ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
An Agent-Based Exploration of the Influence of Needs on Health Protection Motivation and Intentions
Patrick Mertes 1,2
Veronika Kurchyna 3,2
Ye Eun Bae 1
Jan Ole Berndt 1
Ingo Timm 1,2
1. German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern, Germany
2. University of Trier, Trier, Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate, D-54296
3. Cognitive Social Simulation, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern, Germany
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Abstract
Human behaviour plays a crucial role in public health. In the same sense, understanding the multifaceted factors influencing health-related decisions is essential to derive meaningful protective measures. In this study, we demonstrate how values, social norms and individual needs can be combined within the theoretical framework of the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to study the intention-behaviour gap regarding smoking in social settings. By extending upon a previous model that relied on social pressure as primary mechanism, we investigate how the inclusion of needs shifts behaviour towards higher polarisation and stronger adherence with intentions. As a novelty compared to previous approaches, conflicts of social pressure and different needs are the source of cognitive dissonance, leading to a gradual shift in attitudes or social network constellations. Most particularly, the inclusion of needs leads to the observation of both peer pressure-induced smoking as well as frequent failure to cease smoking as outcomes in the model.
Summary
Keywords
agent-based simulation, Cognitive Dissonance, Health behaviour, Protection Motivation Theory, social simulation, Social smoking
Received
21 February 2025
Accepted
18 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Mertes, Kurchyna, Bae, Berndt and Timm. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Veronika Kurchyna
Disclaimer
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