A opinion evolution model based on information diffusion: The fusion of silence spiral and high-order interaction

From social psychology to game theory, researchers have shown growing interest in modeling cognitive dissonance and public opinion. Existing models have been applied to study decision-making processes and various social phenomena, including pluralistic ignorance, echo chambers, and the spiral-of-silence. To further explore the co-evolution of internal beliefs and public expression within a dynamic diffusion process, we introduce a novel opinion-evolution model grounded in information diffusion mechanisms and spiral-of-silence theory. By incorporating the spiral of silence effect into the diffusion mechanism, the model dynamically balances silence and expression. We conducted Monte Carlo simulations on both conventional networks and hypergraphs, followed by a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the model parameters. The results reveal two key findings. First, the initial diffusion environment exerts a decisive influence on network-wide opinion trends, allowing a minority to mislead the majority about the prevailing consensus. Second, hypergraphs outperform conventional networks in diffusion efficiency; moreover, larger hyperedges accelerate the decay of the silence effect.