EFFECTS OF MASS MEDIA AND CULTURAL DRIFT IN A MODEL FOR SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Karina I. Mazzitello (), Julián Candia () and Víctor Dossetti ()
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Karina I. Mazzitello: Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA;
Julián Candia: Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA;
Víctor Dossetti: Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA

International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC), 2007, vol. 18, issue 09, 1475-1482

Abstract: In the context of an extension of Axelrod's model for social influence, we study the interplay and competition between the cultural drift, represented as random perturbations, and mass media, introduced by means of an external homogeneous field. Unlike previous studies [J. C. González-Avellaet al.,Phys. Rev. E72, 065102(R) (2005)], the mass media coupling proposed here is capable of affecting the cultural traits of any individual in the society, including those who do not share any features with the external message. A noise-driven transition is found: for large noise rates, both the ordered (culturally polarized) phase and the disordered (culturally fragmented) phase are observed, while, for lower noise rates, the ordered phase prevails. In the former case, the external field is found to induce cultural ordering, a behavior opposite to that reported in previous studies using a different prescription for the mass media interaction. We compare the predictions of this model to statistical data measuring the impact of a mass media vasectomy promotion campaign in Brazil.

Keywords: Sociophysics; econophysics; marketing; advertising (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1142/S0129183107011492

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