs?

Podcast links

Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Paul's links

Website: https://geni.us/smaldino-web
Google Scholar: https://geni.us/smaldino-scholar
Twitter: https://geni.us/smaldino-twt

Ben's links

Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References

Previous episode with Paul: https://geni.us/bjks-smaldino

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Smaldino (2023). Modeling social behavior: Mathematical and agent-based models of social dynamics and cultural evolution. Princeton University Press.
Smaldino (2017). Models are stupid, and we need more of them. Computational social psychology.
Smaldino, Pickett, Sherman & Schank (2012). An agent-based model of social identity dynamics. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation.
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