Abstract for: Psychology Special Interest Group (SIG) Poster Presentation, Roundtable and Annual Meeting

The Psychology SIG cordially invites you to its annual business meeting and round table, faciliated by Co-Chairs David Lounsbury and Ralph Levine. The business meeting will focus on member updates and on nominating new SIG leadership. The round table will discuss epistemological issues of including psychological, or ‘soft’ variables, in formulating, simulating, and validating system dynamics (SD) models. Specifically, we will present examples of how qualitative as well as quantitative data can be used to identify patterns of change and interdependent relationships among variables (feedback), and to capture complex behavior modes, including the effect of discrete events. We will also describe how qualitative methods can be used to elicit estimates of key model parameters initial values of the state variables, as well as how cross sectional data to specify table functions that involve non-linear dynamics. Finally, we will present issues concerning model validation and how it is often equated with conducting a statistical analysis of how well the model ‘fits’ the original, empirical data. Quantitative and qualitative approaches for assessing model output quality and managing output discrepencies will be discussed. Participants are encouraged to share information about their work and to bring questions for group discussion.