Title :
On opinion dynamics in heterogeneous networks
Author :
Mirtabatabaei, A. ; Bullo, F.
Author_Institution :
Center for Control, Dynamical Syst., & Comput., Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
fDate :
June 29 2011-July 1 2011
Abstract :
This paper studies the opinion dynamics model recently introduced by Hegselmann and Krause: each agent in a group maintains a real number describing its opinion; and each agent updates its opinion by averaging all other opinions that are within some given confidence range. The confidence ranges are distinct for each agent. This heterogeneity and state dependent topology leads to poorly-understood complex dynamic behavior. We classify the agents via their interconnection topology and, accordingly, compute the equilibria of the system. We conjecture that any trajectory of this model eventually converges to a steady state under fixed topology. To establish this conjecture, we derive two novel sufficient conditions: both conditions guarantee convergence and constant topology for infinite time, while one condition also guarantees monotonicity of the convergence. In the evolution under fixed topology for infinite time, we define leader groups that determine the followers´ rate and direction of convergence.
Keywords :
behavioural sciences; agent interconnection topology; confidence range; constant topology condition; convergence condition; heterogeneous network; opinion dynamics model; Computational modeling; Convergence; Mathematical model; Network topology; Steady-state; Topology; Trajectory;
Conference_Titel :
American Control Conference (ACC), 2011
Conference_Location :
San Francisco, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-0080-4
DOI :
10.1109/ACC.2011.5991474