REAL

Opinion formation models on a gradient

Gastner, Michael T. and Markou, Nikolitsa and Pruessner, Gunnar and Draief, Moez (2014) Opinion formation models on a gradient. PLOS ONE, 9 (12). e114088. ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

Statistical physicists have become interested in models of collective social behavior such as opinion formation, where individuals change their inherently preferred opinion if their friends disagree. Real preferences often depend on regional cultural differences, which we model here as a spatial gradient g in the initial opinion. The gradient does not only add reality to the model. It can also reveal that opinion clusters in two dimensions are typically in the standard (i.e., independent) percolation universality class, thus settling a recent controversy about a nonconsensus model. However, using analytical and numerical tools, we also present a model where the width of the transition between opinions scales ∝g-1/4, not ∝g-4/7 as in independent percolation, and the cluster size distribution is consistent with first-order percolation.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: unanimity rule; steady state; statistical parameters; statistical concepts; spatial gradient; spatial analysis; Social Behavior; opinion formation; mathematical model; mathematical analysis; majority vote; independent percolation; Cluster size distribution; cluster fractal dimension; Cluster Analysis; ARTICLE
Subjects: Q Science / természettudomány > QC Physics / fizika
SWORD Depositor: MTMT SWORD
Depositing User: MTMT SWORD
Date Deposited: 10 Jan 2015 08:43
Last Modified: 10 Jan 2015 08:43
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/20235

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