arXiv subjects

Corbit R. Sampson

Publications and source records attributed to Corbit R. Sampson.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Low-dimensional Dynamics of the Social Compass Model

The social compass model has been recently proposed as a model for depolarization in populations where individuals have multiple, possibly correlated, opinions. Previous work has focused on the steady state of this model, but has not addressed the dynamics leading to depolarization. We show that the macroscopic dynamics of the social compass model can be described using the Ott-Antonsen Ansatz and that, for initially clustered opinions, the resulting equations reduce to a finite-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations. We study the linear stability of the polarized state and find a dispersion relation for the growth rate of perturbations from this state. We find that the critical coupling for depolarization depends only on the first inverse moment of the conviction distribution, whereas the rate of depolarization depends on higher moments. Consequently, conviction distributions with the same critical coupling can exhibit vastly different depolarization timescales. We also demonstrate how our analysis can be extended to study depolarization in the presence of community structure.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2025

Oscillatory and Excitable Dynamics in an Opinion Model with Group Opinions

In traditional models of opinion dynamics, each agent in a network has an opinion and changes in opinions arise from pairwise (i.e., dyadic) interactions between agents. However, in many situations, groups of individuals possess a collective opinion that can differ from the opinions of its constituent individuals. In this paper, we study the effects of group opinions on opinion dynamics. We formulate a hypergraph model in which both individual agents and groups of 3 agents have opinions, and we examine how opinions evolve through both dyadic interactions and group memberships. In some parameter regimes, we find that the presence of group opinions can lead to oscillatory and excitable opinion dynamics. In the oscillatory regime, the mean opinion of the agents in a network has self-sustained oscillations. In the excitable regime, finite-size effects create large but short-lived opinion swings (as in social fads). We develop a mean-field approximation of our model and obtain good agreement with direct numerical simulations. We also show -- both numerically and via our mean-field description -- that oscillatory dynamics occur only when the number of dyadic and polyadic interactions per agent are not completely correlated. Our results illustrate how polyadic structures, such as groups of agents, can have important effects on collective opinion dynamics.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2025

Competing Social Contagions with Opinion Dependent Infectivity

The spread of disinformation (maliciously spread false information) in online social networks has become an important problem in today's society. Disinformation's spread is facilitated by the fact that individuals often accept false information based on cognitive biases which predispose them to believe information that they have heard repeatedly or that aligns with their beliefs. Moreover, disinformation often spreads in direct competition with a corresponding true information. To model these phenomena, we develop a model for two competing beliefs spreading on a social network, where individuals have an internal opinion that models their cognitive biases and modulates their likelihood of adopting one of the competing beliefs. By numerical simulations of an agent-based model and a mean-field description of the dynamics, we study how the long-term dynamics of the spreading process depends on the initial conditions for the number of spreaders and the initial opinion of the population. We find that the addition of cognitive biases enriches the transient dynamics of the spreading process, facilitating behavior such as the revival of a dying belief and the overturning of an initially widespread opinion. Finally, we study how external recruitment of spreaders can lead to the eventual dominance of one of the two beliefs.

physics.soc-ph↗