Computational Social Psychology

There is a growing interest in the dynamics of the formation, maintenance, and transformation of culture in different areas of inquiry (e.g., anthropology, biology, computer science, physics, sociology) and policy relevant arenas (e.g., sustainability, intergroup conflict).Despite its traditional interest, a social psychology of cultural dynamics is yet to realize its potential.Included in its methodological toolbox are formal analytical and agentbased models of the movements of culture.In this chapter, we give a broad overview of the emerging field of computational approaches to cultural dynamics and provide a selective review of two of the most prominent research traditions: Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination and the evolution of cooperation in human populations.We conclude with a discussion of the promises and challenges of modelling cultural dynamics.human culture.Culture enables human sociality; human sociality constitutes culture.Given their interdependency, culture must be an integral part of human social psychology.Computational modelling -especially agent-based modelling (e.g., Railsback & Grimm, 2012) -is a useful methodological tool in research on cultural dynamics for the development of a coherent theory, derivation of testable hypotheses, understanding of the past and present, as well as forecasting of future possibilities.Because of the number and heterogeneity of actors, the complexity of social interactions, and different timescales involved (social interaction in situ may change in a short timespan, but institutions remain stable over a longer period of time), some formal representations (e.g., difference and differential equations) are often useful in theorizing and describing cultural dynamics.However, these very characteristics often make the type of formal analytical methods necessary for the modeling of cultural dynamics outside the training of social psychologists, and difficult, if not impossible, to use (e.g., A. Nowak & Vallacher, 1998).Agent-based modelling approaches, however, enable social psychologists to explicate their assumptions about culture, construct explicit models of cultural dynamics, and explore their implications in a principled fashion.This chapter is designed to provide a broad and selective introduction to diverse literatures on computational approaches to cultural dynamics. Culture and its DynamicsCulture is an essentially contested concept -depending on one's theoretical perspective, it can be defined in a multitude of ways.In the current approach, we define culture as a set of non-genetically transmissible information that is commonly available, accessible, and applicable in a human group.Cultural information typically takes the form of ideas (e.g., liberty, equality, and fraternity) or practices (e.g., how to deliberate, vote, and