The influence of emotional tendency on the dissemination and evolution of opinions in two-layer social networks

Abstract

To investigate the influence of emotional tendency on the dissemination and evolution of opinions, in this paper, we first propose a novel algorithm to construct a two-layer social networks, who is composed of a strong-tie subnet and a weak-tie subnet. Considering the weights on the strong-tie and weak-tie networks and the subjective emotional tendencies of individuals, the HK model with emotional tendency (i.e. E-HK model), the weight HK model (i.e. WHK model), and the weight HK model with emotional tendency (i.e. E-WHK model) are put forward. Finally, according to the algorithm and the E-WHK model newly presented, we use the seventh census data to construct a social network, and explore individuals' opinion evolution, as well as the influence of three factors, including the level of subjective emotional tendency, the trust radius, and the proportions of individuals with different emotional tendencies. Abundant simulations demonstrate that the E-WHK model can explain the dissemination and evolution of opinions very well. In addition, the greater the level of emotional tendency, the faster the convergence of individuals’ opinions. Increasing the trust radius will make completely positive and negative opinions decrease. Enhancing the proportion of optimists/pessimists, most individuals' ultimate opinions tend to be completely positive/negative. The results of this paper provide theoretical methods and analytical tools for managers in guiding public sentiment during public events.