We present an agent-based model for studying the societal implications of attitude change theories. Various psychological theories of persuasive communication at the individual level are implemented as simulation experiments. The model allows us to investigate the effects of contagion and assimilation, motivated cognition, polarity, source credibility, and idiosyncratic attitude formation. Simulations show that different theories produce different characteristic macrolevel patterns. Contagion and assimilation are central mechanisms for generating consensus, however, contagion generates a radicalized consensus. Motivated cognition causes societal polarization or the fragmentation of attitudes. Polarity and source credibility have comparatively little effect on the societal distribution of attitudes. We discuss how the simulations provide a bridge between microlevel psychological theories and the aggregated macrolevel studied by sociology. This approach enables new types of evidence for evaluating psychological theory to complement experimental approaches, thus answering calls to enhance the role of coherent and formalized theory in psychological science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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个人态度变化和社会动态：心理学理论的计算实验。

我们提出了一个基于代理的模型来研究态度改变理论的社会影响。在个人层面上的说服性沟通的各种心理学理论被实施为模拟实验。该模型使我们能够研究传染和同化、动机认知、极性、来源可信度和特殊态度形成的影响。模拟表明，不同的理论产生了不同的特征宏观模式。传染和同化是产生共识的核心机制，然而，传染会产生激进的共识。动机性认知导致社会两极分化或态度分裂。极性和来源可信度对态度的社会分布影响相对较小。我们讨论模拟如何在微观心理学理论和社会学研究的宏观宏观层面之间架起一座桥梁。这种方法使评估心理学理论的新型证据能够补充实验方法，从而响应增强连贯和形式化理论在心理科学中的作用的呼吁。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2021 APA，保留所有权利）。