Weighted Balance Model of Issue Alignment and Polarization 1.0.0
This model is pertinent to our JASSS publication “Raising the Spectrum of Polarization: Generating Issue Alignment with a Weighted Balance Opinion Dynamics Model”. It shows how, based on the mechanisms of our Weighted Balance Theory (a development of Fritz Heider’s Cognitive Balance Theory), agents can self-organize in a multi-dimensional opinion space and form an emergent ideological spectrum. The degree of issue alignment and polarization realized by the model depends mainly on the agent-specific ‘equanimity parameter’ epsilon.
Release Notes
The model code is in form of a Jupyter Notebook, and runs with Python 3. Required packages are os, numpy, scipy, matplotlib, and sklearn. They are all part of the standard Anaconda distribution.