Tangled worldview model of opinion dynamics
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Published version
Author(s)
Rajpal, Hardik
Rosas De Andraca, Fernando Ernesto
Jensen, Henrik Jeldtoft
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We study the joint evolution of worldviews by proposing a model of opinion dynamics, which is inspired in notions from
evolutionary ecology. Agents update their opinion on a specific issue based on their propensity to change – asserted by the
social neighbours – weighted by their mutual similarity on other issues. Agents are, therefore, more influenced by neighbours
with similar worldviews (set of opinions on various issues), resulting in a complex co-evolution of each opinion. Simulations
show that the worldview evolution exhibits events of intermittent polarization when the social network is scale-free. This, in turn,
triggers extreme crashes and surges in the popularity of various opinions. Using the proposed model, we highlight the role of
network structure, bounded rationality of agents, and the role of key influential agents in causing polarization and intermittent
reformation of worldviews on scale-free networks.
evolutionary ecology. Agents update their opinion on a specific issue based on their propensity to change – asserted by the
social neighbours – weighted by their mutual similarity on other issues. Agents are, therefore, more influenced by neighbours
with similar worldviews (set of opinions on various issues), resulting in a complex co-evolution of each opinion. Simulations
show that the worldview evolution exhibits events of intermittent polarization when the social network is scale-free. This, in turn,
triggers extreme crashes and surges in the popularity of various opinions. Using the proposed model, we highlight the role of
network structure, bounded rationality of agents, and the role of key influential agents in causing polarization and intermittent
reformation of worldviews on scale-free networks.
Date Issued
2019-10-25
Date Acceptance
2019-10-04
Citation
Frontiers in Physics, 2019, 7
ISSN
2296-424X
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Physics
Volume
7
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Rajpal, Rosas and Jensen. This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use,
distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original
author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication
in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use,
distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use,
distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original
author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication
in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use,
distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Grant Number
702981
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
163
Date Publish Online
2019-10-25