HUMAT: An Integrated Framework for Modelling Individual Motivations, Social Exchange and Network Dynamics

In this paper we present HUMAT, an integrated modelling framework that supports the simulation of social dynamics. HUMAT integrates theoretical ideas about human motives, cognitive dissonance, individual and social decision strategies, and the processes of influence that take place in networked communities. As such, HUMAT provides a generic model that can be implemented in a wide variety of cases dealing with opinion and behaviour dynamics in a social context, be it the adoption of a physical innovation or the promotion of an attitude in an online platform. The multi-theoretical background of HUMAT also provides a perspective on what types of qualitative and quantitative data can be used to parameterise real cases. This paper aims to provide an overview of the different processes that are modelled in HUMAT. Three applications are used to illustrate how HUMAT can be used to simulate and study social dynamics. The validation of the HUMAT framework is discussed in the context of dynamic theory of social complexity.