Towards realistic computational models of social influence dynamics – ToRealSim

Recently, many societies shifted towards more polarization and volatility in opinions, for example in attitudes about immigration or climate policy, but underlying reasons are poorly understood. A key obstacle is that opinion dynamics in society involve a complex micro-macro interaction between fundamental interpersonal processes of social influence, meso-level conditions like network structures, and macro-level outcomes, like polarization in opinion distributions. Agent-based simulation models (ABM) offer powerful tools to bridge theoretically micro-level processes and macro-level dynamics. However, ABM of social influence hitherto fails to inform empirical research and policy. Two major roadblocks are 1) a lack of theoretical integration of the large variety of models and 2) a lack of empirical tests of model assumptions and predictions. ToRealSim is a unique effort by a consortium of leading experts in ABM and empirical research to overcome both roadblocks. Combining expertise on prominent modelling approaches, we develop a framework to systematically compare models and their predictions. Drawing on this, a mixed-method approach will link models to empirical evidence, utilizing our expertise on qualitative research, experiments, social network analysis and survey research. We test models empirically, both in terms of micro-level assumptions and macro-level predictions, proposing a new generation of social influence models that synthesizes insights from ToRealSim.