Model For Dissemination Of Culture Research Articles

Polarization inhibits the phase transition of Axelrod's model.

We study the effect of polarization in Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination. This is done through the introduction of a cultural feature that takes only two values, while the other features can present a larger number of possible traits. Our numerical results and mean-field approximations show that polarization reduces the characteristic phase transition of the original model to a finite-size effect, since at the thermodynamic limit only the ordered phase is present. Furthermore, for finite system sizes, the stationary state depends on the percolation threshold of the network where the model is implemented: a polarized phase is obtained for percolation thresholds below 1/2, and a fragmented multicultural one otherwise.

Homophily dynamics outweigh network topology in an extended Axelrod’s Cultural Dissemination Model

Personal social networks reveal potential sources of dyadic social influence. Social influence is picked up as a main principle of Axelrod’s model of cultural dissemination. Even though social influence is performed via social networks, the model is generally just run on a regular lattice instead of more complex network topologies. In this paper, we analyse a concurrent extension to Axelrod’s model for opinion-based groups, and explore the performance of changing the network topology.Our objective is to seed the Axelrod model with attitudinal survey data as an empirical data application. In the model, the culture is a set of features which in turn is defined by a set of traits. Respectively, in survey data, the attitudes are captured by items with a fixed set of response options. The direct correspondence of the structure of survey data to the model makes it an ideal candidate. Here, we simulate and analyse the extended Axelrod model to explore its dynamics and outcomes, with the standard Axelrod model results serving as a benchmark. As well as the lattice, which the Axelrod model is usually simulated on, we test other network topologies. The conducted simulations explore the parameter space for the uniformly distributed models, and draw parallels between the results, when applying it to an empirical, attitudinal data set.After assessing the level of impact of the network structures, we conclude that there is almost no influence of the underlying network structure on the macro level outcomes. The reason seems to be that the homophily structure among the individuals outweighs the impact of the network topology in the long run simulations. Under the premise, that the number of features is higher than the number of traits and that the system size is limited, the extended Axelrod model can be used to simulate attitudes from a survey — without specifying the underlying network.

Analytical approach to the Axelrod model based on similarity vectors.

Complex problems of social interaction are usually studied within the framework of agent-based models. Some of these problems, such as issue alignment and opinion polarization, are better suited in the framework of n-dimensional opinion space. Although this kind of complex problem may be explored by numerical simulations, these simulations can hinder our ability to obtain general results. In this work, we show how, under certain conditions, a classical multidimensional opinion model such as the Axelrod model can give rise to a closed set of master equations in terms of vector similarities between agents. The analytical results fully agree with the simulations on complete networks, accurately predict the similarity distribution of the whole system in sparse topologies, and provide a good approximation of the similarity of physical links that improves when the mean degree of the system increases.

Agreement threshold on Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination.

Shared opinions are an important feature in the formation of social groups. In this paper, we use the Axelrod model of cultural dissemination to represent opinion-based groups. In the Axelrod model, each agent has a set of features which each holds one of a set of nominally related traits. Survey data has a similar structure, where each participant answers each of a set of items with responses from a fixed list. We present an alternative method of displaying the Axelrod model by representing it as a bipartite graph, i.e., participants and their responses as separate nodes. This allows us to see which feature-trait combinations are selected in the final state. This visualisation is particularly useful when representing survey data as it illustrates the co-evolution of attitudes and opinion-based groups in Axelrod's model of cultural diffusion. We also present a modification to the Axelrod model. A standard finding of the Axelrod model with many features is for all agents to fully agree in one cluster. We introduce an agreement threshold and allow nodes to interact only with those neighbours who are within this threshold (i.e., those with similar opinions) rather than those with any opinion. This method reliably yields a large number of clusters for small agreement thresholds and, importantly, does not limit to single cluster when the number of features grows large. This potentially provides a method for modelling opinion-based groups where as opinions are added, the number of clusters increase.

Robustness of cultural communities in an open-ended Axelrod’s model

We consider an open-ended set of cultural features in the Axelrod model of cultural dissemination. By replacing the features in which a high degree of consensus is achieved by new ones, we address here an essential ingredient of societies: the evolution of topics as a result of social dynamics and debate. Our results show that, once cultural clusters have been formed, the introduction of new topics into the social debate has little effect on them, but it does have a significant influence on the cultural overlap. Along with the Monte Carlo simulations, we derive and numerically solve an equation for the stationary cultural overlap based on a mean-field approach which reproduces the qualitative behavior of the model.

Adapting Axelrod’s cultural dissemination model for simulating peer effects

We present a generic method for considering incomplete but gradually expandable sociological data in agent-based modeling based on the classic model of cultural dissemination by Axelrod. Our method extension was inspired by research on the diffusion of citizen photovoltaic initiatives, i.e. by initiatives in which citizens collectively invest in photovoltaic plants and share the profits. Owing to the absence of empirical interaction parameters, the Axelrod model was used as basis for considering peer effects with contrived interaction data that can be updated from empirical surveys later on. The Axelrod model was extended to cover the following additional features:•Consideration of empirical social science data for concrete social interaction.•Development of a variable and fine-tunable interaction function for agents.•Deployment of a generic procedure for modeling peer effects in agent-based models.

Culture and cooperation in a spatial public goods game.

We study the coevolution of culture and cooperation by combining the Axelrod model of cultural dissemination with a spatial public goods game, incorporating both noise and social influence. Both participation and cooperation in public goods games are conditional on cultural similarity. We find that a larger "scope of cultural possibilities" in the model leads to the survival of cooperation, when noise is not present, and a higher probability of a multicultural state evolving, for low noise rates. High noise rates, however, lead to both rapid extinction of cooperation and collapse into cultural "anomie," in which stable cultural regions fail to form. These results suggest that cultural diversity can actually be beneficial for the evolution of cooperation, but that cultural information needs to be transmitted accurately in order to maintain both coherent cultural groups and cooperation.

Setting the agenda: Different strategies of a Mass Media in a model of cultural dissemination

Day by day, people exchange opinions about a given new with relatives, friends, and coworkers. In most cases, they get informed about a given issue by reading newspapers, listening to the radio, or watching TV, i.e., through a Mass Media (MM). However, the importance of a given new can be stimulated by the Media by assigning newspaper's pages or time in TV programs. In this sense, we say that the Media has the power to "set the agenda", i.e., it decides which new is important and which is not. On the other hand, the Media can know people's concerns through, for instance, websites or blogs where they express their opinions, and then it can use this information in order to be more appealing to an increasing number of people. In this work, we study different scenarios in an agent-based model of cultural dissemination, in which a given Mass Media has a specific purpose: To set a particular topic of discussion and impose its point of view to as many social agents as it can. We model this by making the Media has a fixed feature, representing its point of view in the topic of discussion, while it tries to attract new consumers, by taking advantage of feedback mechanisms, represented by adaptive features. We explore different strategies that the Media can adopt in order to increase the affinity with potential consumers and then the probability to be successful in imposing this particular topic.

Diversity and Community Can Coexist.

We examine the (in)compatibility of diversity and sense of community by means of agent-based models based on the well-known Schelling model of residential segregation and Axelrod model of cultural dissemination. We find that diversity and highly clustered social networks, on the assumptions of social tie formation based on spatial proximity and homophily, are incompatible when agent features are immutable, and this holds even for multiple independent features. We include both mutable and immutable features into a model that integrates Schelling and Axelrod models, and we find that even for multiple independent features, diversity and highly clustered social networks can be incompatible on the assumptions of social tie formation based on spatial proximity and homophily. However, this incompatibility breaks down when cultural diversity can be sufficiently large, at which point diversity and clustering need not be negatively correlated. This implies that segregation based on immutable characteristics such as race can possibly be overcome by sufficient similarity on mutable characteristics based on culture, which are subject to a process of social influence, provided a sufficiently large "scope of cultural possibilities" exists.

Ultrametric distribution of culture vectors in an extended Axelrod model of cultural dissemination.

The Axelrod model of cultural diffusion is an apparently simple model that is capable of complex behaviour. A recent work used a real-world dataset of opinions as initial conditions, demonstrating the effects of the ultrametric distribution of empirical opinion vectors in promoting cultural diversity in the model. Here we quantify the degree of ultrametricity of the initial culture vectors and investigate the effect of varying degrees of ultrametricity on the absorbing state of both a simple and extended model. Unlike the simple model, ultrametricity alone is not sufficient to sustain long-term diversity in the extended Axelrod model; rather, the initial conditions must also have sufficiently large variance in intervector distances. Further, we find that a scheme for evolving synthetic opinion vectors from cultural “prototypes” shows the same behaviour as real opinion data in maintaining cultural diversity in the extended model; whereas neutral evolution of cultural vectors does not.

The co-evolution of cultures, social network communities, and agent locations in an extension of Axelrod’s model of cultural dissemination

We introduce a variant of the Axelrod model of cultural dissemination in which agents change their physical locations, social links, and cultures. Numerical simulations are used to investigate the evolution of social network communities and the cultural diversity within and between these communities. An analysis of the simulation results shows that an initial peak in the cultural diversity within network communities is evident before agents segregate into a final configuration of culturally homogeneous communities. Larger long-range interaction probabilities facilitate the initial emergence of culturally diverse network communities, which leads to a more pronounced initial peak in cultural diversity within communities. At equilibrium, the number of communities, and hence cultures, increases when the initial cultural diversity increases. However, the number of communities decreases when the lattice size or population density increases. A phase transition between two regimes of initial cultural diversity is evident. For initial diversities below a critical value, a single network community and culture emerges that dominates the population. For initial diversities above the critical value, multiple culturally homogeneous communities emerge. The critical value of initial diversity at which this transition occurs increases with increasing lattice size and population density and generally with increasing absolute population size. We conclude that larger initial diversities promote cultural heterogenization, while larger lattice sizes, population densities, and in fact absolute population sizes promote homogenization.

Coevolutionary network approach to cultural dynamics controlled by intolerance

Starting from Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination, we introduce a rewiring probability, enabling agents to cut the links with their unfriendly neighbors if their cultural similarity is below a tolerance parameter. For low values of tolerance, rewiring promotes the convergence to a frozen monocultural state. However, intermediate tolerance values prevent rewiring once the network is fragmented, resulting in a multicultural society even for values of initial cultural diversity in which the original Axelrod model reaches globalization.

Selective advantage of tolerant cultural traits in the Axelrod-Schelling model

The Axelrod-Schelling model incorporates into the original Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination the possibility that cultural agents placed in culturally dissimilar environments move to other places, the strength of this mobility being controlled by an intolerance parameter. By allowing heterogeneity in the intolerance of cultural agents, and considering it as a cultural feature, i.e., susceptible of cultural transmission (thus breaking the original symmetry of Axelrod-Schelling dynamics), we address here the question of whether tolerant or intolerant traits are more likely to become dominant in the long-term cultural dynamics. Our results show that tolerant traits possess a clear selective advantage in the framework of the Axelrod-Schelling model. We show that the reason for this selective advantage is the development, as time evolves, of a positive correlation between the number of neighbors that an agent has in its environment and its tolerant character.

Social interaction as a heuristic for combinatorial optimization problems

We investigate the performance of a variant of Axelrod's model for dissemination of culture--the Adaptive Culture Heuristic (ACH)--on solving an NP-Complete optimization problem, namely, the classification of binary input patterns of size F by a Boolean Binary Perceptron. In this heuristic, N agents, characterized by binary strings of length F which represent possible solutions to the optimization problem, are fixed at the sites of a square lattice and interact with their nearest neighbors only. The interactions are such that the agents' strings (or cultures) become more similar to the low-cost strings of their neighbors resulting in the dissemination of these strings across the lattice. Eventually the dynamics freezes into a homogeneous absorbing configuration in which all agents exhibit identical solutions to the optimization problem. We find through extensive simulations that the probability of finding the optimal solution is a function of the reduced variable F/N(¼) so that the number of agents must increase with the fourth power of the problem size, N∝F⁴, to guarantee a fixed probability of success. In this case, we find that the relaxation time to reach an absorbing configuration scales with F⁶ which can be interpreted as the overall computational cost of the ACH to find an optimal set of weights for a Boolean binary perceptron, given a fixed probability of success.

Residential segregation and cultural dissemination: An Axelrod-Schelling model

In the Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination, we consider the mobility of cultural agents through the introduction of a density of empty sites and the possibility that agents in a dissimilar neighborhood can move to them if their mean cultural similarity with the neighborhood is below some threshold. While for low values of the density of empty sites, the mobility enhances the convergence to a global culture, for high enough values of it, the dynamics can lead to the coexistence of disconnected domains of different cultures. In this regime, the increase in initial cultural diversity paradoxically increases the convergence to a dominant culture. Further increase in diversity leads to the fragmentation of the dominant culture into domains, forever changing in shape and number, as an effect of the never ending eroding activity of cultural minorities.