Bistability and multistability in opinion dynamics models

Shaoli Wang, Libin Rong and Jianhong Wu

Applied Mathematics and Computation, 2016, vol. 289, issue C, 388-395

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze a few opinion formation or election game dynamics models. For a simple model with two subpopulations with opposing opinions A and B, if the fraction of committed believers of opinion A (“A zealots”) is less than a critical value, then the system has two bistable equilibrium points. When the fraction is equal to the critical value, the system undergoes a saddle-node bifurcation. When the fraction is larger than the critical value, a boundary equilibrium point is globally asymptotically stable, suggesting that the entire population reaches a consensus on A. We find a similar bistability property in the model in which both opinions have their own zealots. We also extend the model to include multiple competitors and show the dynamical behavior of multistability. The more competitors subpopulation A has, the fewer zealots opinion A needs to obtain consensus.

Keywords: Opinion dynamics; Election game dynamics; Bistability; Multistability; Saddle-node bifurcation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0096300316303393
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:289:y:2016:i:c:p:388-395

DOI: 10.1016/j.amc.2016.05.030

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Mathematics and Computation is currently edited by Theodore Simos

More articles in Applied Mathematics and Computation from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().