When open mindedness hinders consensus.

ABSTRACT: We perform a detailed study of the Hegselmann-Krause bounded confidence opinion dynamics model with heterogeneousconfidence ε_i drawn from uniform distributions in different intervals [ε₁, ε_u]. The phase diagram reveals a highly complex andnon-monotonous behaviour, with a re-entrant consensus phase in the region where fragmentation into multiple distinct opinionsis expected for the homogeneous case. A careful exploration of the phase diagram, along with an extensive finite-size analysis,allows us to identify the mechanism leading to this counter-intuitive behaviour. This systematic study over system sizes whichgo well beyond those of previous works, is enabled by an efficient algorithm presented in this article.

SUBMITTER: Schawe H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7237493 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature