Berlin 2018 – scientific programme
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SOE: Fachverband Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme
SOE 12: Focus Session: Opinion Formation and Voter Models
SOE 12.4: Talk
Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 14:45–15:00, MA 001
Zealotry Effects on Opinion Dynamics in the Adaptive Voter Model — •Pascal Klamser1, 2, 3, Marc Wiedermann3, 4, Jonathan F. Donges3, 5, and Reik V. Donner3 — 1Institute for Theoretical Biology, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin — 2Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin — 3Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research — 4Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin — 5Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
The adaptive voter model has been widely studied as a conceptual model for opinion formation processes on time-evolving social networks. Past studies on the effect of zealots, i.e., nodes whose opinon is fixed, only considered the voter model on a static network. Here, we extend the study of zealotry to the case of an adaptive network topology co-evolving with the state of the nodes. Numerical simulations reveal that below the fragmentation threshold a low density of zealots is sufficient to spread their opinion to the whole network. Beyond the transition point, zealots must exhibit an increased degree as compared to ordinary nodes for an efficient spreading of their opinion. The numerical findings are verified using a mean-field approximation. Our results imply that the spreading of the zealots’ opinion in the adaptive voter model is strongly dependent on the link rewiring probability and the average degree of normal nodes in comparison with that of the zealots. In order to avoid a complete dominance of the zealots’ opinion the remaining nodes can adjust the probability of rewiring and/or the number of connections with other nodes.