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arXiv · 1008.0901

Convergence to global consensus in opinion dynamics under a nonlinear voter model

Han-Xin Yang·Wen-Xu Wang·Ying-Cheng Lai·Bing-Hong Wang
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Abstract

We propose a nonlinear voter model to study the emergence of global consensus in opinion dynamics. In our model, agent $i$ agrees with one of binary opinions with the probability that is a power function of the number of agents holding this opinion among agent $i$ and its nearest neighbors, where an adjustable parameter $\alpha$ controls the effect of herd behavior on consensus. We find that there exists an optimal value of $\alpha$ leading to the fastest consensus for lattices, random graphs, small-world networks and scale-free networks. Qualitative insights are obtained by examining the spatiotemporal evolution of the opinion clusters.

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Han-Xin Yang, Wen-Xu Wang, Ying-Cheng Lai, Bing-Hong Wang. 2010-08-05. Convergence to global consensus in opinion dynamics under a nonlinear voter model. https://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0901

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