Robust Fragmentation Modeling of Hegselmann-Krause-Type Dynamics

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Abstract

In opinion dynamics, how to model the enduring fragmentation phenomenon (disagreement, cleavage, and polarization) of social opinions has long possessed a central position. It is widely known that the confidence-based opinion dynamics provide an acceptant mechanism to produce fragmentation phenomenon. In this study, taking the famous confidence-based Hegselmann-Krause (HK) model, we examine the robustness of the fragmentation coming from HK dynamics and its variations with prejudiced and stubborn agents against random noise. Prior to possible insightful explanations, the theoretical results in this paper explicitly reveal that the well-appearing fragmentation of HK dynamics and its homogeneous variations finally vanishes in the presence of arbitrarily tiny noise, while only the HK model with heterogenous prejudices displays a solid cleavage in noisy environment.

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Is Open Access

Statistical physics of social dynamics

Claudio Castellano, Santo Fortunato, Vittorio Loreto (2007)

Statistical physics has proven to be a very fruitful framework to describe phenomena outside the realm of traditional physics. The last years have witnessed the attempt by physicists to study collective phenomena emerging from the interactions of individuals as elementary units in social structures. Here we review the state of the art by focusing on a wide list of topics ranging from opinion, cultural and language dynamics to crowd behavior, hierarchy formation, human dynamics, social spreading. We highlight the connections between these problems and other, more traditional, topics of statistical physics. We also emphasize the comparison of model results with empirical data from social systems.