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Main Authors: Malhotra, Vrinda, Li, Jiaman, Pisupati, Nandini
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.05185
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author Malhotra, Vrinda
Li, Jiaman
Pisupati, Nandini
author_facet Malhotra, Vrinda
Li, Jiaman
Pisupati, Nandini
contents We present AgentZero++, an agent-based model that integrates cognitive, emotional, and social mechanisms to simulate decentralized collective violence in spatially distributed systems. Building on Epstein's Agent\_Zero framework, we extend the original model with eight behavioral enhancements: age-based impulse control; memory-based risk estimation; affect-cognition coupling; endogenous destructive radius; fight-or-flight dynamics; affective homophily; retaliatory damage; and multi-agent coordination. These additions allow agents to adapt based on internal states, previous experiences, and social feedback, producing emergent dynamics such as protest asymmetries, escalation cycles, and localized retaliation. Implemented in Python using the Mesa ABM framework, AgentZero++ enables modular experimentation and visualization of how micro-level cognitive heterogeneity shapes macro-level conflict patterns. Our results highlight how small variations in memory, reactivity, and affective alignment can amplify or dampen unrest through feedback loops. By explicitly modeling emotional thresholds, identity-driven behavior, and adaptive networks, this work contributes a flexible and extensible platform for analyzing affective contagion and psychologically grounded collective action.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_05185
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle AgentZero++: Modeling Fear-Based Behavior
Malhotra, Vrinda
Li, Jiaman
Pisupati, Nandini
Multiagent Systems
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Computers and Society
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Social and Information Networks
We present AgentZero++, an agent-based model that integrates cognitive, emotional, and social mechanisms to simulate decentralized collective violence in spatially distributed systems. Building on Epstein's Agent\_Zero framework, we extend the original model with eight behavioral enhancements: age-based impulse control; memory-based risk estimation; affect-cognition coupling; endogenous destructive radius; fight-or-flight dynamics; affective homophily; retaliatory damage; and multi-agent coordination. These additions allow agents to adapt based on internal states, previous experiences, and social feedback, producing emergent dynamics such as protest asymmetries, escalation cycles, and localized retaliation. Implemented in Python using the Mesa ABM framework, AgentZero++ enables modular experimentation and visualization of how micro-level cognitive heterogeneity shapes macro-level conflict patterns. Our results highlight how small variations in memory, reactivity, and affective alignment can amplify or dampen unrest through feedback loops. By explicitly modeling emotional thresholds, identity-driven behavior, and adaptive networks, this work contributes a flexible and extensible platform for analyzing affective contagion and psychologically grounded collective action.
title AgentZero++: Modeling Fear-Based Behavior
topic Multiagent Systems
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Computers and Society
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.05185