Coevolutionary opinion dynamics with sparse interactions in open-ended societies

Abstract

Opinion dynamics is a crucial topic in complex social systems. However, existing models rarely study limited information accessibility, sparse interactions, and the coevolution of opinion and an open-ended structure. In this paper, we propose the Sparse COevolutionary Open-Ended (SCOOE) model. We address the sparse interaction limitation through extrinsic collective interaction and intrinsic observation based on incomplete neighborhood information. We also consider the coevolution of opinion and open-ended structure by studying structure-opinion co-dynamics when dissidents are leaving and when newcomers with novel opinions are joining. From an opinion dynamics perspective, we find that the proposed mechanisms effectively form lean and fast decision strategies to reduce conflicts under uncertainty. The model is robust in boosting and enhancing a global consensus with only small odds of extreme results. The structure evolves toward a small-world network. We find that an emergent dialectic relationship exists between community segregation and community cohesion viewed from a structural dynamics perspective. We also study the influence of agent heterogeneity under different cognitive ability distributions.