Related papers: Power of the Crowd
We propose a simple model to explore an educational phenomenon where the correct answer emerges from group discussion. We construct our model based on several plausible assumptions: (i) We tend to follow peers' opinions. However, if a…
By introducing a new measure for the infinite Galton-Watson process and providing estimates for (discrete) Green's functions on trees, we establish the asymptotic behavior of the capacity of critical branching random walks: in high…
We consider the simple random walk on Galton-Watson trees with supercritical offspring distribution, conditioned on non-extinction. In case the offspring distribution has finite support, we prove an upper bound for the annealed return…
This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of some common opinion dynamic models in a continuum of agents. We show that as long as the interactions among the agents are symmetric, the distribution of the agents' opinion converges. We…
Consider an election between two candidates in which the voters' choices are random and independent and the probability of a voter choosing the first candidate is $p>1/2$. Condorcet's Jury Theorem which he derived from the weak law of large…
We consider a probability distribution on the set of Boolean functions in n variables which is induced by random Boolean expressions. Such an expression is a random rooted plane tree where the internal vertices are labelled with connectives…
The Maki-Thompson rumor model is defined by assuming that a population represented by a graph is subdivided into three classes of individuals; namely, ignorants, spreaders and stiflers. A spreader tells the rumor to any of its nearest…
Apportionment is the act of distributing the seats of a legislature among political parties (or states) in proportion to their vote shares (or populations). A famous impossibility by Balinski and Young (2001) shows that no apportionment…
We investigate the formation of opinion against authority in an authoritarian society composed of agents with different levels of authority. We explore a "dissenting" opinion, held by lower-ranking, obedient, or less authoritative people,…
We consider a sequence $\mathbf{T} = (\mathcal{T}_n : n \in \mathbb{N}^+)$ of trees $\mathcal{T}_n$ where, for some $\Delta \in \mathbb{N}^+$ every $\mathcal{T}_n$ has height at most $\Delta$ and as $n \to \infty$ the minimal number of…
We present a dynamical theory of opinion formation that takes explicitly into account the structure of the social network in which in- dividuals are embedded. The theory predicts the evolution of a set of opinions through the social network…
Sentiment Analysis of microblog feeds has attracted considerable interest in recent times. Most of the current work focuses on tweet sentiment classification. But not much work has been done to explore how reliable the opinions of the mass…
We investigate an opinion model consisting of a large group of interacting agents, whose opinions are represented as numbers in $[-1,1]$. At each update time, two random agents are selected, and the opinion of the first agent is updated…
In his pioneering research, G. K. Zipf observed that more frequent words tend to have more meanings, and showed that the number of meanings of a word grows as the square root of its frequency. He derived this relationship from two…
We unveil collective effects induced by imitation and social pressure by analyzing data from three different sources: birth rates, sales of cell phones and the drop of applause in concert halls. We interpret our results within the framework…
We analyze simple random walk on a supercritical Galton-Watson tree, where the walk is conditioned to return to the root at time $2n$. Specifically, we establish the asymptotic order (up to a constant factor) as $n\to\infty$, of the maximal…
We propose an opinion model based on agents located at the vertices of a regular lattice. Each agent has an independent opinion (among an arbitrary, but fixed, number of choices) and its own degree of conviction. The latter changes every…
The hierarchical and recursive expressive capability of rooted trees is applicable to represent statistical models in various areas, such as data compression, image processing, and machine learning. On the other hand, such hierarchical…
The spread of infectious disease in a human community or the proliferation of fake news on social media can be modeled as a randomly growing tree-shaped graph. The history of the random growth process is often unobserved but contains…
According to many phenomenological and theoretical studies the distribution of family name frequencies in a population can be asymptotically described by a power law. We show that the Galton-Watson process corresponding to the dynamics of a…