Persuasion dynamics

8 Oct 2004, soumis à Physica AWe here discuss a model of continuous opinion dynamics in which agents adjust continuous opinions as a result of random binary encounters whenever their difference in opinion is below a given threshold. We concentrate on the version of the model in the presence of few extremists which might drive the dynamics to generalised extremism. The intricate regime diagram is explained by a combination of meso-scale features involving the first interaction step