COHESION, CONSENSUS AND EXTREME INFORMATION IN OPINION DYNAMICS

Alina Sîrbu (), Vittorio Loreto (), Vito D. P. Servedio () and Francesca Tria ()
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Alina Sîrbu: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Via Alassio 11/c, Turin 10126, Italy
Vittorio Loreto: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Via Alassio 11/c, Turin 10126, Italy;
Vito D. P. Servedio: Sapienza University of Rome, Physics Department, P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Rome, Italy
Francesca Tria: Complex Networks and Systems Lagrange Laboratory, Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Via Alassio 11/c, Turin 10126, Italy

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2013, vol. 16, issue 06, 1-21

Abstract: Opinion formation is an important element of social dynamics. It has been widely studied in the last years with tools from physics, mathematics and computer science. Here, a continuous model of opinion dynamics for multiple possible choices is analyzed. Its main features are the inclusion of disagreement and possibility of modulating external information/media effects, both from one and multiple sources. The interest is in identifying the effect of the initial cohesion of the population, the interplay between cohesion and media extremism, and the effect of using multiple external sources of information that can influence the system. Final consensus, especially with the external message, depends highly on these factors, as numerical simulations show. When no external input is present, consensus or segregation is determined by the initial cohesion of the population. Interestingly, when only one external source of information is present, consensus can be obtained, in general, only when this is extremely neutral, i.e., there is not a single opinion strongly promoted, or in the special case of a large initial cohesion and low exposure to the external message. On the contrary, when multiple external sources are allowed, consensus can emerge with one of them even when this is not extremely neutral, i.e., it carries a strong message, for a large range of initial conditions.

Keywords: Opinion dynamics; numerical simulation; cohesion; extreme external information/media; consensus; 89.65-s; 89.75-k (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1142/S0219525913500355

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