Consensus for Expressed and Private Opinions under Self-Persuasion

Abstract

As recognized in psychological research, there is often a difference between an agent’s expressed opinion and private opinion (or belief). This occurs for different reasons, such as political correctness or peer pressure. The opinion expressed by an agent is the result of pressure to follow the (average) opinions expressed by the group to which the agent belongs, or to follow group norms. The agent’s private opinion is unknown to others, but evolved under the influence of other agents’ expressed opinions. This paper proposes an opinion formation model based on the theory of bounded confidence, and studies the dynamic process of expressed and private opinions in time-varying networks. At the same time, the self-persuasion effect of agents in the dissonance between expressed and private opinions is considered. Here, group pressure establishes the motive force from private opinion to expressed opinion, while self-persuasion establishes the reverse connection. We find that group pressure can effectively reduce the gap of opinions between the group, but does not always promote consensus. Furthermore, the self-persuasion effect of agents can ensure the realization of group consensus.