Opinion Dynamics for Utility Maximizing Agents: Exploring the Impact of the Resource Penalty

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Autori principali: Wankhede, Prashil, Mandal, Nirabhra, Martínez, Sonia, Tallapragada, Pavankumar
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Wankhede, Prashil
Mandal, Nirabhra
Martínez, Sonia
Tallapragada, Pavankumar
author_facet Wankhede, Prashil
Mandal, Nirabhra
Martínez, Sonia
Tallapragada, Pavankumar
contents We propose a continuous-time nonlinear model of opinion dynamics with utility-maximizing agents connected via a social influence network. A distinguishing feature of the proposed model is the inclusion of an opinion-dependent resource-penalty term in the utilities, which limits the agents from holding opinions of large magnitude. This model is applicable in scenarios where the opinions pertain to the usage of resources, such as money, time, computational resources etc. Each agent myopically seeks to maximize its utility by revising its opinion in the gradient ascent direction of its utility function, thus leading to the proposed opinion dynamics. We show that, for any arbitrary social influence network, opinions are ultimately bounded. For networks with weak antagonistic relations, we show that there exists a globally exponentially stable equilibrium using contraction theory. We establish conditions for the existence of consensus equilibrium and analyze the relative dominance of the agents at consensus. We also conduct a game-theoretic analysis of the underlying opinion formation game, including on Nash equilibria and on prices of anarchy in terms of satisfaction ratios. Additionally, we also investigate the oscillatory behavior of opinions in a two-agent scenario. Finally, simulations illustrate our findings.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_04912
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Opinion Dynamics for Utility Maximizing Agents: Exploring the Impact of the Resource Penalty
Wankhede, Prashil
Mandal, Nirabhra
Martínez, Sonia
Tallapragada, Pavankumar
Systems and Control
Computer Science and Game Theory
Multiagent Systems
Social and Information Networks
We propose a continuous-time nonlinear model of opinion dynamics with utility-maximizing agents connected via a social influence network. A distinguishing feature of the proposed model is the inclusion of an opinion-dependent resource-penalty term in the utilities, which limits the agents from holding opinions of large magnitude. This model is applicable in scenarios where the opinions pertain to the usage of resources, such as money, time, computational resources etc. Each agent myopically seeks to maximize its utility by revising its opinion in the gradient ascent direction of its utility function, thus leading to the proposed opinion dynamics. We show that, for any arbitrary social influence network, opinions are ultimately bounded. For networks with weak antagonistic relations, we show that there exists a globally exponentially stable equilibrium using contraction theory. We establish conditions for the existence of consensus equilibrium and analyze the relative dominance of the agents at consensus. We also conduct a game-theoretic analysis of the underlying opinion formation game, including on Nash equilibria and on prices of anarchy in terms of satisfaction ratios. Additionally, we also investigate the oscillatory behavior of opinions in a two-agent scenario. Finally, simulations illustrate our findings.
title Opinion Dynamics for Utility Maximizing Agents: Exploring the Impact of the Resource Penalty
topic Systems and Control
Computer Science and Game Theory
Multiagent Systems
Social and Information Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.04912