Publication Type

Conference Paper

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

11-2020

Abstract

Opinion diffusion is often simulated in agentbased models to reveal the perpetuation of norms and beliefs. This paper presents a dual attitude model where agents’ interaction, information search, and opinion formation are influenced by the need for cognitive closure (NFCC). Two experiments simulated topic advocacy with either high- or lowNFCC agents. Experiment one initiated societies with unbiased distribution of NFCC levels between advocates of two competing topics, while experiment two initiated biased distributions of NFCC levels between the topics. Results in the unbiased condition showed that the popularity of the majority topic increases over time in high NFCC societies while it decreases over time in low NFCC societies. These results are magnified in the biased context where high NFCC agents provided an NFCCadvantage for their advocaed topic. When high NFCC agents’ advocated topic is the majority or equal at initiation, the topic’s popularity will increase significantly over time. When high NFCC agents’ advocated topic is minority at initiation, these agents resist the assimilative pressures of the majority topic to protect their own topic from popularity losses. Tracking simulations over time revealed different dynamics generated between the two experimental conditions, and showed the roles low NFCC agents and edge-of-cluster agents play in enabling the emergence of such patterns. These results may shed light on the impact NFCC individuals have in within-society and betweensocieties cultural shifts

Keywords

Need for Cognitive Closure, Opinion Diffusion, Social Psychology, Political Psychology

Discipline

Cognitive Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

7th International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing (BESC 2020), Bournemouth, UK, 2020 November 5-7

Publisher

Elsevier: 24 months

City or Country

Bournemouth, UK

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