Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 22, 2025

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
A network model for polarization of political opinion
Desmond J Higham1, Alexander V Mantzaris2
1School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We propose and study a simple model for the evolution of political opinion through a population. The model includes a nonlinear term that causes individuals with more extreme views to be less receptive to external influence. Such a term was suggested in 1981 by Cobb in the context of a scalar-valued diffusion equation, and recent empirical studies support this modeling assumption. Here, we use the same philosophy in a network-based model. This allows us to incorporate the pattern of pairwise social interactions present in the population. We show that the model can admit two distinct stable steady states. This bi-stability property is seen to support polarization and can also make the long-term behavior of the system extremely sensitive to the initial conditions and to the precise connectivity structure. Computational results are given to illustrate these effects.
Related Concept Videos
Group Polarization
Stereotype Content Model
Potential Due to a Polarized Object
Routes of Persuasion
Relationship Formation
Polarity of the Cytoskeleton

