Opinion polarization in the Receipt-Accept-Sample model

TL;DR

This paper reformulates the Zaller opinion formation model with a new parameter, revealing how message reception and ideological distance influence awareness, correlations, and extremism in opinion dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a reformulated model with a free parameter, providing numerical insights into transient effects like awareness growth, message correlation, and opinion extremism.

Findings

Awareness increases exponentially then linearly over time.

Small μ leads to stronger message correlations.

Correlations cause hyperdiffusion in attitude space.

Abstract

The Zaller theory of opinion formation is reformulated with one free parameter $\mu$, which measures the largest possible ideological distance which can be made by a citizen in one mental step. Our numerical results show the transient effects: {\it i)} the political awareness, measured by the number of received messages, increases with time first exponentially, later linearly; {\it ii)} for small $\mu$ correlations are present between previously and newly received messages; {\it iii)} these correlation lead to a hyperdiffusion effect in the space of attitudes of messages. Citizens with small $\mu$ are more prone to extremal opinions.