Convergence to global consensus in opinion dynamics under a nonlinear voter model

Han Xin Yang, Wen Xu Wang, Ying-Cheng Lai, Bing Hong Wang

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24 Scopus citations

Abstract

We propose a nonlinear voter model to study the emergence of global consensus in opinion dynamics. In our model, agent i agrees with one of binary opinions with the probability that is a power function of the number of agents holding this opinion among agent i and its nearest neighbors, where an adjustable parameter α controls the effect of herd behavior on consensus. We find that there exists an optimal value of α leading to the fastest consensus for lattices, random graphs, small-world networks and scale-free networks. Qualitative insights are obtained by examining the spatiotemporal evolution of the opinion clusters.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)282-285
Number of pages4
JournalPhysics Letters, Section A: General, Atomic and Solid State Physics
Volume376
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 9 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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