Some Validation Challenges and Ethical Issues Resulting
from Self-Referent Properties of Multi-Agent Simulation Models
Multi-agent simulation models enable us to sstudy complex
social and cognitive phenomena that include self-referent behavior.
Agents can learn not only to change their behavior, but also to modify
their learning strategies. In some cases, a model can readily be extended
to provide some insight into how the model and the insights it offers may
be received by our colleagues or by people who might be affected. In
other cases, the effects are subtle and difficult to foresee.
This capability results in a number of challenges for
validation. It is easy to generate experimental hypotheses that would
be difficult to validate because any sufficiently powerful experiment would
change the system of interest. For example, it would be extremely difficult
to validate a model describing the uses and limits of power in a specific
organization without creating confounding effects on the behavior of affected
individuals and organizational components.
Moreover, with such far-reaching methods, there are even
some cases where merely stating a research question may change the system
of interest. For example, simply voicing the hypothetical conjecture
that a particular executive could be trained to exercise hypnotic powers over
his peers would most likely change their behavior toward him before any research
began. Therefore, not only validation considerations, but also the
ethical issues of what research should be done, and within what limits, must
be addressed at a very early stage of proposed research.
An additional complication is that just conceiving certain
hypotheses may alter the researcher's behavior in ways that could affect others,
and possibly lead to harm to the researcher. Adherence to widely
accepted experimental protocols and attention to changes in one's close personal
relationships appear to be the most promising ways to mitigate these risks.
Douglas A. Samuelson
George Mason University
The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Studies
samuelsondoug@yahoo.com