Evolution of social power for opinion dynamics networks

Abstract

This article studies the evolution of opinions and interpersonal influence structures in a group of agents as they discuss a sequence of issues, each of which follows an opinion dynamics model. In this work, we propose a general opinion dynamics model and an evolution of interpersonal influence structures based on the model of reflected appraisals proposed by Friedkin. Our contributions can be summarized as follows: (i) we introduce a model of opinion dynamics and evolution of interpersonal influence structures between issues viewed as a best response cost minimization to the neighbor's actions, (ii) we show that DeGroot's and Friedkin-Johnsen's models of opinion dynamics and their evolution of interpersonal influence structures are particular cases of our proposed model, and (iii) we prove the existence of an equilibrium. This work is a step towards providing a solid formulation of the evolution of opinions and interpersonal influence structures over a sequence of issues.

Bounded Confidence and Cohesion-Moderated Pressure: A General Model for the Large-Scale Dynamics of Ordered Opinion

“…In this regard, we integrate the Bayesian approach with non-parametric estimation to derive a comprehensive framework. The overall procedure is as follows [ 37 ]: (1) employing approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), we generate a posterior distribution sample of parameters (u i /d i /k i ) by leveraging both real data and model simulation outcomes; (2) utilizing kernel density estimation, we smooth the empirical distribution of parameters into a posterior density function; and (3) employing Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) [ 48 ] and other techniques, we compute various integrals of the density function to obtain posterior estimates and test results for the parameters, thereby accomplishing the inference task. The detailed methods are presented in Appendix C .…”