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  • Open Access

Dynamics of opinion expression

Felix Gaisbauer*, Eckehard Olbrich, and Sven Banisch

  • Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences and Inselstrasse 22, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

  • *felix.gaisbauer@mis.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. E 102, 042303 – Published 6 October, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.102.042303

Abstract

Modeling efforts in opinion dynamics have to a large extent ignored that opinion exchange between individuals can also have an effect on how willing they are to express their opinion publicly. Here, we introduce a model of public opinion expression. Two groups of agents with different opinion on an issue interact with each other, changing the willingness to express their opinion according to whether they perceive themselves as part of the majority or minority opinion. We formulate the model as a multigroup majority game and investigate the Nash equilibria. We also provide a dynamical systems perspective: Using the reinforcement learning algorithm of Q-learning, we reduce the N-agent system in a mean-field approach to two dimensions which represent the two opinion groups. This two-dimensional system is analyzed in a comprehensive bifurcation analysis of its parameters. The model identifies social-structural conditions for public opinion predominance of different groups. Among other findings, we show under which circumstances a minority can dominate public discourse.

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Phys. Rev. E 102, 042303– Published 6 October, 2020
  • Received 5 February 2020
  • Accepted 4 September 2020
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.

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