Coevolutionary dynamics of opinions and networks: From diversity to uniformity

We investigate the coevolutionary dynamics of opinions and networks based upon majority-preference (MP) and minority-avoidance (MA) rules. Under MP, individuals adopt the majority opinion among their neighbors; while in MA individuals can break the link to one holding a minority and different opinion, and rewire either to neighbors of their neighbors with the same opinion or to a random one from the whole population except their nearest neighbors. We study opinion formation as a result of combination of these two competing rules, with a parameter tuning the balance between them. We find that the underlying network can be self-organized into connected communities with like-minded individuals belonging to the same group; thus a broad variety of opinions coexist. Diverse opinions disappear in a population in which all individuals share a uniform opinion, when the model parameter exceeds a critical value. Furthermore, we show that an increasing tendency to redirect to neighbors of neighbors is more likely to result in a consensus of opinion.