Please register for the CV & Online Identity Workshop below.

With the aim of explaining and understanding social and psychological phenomena, such as the emergence of consensus or the existence of cognitive dissonance, we will introduce a three-state discrete model and its parameters to encode opinion states. As we explore various topologies for the social structure, ranging from complete graphs to modular structures, we will relate the distinct network characteristics to their impact on model outcomes. When we focus on human behavior, we can delve beyond the social network that represents interactions among people, to the inner network formed by the belief systems within each person. During conversations, we potentially have the opportunity to update our inner state to align with our neighbors' opinions. However, the structure of our inner belief system plays a crucial role in this updating process. We will show how individuals with different belief topologies behave, interact, and are capable of altering both each other's and the global system's behavior.