Related papers: Why more contact may increase cultural polarizatio…
It is well known that behavioral changes in contact patterns may significantly affect the spread of an epidemic outbreak. Here we focus on simple endemic models for recurrent epidemics, by modelling the social contact rate as a function of…
Networks of person-person contacts form the substrate along which infectious diseases spread. Most network-based studies of the spread focus on the impact of variations in degree (the number of contacts an individual has). However, other…
A community of agents is subject to a stream of messages, which are represented as points on a plane of issues. Messages are sent by media and by agents themselves. Messages from media shape the public opinion. They are unbiased, i.e.…
The flourishing of fake news is favored by recommendation algorithms of online social networks which, based on previous users activity, provide content adapted to their preferences and so create filter bubbles. We introduce an analytically…
An evolutionary model for emergence of diversity in language is developed. We investigated the effects of two real life observations, namely, people prefer people that they communicate with well, and people interact with people that are…
The spread of COVID-19 has been thwarted in most countries through non-pharmaceutical interventions. In particular, the most effective measures in this direction have been the stay-at-home and closure strategies of businesses and schools.…
Segregation on the basis of ethnic groups stands as a pervasive and persistent social challenge in many cities across the globe. Public spaces provide opportunities for diverse encounters but recent research suggests individuals adjust…
We present a model that explores the influence of persuasion in a population of agents with positive and negative opinion orientations. The opinion of each agent is represented by an integer number $k$ that expresses its level of agreement…
Ideologically homogeneous online environments - often described as "echo chambers" or "filter bubbles" - are widely seen as drivers of polarization, radicalization, and misinformation. A central debate asks whether such homophily stems…
In some systems, the behavior of the constituent units can create a `context' that modifies the direct interactions among them. This mechanism of indirect modification inspired us to develop a minimal model of context-dependent spreading.…
Spatially-situated opinions that can be held with different degrees of conviction lead to spatio-temporal patterns such as clustering (homophily), polarization, and deadlock. Our goal is to understand how sensitive these patterns are to…
People tend to have their social interactions with members of their own community. Such group-structured interactions can have a profound impact on the behaviors that evolve. Group structure affects the way people cooperate, and how they…
Hofstede's six cultural dimensions make it possible to measure the culture of countries but are criticized for assuming the homogeneity of each country. In this paper, we propose two measures based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions which…
We consider processes on social networks that can potentially involve three factors: homophily, or the formation of social ties due to matching individual traits; social contagion, also known as social influence; and the causal effect of an…
Studying extreme ideas in routine choices and discussions is of utmost importance to understand the increasing polarization in society. In this study, we focus on understanding the generation and influence of extreme ideas in routine…
We consider the model proposed by Axelrod for dissemination of cultures on a 2-dimensional squared lattice. We review this model from an analytic point of view. We define $\left\langle s(t)\right\rangle$ to quantify possible culture…
It has recently become established that the spread of infectious diseases between humans is affected not only by the pathogen itself but also by changes in behavior as the population becomes aware of the epidemic; for example, social…
Polarization significantly influences societal divisions across economic, political, religious, and ideological lines. Understanding these mechanisms is key to devising strategies to mitigate such divisions and promote depolarization. Our…
Rumor models consider that information transmission occurs with the same probability between each pair of nodes. However, this assumption is not observed in social networks, which contain influential spreaders. To overcome this limitation,…
With a folk understanding that political polarization refers to socio-political divisions within a society, many have proclaimed that we are more divided than ever. In this account, polarization has been blamed for populism, the erosion of…