Opinion Dynamics in Relative-Opinion-Dependent Networks

This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of opinion dynamics in relative-opinion-dependent networks, which is motivated by the observation that a social agent tends to accept opinions close to itself. That is, the interpersonal influence between social agents decreases gradually in their relative opinion. It is interesting that this model can also provide a unified framework to study both the celebrated Degroot model and Deffuant-Weisbuch (DW) model. If the social network is connected, we show that the Degroot model with opinion-dependent influence asymptotically reaches consensus. The effect of the relative opinion on the Friedkin-Johnsen (FJ) model is also illustrated via simulations.