Adapted Deffuant–Weisbuch model with implicit and explicit opinions

Abstract

It is noted in the psychology literature that a discrepancy may exist between individuals’ implicit opinions and their explicit opinions (or beliefs) on a matter due to political correctness or peer pressures. This study proposes an adaptation of the Deffuant–Weisbuch model that incorporates both implicit and explicit opinions to investigate the evolution of opinions in a population. In our proposed model, we also consider the scenario where an opinion leader exists. We present a theoretical analysis of opinion convergence and consensus in our proposed model and prove a result on the occurrence of “strong diversity” in opinions. We further show that with the existence of an opinion leader, the model will predict a convergence to consensus. Finally, we show the emergence of a strong diversity of opinions in the population for model-based networks and square networks using Monte Carlo simulations.