AGENT HETEROGENEITY IN SOCIAL NETWORK FORMATION: AN AGENT-BASED APPROACH

In this study, the author intends to use the simulation method — agent-based modeling — to reassess the Barabasi-Albert model (BA model), the classical algorithm used to describe the emergent mechanism of scale-free network. The author argues that BA model as well as its variants rarely take agent heterogeneity into the analysis of network formation. In social networks, however, people’s decision to connect is strongly affected by the extent of similarity. The author proposes that in forming social networks, agents are constantly balancing between instrumental and intrinsic preferences. Based on agent-based modeling, the author finds that heterogeneous attachment helps explain the deviations from BA model, and points out a promising avenue for future studies of social networks.