Abstract
Despite tendencies toward convergence, differences between individuals
and groups continue to exist in beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.
An agent-based adaptive model reveals the effects of a mechanism
of convergent social influence. The actors are placed at fixed sites.
The basic premise is that the more similar an actor is to a neighbor,
the more likely that that actor will adopt one of the neighbor's
traits. Unlike previous models of social influence or cultural change
that treat features one at a time, the proposed model takes into
account the interaction between different features. The model illustrates
how local convergence can generate global polarization. Simulations
show that the number of stable homogeneous regions decreases with
the number of features, increases with the number of alternative
traits per feature, decreases with the range of interaction, and
(most surprisingly) decreases when the geographic territory grows
beyond a certain size.
Users
Please
log in to take part in the discussion (add own reviews or comments).