Opinion Dynamics and Communication Networks

Sven Banisch, Tanya Araújo and Jorge Louçã

No 2009/16, Working Papers Department of Economics from ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa

Abstract: This paper examines the interplay of opinion exchange dynamics and communication network formation. An opinion formation procedure is introduced which is based on an abstract representation of opinions as k-dimensional bitstrings. Individuals interact if the difference in the opinion strings is below a defined similarity threshold dI. Depending on dI, different behaviour of the population is observed: low values result in a state of highly fragmented opinions and higher values yield consensus. The first contribution of this research is to identify the values of parameters dI and k, such that the transition between fragmented opinions and homogeneity takes place. Then, we look at this transition from two perspectives: first by studying the group size distribution and second by analysing the communication network that is formed by the interactions that take place during the simulation. The emerging networks are classified by statistical means and we find that non-trivial social structures emerge from simple rules for individual communication.

Date: 2009-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-net and nep-soc
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http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~depeco/wp/wp162009.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: OPINION DYNAMICS AND COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp162009

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