eprintid: 2108
rev_number: 5
eprint_status: archive
userid: 6
dir: disk0/00/00/21/08
datestamp: 2014-01-21 15:51:19
lastmod: 2014-01-21 15:51:19
status_changed: 2014-01-21 15:51:19
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Quattrociocchi, Walter
creators_name: Conte, Rosaria
creators_name: Lodi, Elena
creators_id: walter.quattrociocchi@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
title: Opinions manipulation: Media, power and gossip
ispublished: pub
subjects: QA75
divisions: CSA
full_text_status: none
keywords: Opinion dynamics; social influence; gossip; media; agenda-setting

abstract: 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.
date: 2011
date_type: published
publication: Advances in Complex Systems
volume: 14
number: 04
publisher: World Scientific Publishing
pagerange: 567-586
id_number: doi:10.1142/S0219525911003165
refereed: TRUE
issn: 0219-5259
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219525911003165
citation:   Quattrociocchi, Walter and Conte, Rosaria and Lodi, Elena  Opinions manipulation: Media, power and gossip.  Advances in Complex Systems, 14 (04).  pp. 567-586.  ISSN 0219-5259      (2011)