Dynamics of social contagions with heterogeneous adoption thresholds: Crossover phenomena in phase transition

Abstract

Heterogeneous adoption thresholds exist widely in social contagions, but were always neglected in previous studies. We first propose a non-Markovian spreading threshold model with general adoption threshold distribution. In order to understand the effects of heterogeneous adoption thresholds quantitatively, an edge-based compartmental theory is developed for the proposed model. We use a binary spreading threshold model as a specific example, in which some individuals have a low adoption threshold (i.e., activists) while the remaining ones hold a relatively high adoption threshold (i.e., bigots), to demonstrate that heterogeneous adoption thresholds markedly affect the final adoption size and phase transition. Interestingly, the first-order, second-order and hybrid phase transitions can be found in the system. More importantly, there are two different kinds of crossover phenomena in phase transition for distinct values of bigots' adoption threshold: a change from first-order or hybrid phase transition to the second-order phase transition. The theoretical predictions based on the suggested theory agree very well with the results of numerical simulations.

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• Synergistic interactions promote behavior spreading and alter phase transition on multiplex networks
• Social contagions on weighted networks
• Multiple peaks patterns of epidemic spreading in multi-layer networks
• A generalized linear threshold model for an improved description of the spreading dynamics
• Social contagion with degree-dependent thresholds
• Insights into bootstrap percolation: Its equivalence with k-core percolation and the giant component
• Sudden spreading of infections in an epidemic model with a finite seed fraction
• Double transitions and hysteresis in heterogeneous contagion processes