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We study the effects of social influences in opinion dynamics. In particular, we define a simple model, based on the majority rule voting, in order to consider the role of conformity. Conformity is a central issue in social psychology as it…

Physics and Society · Physics 2014-08-18 Marco Alberto Javarone

Simmering debates leading to polarization are observed in many domains. Although empirical findings show a strong correlation between this phenomenon and modularity of a social network, still little is known about the actual mechanisms…

Physics and Society · Physics 2016-11-28 Patryk Siedlecki , Janusz Szwabiński , Tomasz Weron

We develop a model of social media in which users produce different types of content and choose whom to follow. Even when abstracting from algorithmic bias, linking costs shape networks and polarization. In the welfare-maximizing…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-02-26 Patrick Allmis , Luca Paolo Merlino

Members of different political groups not only disagree about issues but also dislike and distrust each other. While social media can amplify this emotional divide -- called affective polarization by political scientists -- there is a lack…

Social and Information Networks · Computer Science 2024-05-09 Kristina Lerman , Dan Feldman , Zihao He , Ashwin Rao

Developing machine learning models to characterize political polarization on online social media presents significant challenges. These challenges mainly stem from various factors such as the lack of annotated data, presence of noise in…

Social and Information Networks · Computer Science 2023-11-22 Sadia Kamal , Brenner Little , Jade Gullic , Trevor Harms , Kristin Olofsson , Arunkumar Bagavathi

In opinion dynamics, as in general usage, polarisation is subjective. To understand polarisation, we need to develop more precise methods to measure the agreement in society. This paper presents four mathematical measures of polarisation…

Physics and Society · Physics 2023-01-11 Johnathan A. Adams , Gentry White , Robyn P. Araujo

A dynamical system is controllable if by imposing appropriate external signals on a subset of its nodes, it can be driven from any initial state to any desired state in finite time. Here we study the impact of various network…

Physics and Society · Physics 2013-01-16 Márton Pósfai , Yang-Yu Liu , Jean-Jacques Slotine , Albert-László Barabási

Many empirical networks are intrinsically pluralistic, with interactions occurring within groups of arbitrary agents. Then the agent in the network can be influenced by types of neighbors, common examples include similarity, opposition, and…

Physics and Society · Physics 2020-05-12 Shuo Liu , Xiwang Guan , Shuangling Luo , Haoxiang Xia

We describe a model for polarization in multi-agent systems based on Esteban and Ray's standard family of polarization measures from economics. Agents evolve by updating their beliefs (opinions) based on an underlying influence graph, as in…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2023-06-22 Mário S. Alvim , Bernardo Amorim , Sophia Knight , Santiago Quintero , Frank Valencia

The study investigates the role of 'superspreaders' in shaping opinions within networks, distinguishing three types: A, B, and C. Type A has a significant influence in shaping opinions, Type B acts as a counterbalance to A, and Type C…

Physics and Society · Physics 2024-04-26 Yasuko Kawahata

Does polarization online reflect the state of polarization in society? We study ideological positions and attitudes on several issues in France, a country with documented issue nonalignment. We compare distributions on X/Twitter with a…

Social and Information Networks · Computer Science 2026-03-03 Antoine Vendeville , Hiroki Yamashita , Pedro Ramaciotti

As performance gains through scaling data and/or model size experience diminishing returns, it is becoming increasingly popular to turn to ensembling, where the predictions of multiple models are combined to improve accuracy. In this paper,…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2024-11-04 Hyunsuk Kim , Liam Hodgkinson , Ryan Theisen , Michael W. Mahoney

We present a many-body theory that explains and reproduces recent observations of population polarization dynamics, is supported by controlled human experiments, and addresses the controversy surrounding the Internet's impact. It predicts…

Physics and Society · Physics 2017-12-19 N. F. Johnson , P. Manrique , M. Zheng , Z. Cao , J. Botero , S. Huang , N. Aden , C. Song , J. Leady , N. Velasquez , E. M. Restrepo

We present an opinion model founded upon the principles of the bounded confidence interaction among agents. Our objective is to explain the polarization effects inherent to vector-valued opinions. The evolutionary process adheres to the…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2023-12-25 Jacek Cyranka , Piotr B. Mucha

The COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in 2020 has highlighted the complex interplay between vaccine hesitancy and societal polarization. In this study, we analyse the dynamical polarization within a social network as well as the network…

Social and Information Networks · Computer Science 2024-06-13 Ixandra Achitouv , David Chavalarias

We study the effects of animal social networks with a weighted pattern of interactions on the flocking transition exhibited by models of self-organized collective motion. Considering a model representing dynamics on a one-dimensional…

Physics and Society · Physics 2022-10-19 Jaume Ojer , Romualdo Pastor-Satorras

We study the mutual influence of authority and persuasion in the flow of opinion. Many social organizations are characterized by a hierarchical structure where the propagation of opinion is asymmetric. In the normal flow of opinion…

Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems · Physics 2009-11-10 M. F. Laguna , S. Risau-Gusman , G. Abramson , S. Goncalves , J. R. Iglesias

Recommendation algorithms, used in online social networks, shape interactions between users. In particular, link-recommendation algorithms suggest new connections and affect how individuals interact and exchange information. These…

Social and Information Networks · Computer Science 2026-04-23 Gabriella D. Franco , Marta C. Couto , Vítor V. Vasconcelos , Fernando P. Santos

Understanding affective polarization in online discourse is crucial for evaluating the societal impact of social media interactions. This study presents a novel framework that leverages large language models (LLMs) and domain-informed…

Social and Information Networks · Computer Science 2026-01-06 Jawad Chowdhury , Rezaur Rashid , Gabriel Terejanu

In order to truly understand how social media might shape online discourses or contribute to societal polarization, we need refined models of platform choice, that is: models that help us understand why users prefer one social media…

Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems · Physics 2024-11-08 Sven Banisch , Dennis Jacob , Tom Willaert , Eckehard Olbrich