Deffuant Bounded Confidence Model

Opinion dynamics: convergence, polarization, and cluster formation

Parameters

Steps: 0
Clusters:
Expected clusters:
Deffuant model (2000): At each step, select two random agents i,j. If |x_i − x_j| ≤ ε:
x_i ← x_i + μ(x_j−x_i)
x_j ← x_j + μ(x_i−x_j)

Expected clusters ≈ 1/(2ε)
Consensus if ε ≥ 0.5
Polarization (2 clusters) if 0.25 ≤ ε < 0.5
Fragmentation if ε < 0.25

Connected to Hegselmann-Krause model (simultaneous vs. sequential).