Effects Of Confidence Scale And Network Structure On Minority Opinion Spreading

We study the dynamics of minority opinion spreading using a proposed simple model, in which the exchange of views between agents is determined by a quantity named confidence scale. To understand what will promote the success of minority, two types of networks, random network and scale-free network are considered in opinion formation. We demonstrate that the heterogeneity of networks is advantageous to the minority and exchanging views between more agents will reduce the opportunity of minority's success. Further, enlarging the degree that agents trust each other, i.e. confidence scale, can increase the probability that opinions of the minority could be accepted by the majority. We also show that the minority in scale-free networks are more sensitive to the change of confidence scale than that in random networks.