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Discrete Model of Opinion Changes Using Knowledge and Emotions as Control Variables

Figure 8

Examples of dependence of the distribution of final composition of society (agent states ) on the ratio of propaganda messages to the total number of agents.

Bottom panel: pure , which shows a gradual increase of the number of agitated agents without significant change of opinion. The mixed case (, top panel) and the pure case (middle panel) show a sudden transition between the ‘paradoxical’ state (in which the propaganda presence strengthens the opposite view and the case where propaganda actually succeeds in convincing a majority of the agents). This transition occurs for certain value of the , which depends on the initial composition of . The transition is related to the existence of a long lived metastable state (see Fig. 9), which suggests a phase transition due to symmetry breaking by the external influence of propaganda messages.

Figure 8

doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044489.g008