Simulating Belief Propagation Within a Population Via Agent Based Modeling Using NetLogo

Abstract

An agent-based computer model was designed in NetLogo to study the communication of environmentally relevant scientific information in a heterogeneous society. The roles of uncertainty, expert interpretation, and intentional information selection in the maintenance of false beliefs even when the agent has a personal incentive to hold beliefs that correspond to exogenous reality were studied. The relative importance and power of these influences in the emergence of stable or complex dynamic networks of false belief systems were investigated. In addition, this work has implications for environmental policy and social activism.