Conflicts or synergy when combining modeling approaches — Perspectives from psychology

Abstract

The simulation modeling community consists of several frameworks or approaches that have been developed at different times to handle different problems, and persist in a state of relatively limited interaction. Various forms of hybrid modeling, combining aspects of two or more modeling approaches, have been proposed and used, but these still represent a relatively small part of the world of simulation modeling. In this paper, we will draw on parallels between the current debate around discrete event simulation and agent-based modeling, and the historic conflict between two schools of psychology: behaviorism (human thought considered a "black box", focus restricted to observable behavior), and cognitive psychology (emphasis on conscious thought processes). Through a presentation of different perspectives on what happened in psychology, we will discuss views on the combination of different modeling approaches, and implications of similar perspectives on the future development of simulation modeling.