Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks for Studying Agent Interaction and Choice Revelation in Transportation Studies

The field of literature studying community, business, and household agent interactions, particularly in economics, psychology, and marketing, is growing. The primary focus of this literature is how the preferences and choices of one agent influence others, whether specific or general, whether individuals, organizations, or influences. A number of paradigms associated with experimental economics-, game theory-, and case or rule-agent-based model literature center on understanding and explaining how agent preferences influence others. The authors promote interactive agency (stated) choice experiments extending traditional single-agent stated preference experiments to find how behavioral interactions among agents in a revise or confirm cycle (choose-feedback-review-choose) develop preferences. The article discusses agent preference identification methods in an environment that introduces transportation modelers to agent interactions.