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Main Authors: Xu, Yuchen, Han, Yi, Zhang, Chuanzhe, Wang, Miao, Mei, Wenjun
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.03281
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author Xu, Yuchen
Han, Yi
Zhang, Chuanzhe
Wang, Miao
Mei, Wenjun
author_facet Xu, Yuchen
Han, Yi
Zhang, Chuanzhe
Wang, Miao
Mei, Wenjun
contents Opinion dynamics aims to understand how individuals' opinions evolve through local interactions. Recently, opinion dynamics have been modeled as network games, where individuals update their opinions in order to minimize the social pressure caused by disagreeing with others. In this paper, we study a class of best response opinion dynamics introduced by Mei et al., where a parameter $α> 0$ controls the marginal cost of opinion differences, bridging well-known mechanisms such as the DeGroot model ($α= 2$) and the weighted-median model ($α= 1$). We conduct theoretical analysis on how different values of $α$ affect the system's convergence and consensus behavior. For the case when $α> 1$, corresponding to increasing marginal costs, we establish the convergence of the dynamics and derive graph-theoretic conditions for consensus formation, which is proved to be similar to those in the DeGroot model. When $α< 1$, we show via a counterexample that convergence is not always guaranteed, and we provide sufficient conditions for convergence and consensus. Additionally, numerical simulations on small-world networks reveal how network structure and $α$ together affect opinion diversity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_03281
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Convergence and consensus analysis of a class of best-response opinion dynamics
Xu, Yuchen
Han, Yi
Zhang, Chuanzhe
Wang, Miao
Mei, Wenjun
Dynamical Systems
Opinion dynamics aims to understand how individuals' opinions evolve through local interactions. Recently, opinion dynamics have been modeled as network games, where individuals update their opinions in order to minimize the social pressure caused by disagreeing with others. In this paper, we study a class of best response opinion dynamics introduced by Mei et al., where a parameter $α> 0$ controls the marginal cost of opinion differences, bridging well-known mechanisms such as the DeGroot model ($α= 2$) and the weighted-median model ($α= 1$). We conduct theoretical analysis on how different values of $α$ affect the system's convergence and consensus behavior. For the case when $α> 1$, corresponding to increasing marginal costs, we establish the convergence of the dynamics and derive graph-theoretic conditions for consensus formation, which is proved to be similar to those in the DeGroot model. When $α< 1$, we show via a counterexample that convergence is not always guaranteed, and we provide sufficient conditions for convergence and consensus. Additionally, numerical simulations on small-world networks reveal how network structure and $α$ together affect opinion diversity.
title Convergence and consensus analysis of a class of best-response opinion dynamics
topic Dynamical Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.03281