Monte Carlo Simulation of Deffuant opinion dynamics with quality differences

TL;DR

This paper investigates how systematic differences in opinion qualities influence the outcomes of the Deffuant opinion dynamics model, revealing that higher quality opinions tend to dominate and require more tolerance for consensus.

Contribution

It introduces the effect of systematically assigned opinion qualities into the Deffuant model and analyzes their impact on opinion distribution and consensus formation.

Findings

High-quality opinions often become dominant.

Systematic quality differences increase the tolerance needed for consensus.

Random quality distribution shows no significant behavioral change.

Abstract

In this work the consequences of different opinion qualities in the Deffuant model were examined. If these qualities are randomly distributed, no different behavior was observed. In contrast to that, systematically assigned qualities had strong effects to the final opinion distribution. There was a high probability that the strongest opinion was one with a high quality. Furthermore, under the same conditions, this major opinion was much stronger than in the models without systematic differences. Finally, a society with systematic quality differences needed more tolerance to form a complete consensus than one without or with unsystematic ones.