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Main Authors: Baković, Luka, Ohlin, David, Como, Giacomo, Tegling, Emma
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.03913
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author Baković, Luka
Ohlin, David
Como, Giacomo
Tegling, Emma
author_facet Baković, Luka
Ohlin, David
Como, Giacomo
Tegling, Emma
contents Motivated by empirical research on bias and opinion formation, we formulate a multidimensional nonlinear opinion-dynamical model where agents have individual biases, which are fixed, as well as opinions, which evolve. The dimensions represent competing options, of which each agent has a relative opinion, and are coupled through normalization of the opinion vector. This can capture, for example, an individual's relative trust in different media. In special cases including where biases are uniform across agents our model achieves consensus, but in general, behaviors are richer and capture multipolar opinion distributions. We examine general fixed points of the system, as well as special cases such as zero biases toward certain options or partitioned decision sets. Lastly, we demonstrate that our model exhibits polarization when biases are spatially correlated across the network, while, as empirical research suggests, a mixed community can mediate biases.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_03913
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multipolar opinion evolution in biased networks
Baković, Luka
Ohlin, David
Como, Giacomo
Tegling, Emma
Systems and Control
93-10
Motivated by empirical research on bias and opinion formation, we formulate a multidimensional nonlinear opinion-dynamical model where agents have individual biases, which are fixed, as well as opinions, which evolve. The dimensions represent competing options, of which each agent has a relative opinion, and are coupled through normalization of the opinion vector. This can capture, for example, an individual's relative trust in different media. In special cases including where biases are uniform across agents our model achieves consensus, but in general, behaviors are richer and capture multipolar opinion distributions. We examine general fixed points of the system, as well as special cases such as zero biases toward certain options or partitioned decision sets. Lastly, we demonstrate that our model exhibits polarization when biases are spatially correlated across the network, while, as empirical research suggests, a mixed community can mediate biases.
title Multipolar opinion evolution in biased networks
topic Systems and Control
93-10
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.03913