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MATESIM: Simulating Decision Making in Marriage Formation.

This paper describes the recently developed computer-automated simulation MATESIM. The model allows students to simulate marriage to alternative individuals and to evaluate the outcome within 54 categories significantly related to marriage. The program is interactive. The student sits at a computer...

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Published in:Teaching Sociology Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 147 - 161
Main Authors: Debenham, Jerry, Smith, Gerald
Format: Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Jan79
Subjects:
Marriage
Decision making
Computer assisted research
Questions & answers
Values (Ethics)
United States
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:This paper describes the recently developed computer-automated simulation MATESIM. The model allows students to simulate marriage to alternative individuals and to evaluate the outcome within 54 categories significantly related to marriage. The program is interactive. The student sits at a computer terminal and answers a series of questions concerning his/her values and expectations concerning marriage, his/her present characteristics, and the characteristics of the person(s) being considered. The computer will run a detailed marriage analysis noting areas of strength and weakness in the proposed marriage and areas in which the student can change him/herself to improve the success of the marriage. The program was designed to help students analyze their values relating so marriage through comparative decision analysis.