Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The advent of social media has profoundly influenced how public opinion is formed and consolidated. This paper delves into the intricate dynamics of opinion stabilization within various network structures and examines the role of conformity in the opinion formation process. Drawing on existing theoretical frameworks, including social psychology and evolutionary game theory, this study uses agent-based modeling to simulate opinion dynamics across different network topologies. This study compares the mean stabilization times across basic structures (star, ring, tree) and complex structures (Barabási–Albert, Watts-Strogatz, Scale-Free, random graph), considering variations in group size. For simple social networks, linear model analysis indicates that a larger network size, a larger network diameter, smaller density, and higher measures of betweenness, degree, closeness, and eigenvector centralities are statistically significant in relation to longer average opinion stabilization times. For complex structures, linear model analysis indicates that a larger network size, a smaller network diameter, larger density, and higher measures of degree, closeness, and eigenvector centralities, along with lower measures of betweenness centrality, are statistically significant in relation to longer average opinion stabilization times.
Author: Zhiwei Liu
Institution: Duke Kunshan University
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4407823024