Bounded Confidence Opinion Dynamics

Deffuant model: agents update opinions only when |oᵢ − oⱼ| < ε. Small ε → many clusters; large ε → consensus. Watch polarization emerge.

Agents N 100 Confidence ε 0.25 Convergence μ 0.5

Clusters: –
Step: 0
Converged: 0%

Deffuant model (2000):
Random pair (i,j) interact if |oᵢ−oⱼ|<ε:
oᵢ += μ(oⱼ−oᵢ)
oⱼ += μ(oᵢ−oⱼ)

Critical threshold: ε≈0.5 → full consensus emerges. Below it, opinion fragmentation is inevitable.