The negative information-epidemic coupling model based on individual emotional responses in multiplex network

Individuals express diverse emotional responses to negative information and epidemics, which significantly influence both information diffusion and epidemic transmission. This study develops a coupling model based on individual emotional responses to analyze the interplay between negative information diffusion and epidemic transmission in a multiplex network. Emotional responses are classified as anxious and fair reactions. In the information layer, an individual's emotional response, determined by the threshold function, influences the strength of information diffusion. In the epidemic layer, the emotional responses of infected individuals are modeled using a linear function to describe their effect on recovery rates. A Markov chain approach is employed to analyze the epidemic outbreak threshold and estimate the final epidemic size. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that anxious individuals who are aware of the epidemic facilitate the diffusion of negative information. A higher proportion of anxious individuals accelerates epidemic transmission, lowers the outbreak threshold, and increases the final epidemic size. Furthermore, the effect of emotional responses on information diffusion is largely related to the neighborhood of the surrounding anxious response. In addition, infected individuals with anxious emotional responses are more sensitive to the effects of epidemic recovery rates. Reducing the anxiety of infected individuals and guiding the public to cope with the outbreak rationally will be beneficial for promoting the recovery of infected individuals and will also help to control the transmission of the epidemic.