When moving away reduces polarization: Selective depolarization by endogenous migration in attraction–repulsion opinion dynamics

Hong Zhang

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 2026, vol. 208, issue P1

Abstract: Opinion polarization poses a fundamental challenge for contemporary societies, yet how spatial mobility coevolves with attraction–repulsion influence remains poorly understood. We develop an agent-based model in continuous two-dimensional space that couples tolerance-based attraction–repulsion opinion updates with endogenous migration: agents interact locally and then move toward ideologically similar neighbors while avoiding dissimilar ones. Extensive parameter sweeps show that mobility acts as a selective depolarizer. Above a critical tolerance threshold, mobility suppresses repulsion-driven extremization by enabling agents to leave antagonistic neighborhoods before repeated hostile encounters accumulate. At the same time, mobility strengthens spatial assortativity, yielding a robust depolarized segregation regime in which ideological polarization remains low while spatial clustering is high—demonstrating that echo-chamber-like structure need not coincide with ideological extremism. Across conditions, tolerance sets the dominant phase boundary, whereas exposure, interaction radius, and movement speed primarily modulate transition locations and time scales. As a mechanistic model, these results highlight a trade-off between reduced extremization and reduced cross-cutting contact, and suggest that interventions focusing only on mobility or exposure may have limited impact when tolerance is low; linking model parameters to concrete policy levers requires empirical calibration.

Keywords: Opinion polarization; Spatial segregation; Agent-based model; Attraction–repulsion dynamics; Echo chambers; Coevolutionary dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:208:y:2026:i:p1:s0960077926002699

DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2026.118128

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