Abstract
In this paper Nowak–Szamrej–Latané model is reconsidered. This computerised model of opinion formation bases on Latané theory of social impact. We modify this model to allow for multi (more than two) opinions. With computer simulations we show that in the modified model the signatures of order/disorder phase transition are still observed. The transition may be observed in the average fraction of actors sharing the ith opinion, its variation and also average number of clusters of actors with the same opinion and the average size of the largest cluster of actors sharing the same opinion. Also an influence of model control parameters on simulation results is shortly reviewed. For a homogeneous society with identical actors’ supportiveness and persuasiveness the critical social temperature TC decreases with an increase of the number of available opinions K from TC = 6.1 (K = 2) via 4.7, 4.1 to TC = 3.6 for K = 3, 4, 5, respectively. The social temperature plays a role of a standard Boltzmann distribution parameter containing social impact as the equivalent of energy or one may think about it just as on a noise parameter.Graphical abstract
Highlights
Simulations of opinion dynamics [1] are core subject of sociophysics [2,3], an interdisciplinary field of research in complex systems directly connected to computational sociology
Numerous examples of such research are published in interdisciplinary sections of physical journals [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11], and in journals devoted to computational sociology [12,13,14,15,16,17,18]
We propose multi-choice opinion dynamics model based on Latane [57,58,59] theory
Summary
Simulations of opinion dynamics [1] are core subject of sociophysics [2,3], an interdisciplinary field of research in complex systems directly connected to computational sociology. The second group of models deals with continuous opinions [12,14,15,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34] Another classification of opinion dynamics models may be based on geometry of underlying network of connections among actors. Basing on this criteria we can deal with continuous (plane-like) [6,13,35,36] or discrete geometry. With computer simulation we show that in the system with the long-range interactions among actors and more than two opinions the order–disorder phase transition is observed
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