Modeling belief systems with scale-free networks
Abstract
Evolution of belief systems has always been in focus of cognitive research. In this paper we delineate a new model describing belief systems as a network of statements considered true. Testing the model a small number of parameters enabled us to reproduce a variety of well-known mechanisms ranging from opinion changes to development of psychological problems. The self-organizing opinion structure showed a scale-free degree distribution. The novelty of our work lies in applying a convenient set of definitions allowing us to depict opinion network dynamics in a highly favorable way, which resulted in a scale-free belief network. As an additional benefit, we listed several conjectural consequences in a number of areas related to thinking and reasoning.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0807.0517,
title = {Modeling belief systems with scale-free networks},
author = {Miklos Antal and Laszlo Balogh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.0517},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
23 pages, 9 figures