Engineering polarization: How contradictory stimulation systematically undermines political moderation
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | |
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| _version_ | 1866912841863266304 |
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| author | Santos, Renato Vieira dos |
| author_facet | Santos, Renato Vieira dos |
| contents | Political moderation, a key attractor in democratic systems, proves highly fragile under realistic information conditions. We develop a stochastic model of opinion dynamics to analyze how noise and differential susceptibility reshape the political spectrum. Extending Marvel et al.'s deterministic framework, we incorporate stochastic media influence $ζ(t)$ and neuropolitically-grounded sensitivity differences ($σ_y > σ_x$). Analysis reveals the moderate population -- stable in deterministic models -- undergoes catastrophic collapse under stochastic forcing. This occurs through an effective deradicalization asymmetry ($u_{B}^{\text{eff}} = u + σ_y^2/2 > u_{A}^{\text{eff}}$) that drives conservatives to extinction, eliminating cross-cutting interactions that sustain moderates. The system exhibits a phase transition from multi-stable coexistence to liberal dominance, demonstrating how information flow architecture -- independent of content -- systematically dismantles the political center. Our findings reveal moderation as an emergent property highly vulnerable to stochastic perturbations in complex social systems. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_16181 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Engineering polarization: How contradictory stimulation systematically undermines political moderation Santos, Renato Vieira dos Physics and Society Statistical Mechanics Political moderation, a key attractor in democratic systems, proves highly fragile under realistic information conditions. We develop a stochastic model of opinion dynamics to analyze how noise and differential susceptibility reshape the political spectrum. Extending Marvel et al.'s deterministic framework, we incorporate stochastic media influence $ζ(t)$ and neuropolitically-grounded sensitivity differences ($σ_y > σ_x$). Analysis reveals the moderate population -- stable in deterministic models -- undergoes catastrophic collapse under stochastic forcing. This occurs through an effective deradicalization asymmetry ($u_{B}^{\text{eff}} = u + σ_y^2/2 > u_{A}^{\text{eff}}$) that drives conservatives to extinction, eliminating cross-cutting interactions that sustain moderates. The system exhibits a phase transition from multi-stable coexistence to liberal dominance, demonstrating how information flow architecture -- independent of content -- systematically dismantles the political center. Our findings reveal moderation as an emergent property highly vulnerable to stochastic perturbations in complex social systems. |
| title | Engineering polarization: How contradictory stimulation systematically undermines political moderation |
| topic | Physics and Society Statistical Mechanics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16181 |