socialSim

Simulate and Analyse Social Interaction Models

The socialSim R package provides tools to simulate and analyse datasets of social interactions between individuals using hierarchical Bayesian models implemented in Stan. This packages accompanies Wijnhorst et al. (2025) EcoEvoRxiv, which details the underlying statistical models.

It enables users to generate realistic social interaction data, where individual phenotypes influence and respond to those of their partners. You can simulate a sampling design by adjusting the number of individuals, partners, and repeated dyads. The simulation framework allows control over variation in mean trait values, social responsiveness, and social impact and correlation, making it suitable for research on direct and indirect genetic effects (DGEs and IGEs) and interacting phenotypes. See ?simulate_data for a full list of adjustable parameters.

The package also provides analysis functions to evaluate model performance in terms of bias and dispersion, using both established and novel approaches to modelling social effects, including impact–responsiveness, variance–partitioning, and trait-based models.