An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions

In many social situations, a discrepancy arises between an individual's private and expressed opinions on a given topic. Motivated by Solomon Asch's seminal experiments on social conformity and other related socio-psychological works, we propose a novel opinion dynamics model to study how...

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Main Authors: Ye, Mengbin, Qin, Y., Govaert, A., Anderson, B.D.O., Cao, M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160104500
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83247
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author Ye, Mengbin
Qin, Y.
Govaert, A.
Anderson, B.D.O.
Cao, M.
author_facet Ye, Mengbin
Qin, Y.
Govaert, A.
Anderson, B.D.O.
Cao, M.
author_sort Ye, Mengbin
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In many social situations, a discrepancy arises between an individual's private and expressed opinions on a given topic. Motivated by Solomon Asch's seminal experiments on social conformity and other related socio-psychological works, we propose a novel opinion dynamics model to study how such a discrepancy can arise in general social networks of interpersonal influence. Each individual in the network has both a private and an expressed opinion: an individual's private opinion evolves under social influence from the expressed opinions of the individual's neighbours, while the individual determines his or her expressed opinion under a pressure to conform to the average expressed opinion of his or her neighbours, termed the local public opinion. General conditions on the network that guarantee exponentially fast convergence of the opinions to a limit are obtained. Further analysis of the limit yields several semi-quantitative conclusions, which have insightful social interpretations, including the establishing of conditions that ensure every individual in the network has such a discrepancy. Last, we show the generality and validity of the model by using it to explain and predict the results of Solomon Asch's seminal experiments.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-832472021-06-24T04:02:05Z An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions Ye, Mengbin Qin, Y. Govaert, A. Anderson, B.D.O. Cao, M. Science & Technology Technology Automation & Control Systems Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering Opinion dynamics Social network analysis Networks Agent-based model Social conformity PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE SOCIAL-INFLUENCE DYNAMICS CONSENSUS EVOLUTION TUTORIAL POWER In many social situations, a discrepancy arises between an individual's private and expressed opinions on a given topic. Motivated by Solomon Asch's seminal experiments on social conformity and other related socio-psychological works, we propose a novel opinion dynamics model to study how such a discrepancy can arise in general social networks of interpersonal influence. Each individual in the network has both a private and an expressed opinion: an individual's private opinion evolves under social influence from the expressed opinions of the individual's neighbours, while the individual determines his or her expressed opinion under a pressure to conform to the average expressed opinion of his or her neighbours, termed the local public opinion. General conditions on the network that guarantee exponentially fast convergence of the opinions to a limit are obtained. Further analysis of the limit yields several semi-quantitative conclusions, which have insightful social interpretations, including the establishing of conditions that ensure every individual in the network has such a discrepancy. Last, we show the generality and validity of the model by using it to explain and predict the results of Solomon Asch's seminal experiments. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83247 10.1016/j.automatica.2019.05.059 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160104500 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Technology
Automation & Control Systems
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Engineering
Opinion dynamics
Social network analysis
Networks
Agent-based model
Social conformity
PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE
SOCIAL-INFLUENCE
DYNAMICS
CONSENSUS
EVOLUTION
TUTORIAL
POWER
Ye, Mengbin
Qin, Y.
Govaert, A.
Anderson, B.D.O.
Cao, M.
An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions
title An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions
title_full An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions
title_fullStr An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions
title_full_unstemmed An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions
title_short An influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions
title_sort influence network model to study discrepancies in expressed and private opinions
topic Science & Technology
Technology
Automation & Control Systems
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Engineering
Opinion dynamics
Social network analysis
Networks
Agent-based model
Social conformity
PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE
SOCIAL-INFLUENCE
DYNAMICS
CONSENSUS
EVOLUTION
TUTORIAL
POWER
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160104500
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83247