Binary Opinion Space in the SCARDO Model: Precise Analytical Description

Abstract

The paper presents the analysis of the SCARDO model in the case of the binary opinion space. The model itself and the conditions under which the analysis is performed are thoroughly described and discussed. Analytical solutions are found for the mean field approximation. The fixed points as well as their stability properties are characterized. Furthermore, we precisely describe the hyperplane in the parameter space that defines which opinion will gather more supporters. Extensive computational experiments are performed to demonstrate the applicability of our theoretical results. Experiments suggest that the mean-field approximation can fairly accurately predict the behavior of the model by anticipating the situations when the agents cannot make anticonformity-type opinion changes. At the end of the paper, we point out the possible direction for future studies.