Artículo de revista
A maximum entropy model for opinions in social groups
Fecha
2014Registro en:
Eur. Phys. J. B (2014) 87: 78
DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2014-40918-6
Autor
Davis, Sergio
Navarrete, Yasmín
Gutiérrez Gallardo, Gonzalo
Institución
Resumen
We study how the opinions of a group of individuals determine their spatial distribution and
connectivity, through an agent-based model. The interaction between agents is described by a Hamiltonian
in which agents are allowed to move freely without an underlying lattice (the average network topology
connecting them is determined from the parameters). This kind of model was derived using maximum
entropy statistical inference under fixed expectation values of certain probabilities that (we propose) are
relevant to social organization. Control parameters emerge as Lagrange multipliers of the maximum entropy
problem, and they can be associated with the level of consequence between the personal beliefs and external
opinions, and the tendency to socialize with peers of similar or opposing views. These parameters define
a phase diagram for the social system, which we studied using Monte Carlo Metropolis simulations. Our
model presents both first and second-order phase transitions, depending on the ratio between the internal
consequence and the interaction with others. We have found a critical value for the level of internal
consequence, below which the personal beliefs of the agents seem to be irrelevant.