TY  - JOUR
Y1  - 2011///
A1  - Quattrociocchi, Walter
A1  - Conte, Rosaria
A1  - Lodi, Elena
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219525911003165
VL  - 14
KW  - Opinion dynamics; social influence; gossip; media; agenda-setting

AV  - none
SP  - 567
TI  - Opinions manipulation: Media, power and gossip
JF  - Advances in Complex Systems
PB  - World Scientific Publishing
IS  - 04
SN  - 0219-5259
EP  - 586
ID  - eprints2108
N2  - Despite the increasing diffusion of the Internet technology, TV remains the principal medium of communication. People's perceptions, knowledge, beliefs and opinions about matters of fact get (in)formed through the information reported on by the media.

However, a single source of information (and consensus) could be a potential cause of anomalies in the structure and evolution of a society.

Hence, as the information available (and the way it is reported) is fundamental for our perceptions and opinions, the definition of conditions allowing for a good information to be disseminated is a pressing challenge. In this paper starting from a report on the last Italian political campaign in 2008, we derive a socio-cognitive computational model of opinion dynamics where agents get informed by different sources of information. Then, a what-if analysis, performed through simulations on the model's parameters space, is shown. In particular, the scenario implemented includes three main streams of information acquisition, differing in both the contents and the perceived reliability of the messages spread. Agents' internal opinion is updated either by accessing one of the information sources, namely media and experts, or by exchanging information with one another. They are also endowed with cognitive mechanisms to accept, reject or partially consider the acquired information.
ER  -