Agent-based models as scientific methodology: A case study analysing the DomWorld theory of primate social structure and female dominance

A scientific methodology must provide two things: first a means of explanation, and second, a mechanism for improving that explanation. It is also advantageous if a methodology facilitates communication between scientists. Agent-based modelling (ABM) is a method for exploring the collective effects of individual action selection. The explanatory force of the model is the extent to which an observed meta-level phenomena can be accounted for by the behaviour of its micro-level actors. But to demonstrate ABM is truly a scientific method, we must demonstrate that the theory it embodies can be verified, falsified, extended and corrected. This chapter contains a case study demonstrating ABM as biological science. We show that agent-based models like any scientific hypotheses can be tested, critiqued, generalised or specified. After first reviewing the state of the art for ABM as a methodology, we present our case: an analysis of Hemelrijk’s DomWorld, a widely-published model of primate social behaviour. Our analysis shows some significant discrepancies between the model and the behaviour of the genus we compare it to, the macaques. We then demonstrate that the explanation embodied in the DomWorld model is not fragile: its other results are still valid and can be extended to compensate for the problems identified. This robustness is a significant advantage of experiment-based artificial intelligence modelling techniques over purely analytic modelling.