Modeling Interaction Effects in Polarization: Individual Media Influence and the Impact of Town Meetings

Eric Pulick (), Patrick Korth (), Patrick Grim () and Jiin Jung ()
Additional contact information
Patrick Grim: http://pgrim.org
Jiin Jung: http://jiinjung.com

Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2016, vol. 19, issue 2, 1

Abstract: We are increasingly exposed to polarized media sources, with clear evidence that individuals choose those sources closest to their existing views. We also have a tradition of open face-to-face group discussion in town meetings, for example. There are a range of current proposals to revive the role of group meetings in democratic decision-making. Here, we build a simulation that instantiates aspects of reinforcement theory in a model of competing social influences. What can we expect in the interaction of polarized media with group interaction along the lines of town meetings? Some surprises are evident from a computational model that includes both. Deliberative group discussion can be expected to produce opinion convergence. That convergence may not, however, be a cure for extreme views polarized at opposite ends of the opinion spectrum. In a large class of cases, we show that adding the influence of group meetings in an environment of self-selected media produces not a moderate central consensus but opinion convergence at one of the extremes defined by polarized media.

Keywords: Polarization; Media; Opinion; Social Networks; Town Meetings; Reinforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-03-31
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.jasss.org/19/2/1/1.pdf (application/pdf)

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:jas:jasssj:2015-62-3

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation from Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Francesco Renzini ().