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Opinion Dynamics Driven by Various Ways of Averaging

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Abstract

The paper treats opinion dynamics under bounded confidence when agents employ, beside an arithmetic mean, means like a geometric mean, a power mean or a random mean in aggregating opinions. The different kinds of collective dynamics resulting from these various ways of averaging are studied and compared by simulations. Particular attention is given to the random mean which is a new concept introduced in this paper. All those concrete means are just particular cases of a partial abstract mean, which also is a new concept. This comprehensive concept of averaging opinions is investigated also analytically and it is shown in particular, that the dynamics driven by it always stabilizes in a certain pattern of opinions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University Bayreuth, Germany

    Rainer Hegselmann

  2. Department of Mathematics, University Bremen, Germany

    Ulrich Krause

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  1. Rainer Hegselmann
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  2. Ulrich Krause
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Correspondence to Rainer Hegselmann.

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Hegselmann, R., Krause, U. Opinion Dynamics Driven by Various Ways of Averaging. Comput Econ 25, 381–405 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-005-6296-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-005-6296-3

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