Opinion groups formation and dynamics : structures that last from non lasting entities

Sébastian Grauwin (1, 2, 3) , Pablo Jensen (2, 3)

1 DNET - Dynamic Networks
2 IXXI - Institut Rhône-Alpin des systèmes complexes
3 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon

We extend simple opinion models to obtain stable but continuously evolving communities. Our scope is to meet a challenge raised by sociologists of generating ''structures that last from non lasting entities''. We achieve this by introducing two kinds of noise on a standard opinion model. First, agents may interact with other agents even if their opinion difference is large. Second, agents randomly change their opinion at a constant rate. We show that for a large range of control parameters, our model yields stable and fluctuating polarized states, where the composition and mean opinion of the emerging groups is fluctuating over time.

Domaines: Physique et Société [physics.soc-ph]

Sébastian Grauwin, Pablo Jensen. Opinion groups formation and dynamics : structures that last from non lasting entities. 2012. ⟨hal-00704285v2⟩