Abstract
The social identity theory proposed by Tajfel et al. provides insight into how group membership and self-categorization cause intergroup prejudice and discrimination, finally leading to social conflicts. However, unanswered questions remain: under what conditions can an “in-group” and an “out-group” transform conflictual intergroup behavior into a more harmonious relationship and avoid social conflict? Opinion dynamics theory and social simulation are appropriate methods to answer this question. In this study, a new model of opinion dynamics proposed by Ishii is adopted, and we conduct simulations of intergroup conflicts. The new model, along with social simulations, presents how an in-group and an out-group can develop social harmony and avoid social conflict. According to our simulations, when the two groups trust their members 100%, the opinion inside an in-group converges. However, intragroup opinion diverges as trust within the group gets lower. On the other hand, intergroup opinion converges when the intergroup trust is higher than 50%. If intergroup trust is higher than 80%, then the intergroup opinions of the two perfectly overlap. Furthermore, if intragroup trust is 70% and intergroup trust is as low as 50%, the two groups' opinions completely polarize. We also calculated additional cases where intragroup trust was fixed at 70%, but for one-third of an in-group member trust an out-group with various values. Finally, a method to avoid further social crises can be obtained by examining real-world cases of partisan conflicts in recent America.
Highlights
Throughout world history, too many cases of social conflict have been observed
Social identity theory is critical because it offers a foundation for understanding how group membership and selfcategorization cause intergroup prejudice and discrimination, and they lead to social conflicts [2]
A complete consensus building occurs when intergroup trusts are as high as 80% (Figure 6G)
Summary
Throughout world history, too many cases of social conflict have been observed. By examining cases of social conflicts, we can develop a method to avoid further social crises. In deciding which group to support, they identify the social group they belong to as their “in-group” and distinguish other groups as “out-groups,” often in harmful or discriminative ways [6] They strengthen a sense of unity with the party members of the in-group and start to support its issues. Social identity theory is critical because it offers a foundation for understanding how group membership and selfcategorization cause intergroup prejudice and discrimination, and they lead to social conflicts [2]. Based on the bounded confidence model [9,10,11], opinion dynamics can present how an in-group and an out-group can develop social harmony and avoid social conflict. With the opinion dynamics model and social simulations, the social identity theory helps understand how consensus within social groups is formed, and intergroup conflicts arise or mitigate. We assume that a society consists of two groups, and the severity of the conflict between the two is related to the intragroup and intergroup relatability
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