Opinion formation in the presence of hidden internal opinions and possibility of influencing them

Kristina O. Urtyakova, Elena M. Parilina

Saint Petersburg State University, Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes

Abstract: The paper proposes a modified concealed voter model $MCVM$, in which each agent in the network is represented by two vertices corresponding to her external (public) and internal (hidden) opinion. Agents exchange opinions in the external layer, and also copy the internal opinion into the external layer and vice versa. In our work, one more action has been added — transmitting the external opinion of the agent to another agent in the internal layer. We find a formula to calculate the average time to reach consensus and compare them for $MCVM$ and $CVM$. The results of numerical simulations of the process of opinion dynamics according to the proposed $MCVM$ model are presented.

Keywords: opinion dynamics, consensus, time to consensus, basic voter model, concealed voter model.

UDC: 519.87
BBK: 22.18

Received: 08.04.2024
Revised: 23.10.2024
Accepted: 28.01.2025