Virtual experiments as a third cornerstone of social physics

Abstract

In the present paper we discuss the basic methodological aspects of studying social systems and attract attention to the fact that hybrid human-computer simulation referred to as "virtual experiments" should be one its cornerstones. The special attention is paid to systems with motivation that can be treated as a characteristic representative of statistical social systems. The dynamics of such objects is governed by cooperative phenomena, which enables us to introduce the notion of characteristic element. Some examples of possible virtual experiments enabling us to investigate the basic properties of human perception, memory effects, learning and adaptation to environment changing in time are also discussed.