# Opinion dynamics: models, extensions and external effects

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.06326 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.06326/

## Key facts

- Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 20 May 2016.

## Built on by (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [When Your AI Agent Succumbs to Peer-Pressure: Studying Opinion-Change Dynamics of LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.19107/) (2025)
- [AI-Mediated Communication Can Steer Collective Opinion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.16245/) (2026)
- [All Polarized but Still Different: a Multi-factorial Metric to Discriminate between Polarization Behaviors on Social Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.04603/) (2023)
- [The Anatomy Spread of Online Opinion Polarization: The Pivotal Role of Super-Spreaders in Social Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.01349/) (2023)
- [Note: Evolutionary Game Theory Focus Informational Health: The Cocktail Party Effect Through Werewolfgame under Incomplete Information and ESS Search Method Using Expected Gains of Repeated Dilemmas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.18598/) (2024)
- [Entanglement: Balancing Punishment and Compensation, Repeated Dilemma Game-Theoretic Analysis of Maximum Compensation Problem for Bypass and Least Cost Paths in Fact-Checking, Case of Fake News with Weak Wallace's Law](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02342/) (2024)
- [Note: Harnessing Tellurium Nanoparticles in the Digital Realm Plasmon Resonance, in the Context of Brewster's Angle and the Drude Model for Fake News Adsorption in Incomplete Information Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03239/) (2024)
- [Plasmon Resonance Model: Investigation of Analysis of Fake News Diffusion Model with Third Mover Intervention Using Soliton Solution in Non-Complete Information Game under Repeated Dilemma Condition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05585/) (2024)
- [Introducing First-Principles Calculations: New Approach to Group Dynamics and Bridging Social Phenomena in TeNP-Chain Based Social Dynamics Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05593/) (2024)
- [Collective Opinion Dynamics in Structured LLM Populations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11312/) (2026)
- [Social Simulations: from Agent-Based Modeling to Digital Twins](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.13693/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recently, social phenomena have received a lot of attention not only from social scientists, but also from physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists, in the emerging interdisciplinary field of complex system science. Opinion dynamics is one of the processes studied, since opinions are the drivers of human behaviour, and play a crucial role in many global challenges that our complex world and societies are facing: global financial crises, global pandemics, growth of cities, urbanisation and migration patterns, and last but not least important, climate change and environmental sustainability and protection. Opinion formation is a complex process affected by the interplay of different elements, including the individual predisposition, the influence of positive and negative peer interaction (social networks playing a crucial role in this respect), the information each individual is exposed to, and many others. Several models inspired from those in use in physics have been developed to encompass many of these elements, and to allow for the identification of the mechanisms involved in the opinion formation process and the understanding of their role, with the practical aim of simulating opinion formation and spreading under various conditions. These modelling schemes range from binary simple models such as the voter model, to multi-dimensional continuous approaches. Here, we provide a review of recent methods, focusing on models employing both peer interaction and external information, and emphasising the role that less studied mechanisms, such as disagreement, has in driving the opinion dynamics. [...]
