Emergence of moderate opinions as a consequence of group pressure

Abstract

In this work we study a continuous opinion dynamics model considering 3-agent interactions and group pressure. Agents interact in a fully-connected population, and two parameters govern the dynamics: the agents' convictions $\lambda$, that are homogeneous in the population, and the group pressure $p$. Stochastic parameters also drive the interactions. Our analytical and numerical results indicate that the model undergoes symmetry-breaking transitions at distinct critical points ${\lambda }_c$ for any value of $p<p^{\ast }=2/3$, i.e., the transition can be suppressed for sufficiently high group pressure. Such transition separates two phases: for any $\lambda \le {\lambda }_c$, the order parameter $O$ is identically null ($O=0$, a symmetric, absorbing phase), while for $\lambda >{\lambda }_c$, we have $O>0$, i.e., a symmetry-broken phase (ferromagnetic). The numerical simulations also reveal that the increase of group pressure leads to a wider distribution of opinions, decreasing the extremism in the population.

7 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. C