THE DARK SIDE OF GOSSIPS: HINTS FROM A SIMPLE OPINION DYNAMICS MODEL

Guillaume Deffuant, Ilaria Bertazzi and Sylvie Huet
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Guillaume Deffuant: Complex Systems Engineering Laboratory (LISC), National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA), 24 Avenue des Landais, BP 20085, F-63172 Aubière, France
Ilaria Bertazzi: Complex Systems Engineering Laboratory (LISC), National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA), 24 Avenue des Landais, BP 20085, F-63172 Aubière, France
Sylvie Huet: Complex Systems Engineering Laboratory (LISC), National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA), 24 Avenue des Landais, BP 20085, F-63172 Aubière, France

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2018, vol. 21, issue 06n07, 1-20

Abstract: We consider a simple model of agents modifying their opinion about themselves and about the others during random pair interactions. Two unexpected patterns emerge: (1) without gossips, starting from zero, agents’ opinions tend to grow and stabilize on average at a positive value; (2) when introducing gossips, this pattern is inverted; the opinions tend to decrease and stabilize on average at a negative value. We show that these patterns can be explained by the relative influence of a positive bias on self-opinions and of a negative bias on opinions about others. Without gossips, the positive bias on self-opinions dominates, leading to a positive average opinion. Gossips increase the negative bias about others, which can dominate the positive bias on self-opinions, leading to a negative average opinion.

Keywords: Opinion dynamics; gossips; self-opinion; positivity bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:acsxxx:v:21:y:2018:i:06n07:n:s0219525918500212

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DOI: 10.1142/S0219525918500212

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