Monte Carlo Simulations of Opinion Dynamics.pdfVIP

February 2, 2008 12:26 Proceedings Trim Size: 9.75in x 6.5in socio 5 0 0 2 n a J 6 MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS OF OPINION DYNAMICS ] h c e S. FORTUNATO m Fakult¨at f¨ur Physik, Universit¨at Bielefeld, t- D-33501, Bielefeld, Germany a and t s Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia and INFN sezione di Catania, t. Universit´a di Catania, a Catania I-95123, Italy m E-mail: fortunat@physik.uni-bielefeld.de - d n We briefly introduce a new promising field of applications of statistical physics, opin- o ion dynamics, where the systems at study are social groups or communities and the c atoms/spins are the individuals (or agents) belonging to such groups. The opinion of [ each agent is modeled by a number, integer or real, and simple rules determine how the opinions vary as a consequence of discussions between people. Monte Carlo simulations 1 of consensus models lead to patterns of self-organization among the agents which fairly v well reproduce the trends observed in real social systems. 5 0 1 1 1. Introduction 0 5 Statistical physics teaches us that, even when it is impossible to foresee what a single 0 particle will do, one can often predict how a sufficiently large number of parti