Registered: Aug 2003
Posts: 712

Dynamical Minimalism: Why Less is More in Psychology

Andrzej Nowak

Personality and Social Psychology Review,
2004, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 183-192

Abstract:

The principle of parsimony, embraced in all areas of science, states that simple explanations are preferable to complex explanations in theory construction. Parsimony, however can necessitate a trade-off with depth and richness in understanding. The approach of dynamical minimalism avoids this trade-off. The goal of this approach is to identify the simplest mechanisms and fewest variables capable of producing the phenomenon in question. A dynamical model in which change is produced by simple rules repetitively interacting with each other can exhibit unexpected and complex properties. It is thus possible to explain complex psychological and social phenomena with very simple models if these models are dynamic. In dynamical minimalist theories, then, the principle of parsimony can be followed without sacrificing depth in understanding. Computer simulations have proven especially useful for investigating the emergent properties of simple models.

--- I found this a sound overview of NKS like modeling methods in the social sciences. I'm not familiar with the writer's own empirical work so I can't vouch for that, but on the method level I agreed with most of what he had to say. I thought some here might be interested. The author's homepage is here -

http://an.spik.swps.edu.pl/index.html

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