Exploring the Effects of Sanctions on Damaging Actions through Artificial Societies: A Simulation Model

• Autore: Nicola Lettieri, Domenico Parisi
• Pagine: 131-132

Exploring the Effects of Sanctions on Damaging Actions

through Artif‌icial Societies: A Simulation Model

NICO LA LET TIE RI, DO MENIC O PARIS I∗

SUMM ARY:1. Introduction – 2. The Target Phenomenon: Other-damaging Behaviours

– 3. Three Mechanisms for Containing Other-damaging Behaviours – 4. A Simple

Simulation Model of the State-level Mechanism for Containing Other-damaging Be-

haviours – 4.1. Simulation 1: Effects of Punishment – 4.2. Simulation 2: Subcommu-

nities – 5. Summary and discussion

1. INT RODU CTI ON

After the invention of electronic computers, the role played by compu-

tational techniques in social sciences (here def‌ined in a broad sense as the

complex of disciplines investigating human and social dynamics at all lev-

els of analysis, from individual cognition to international organizations) has

become more and more important. From the second half of the 20th cen-

tury, social scientists have progressively learned to exploit advanced instru-

ments of computation to gain a deeper understanding of the social world.

The emerging methodological paradigm of computational social science1,

a “f‌ledging interdisciplinary f‌ield at the intersection of the social sciences,

computational science, and complexity science”2, is gradually changing the

way in which social phenomena are investigated and managed. The set

of computational social science methods is wide and encompasses differ-

ents techniques: automated information extraction; social network analysis;

∗N. Lettieri, researcher at ISFOL, Rome, is adjunct professorof Legal informatics at the

University of Sannio, Benevento (Italy) and of Computationalsocial sciences at the Depar t-

ment of Computer science of the University of Salerno (Italy); D. Parisi is former director

of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy

(ISTC-CNR), Rome and associate researcher at the same Institute. The Authors would like

to thank Antonio Cervo, Rosario De Chiara and Federico Cecconi for their support in the

design of the NetLogo simulations.

1D. LAZE R et al.,Computational Social Science, in “Science”, Vol. 323, 2009, n. 5915, pp.

721-723.

2C. CIOF FI-RE VILL A,Computational Social Science, in “Wiley Interdisciplinary Re-

views: Computational Statistics”, Vol. 2, 2010, n. 3, pp. 259-271; see also ID., Scienza so-

ciale computazionale e scienza giuridica, in Faro S., Lettieri N., Tartaglia Polcini A. (a cura

di), “Diritto e tecnologie: verso le scienze sociali computazionali. Attualità e orizzonti

dell’Informatica giuridica”, Napoli, ESI, pp. 205-227.

“Informatica e diritto”, Vol. XXII, 2013, n. 1, pp. 131-154

XXXIX annata – Seconda Serie - Fasc. monografico S. Faro, N. Lettieri (a cura di), "Law and Computational Social Science", ESI, Napoli, 2013, 352 p.