We show how the prevailing majority opinion in a population can be rapidly reversed by a small fraction p of randomly distributed committed agents who consistently proselytize the opposing opinion and are immune to influence. Specifically, we show that when the committed fraction grows beyond a critical value p(c) ≈ 10%, there is a dramatic decrease in the time T(c) taken for the entire populat...

We study an n-player averaging process with dynamics subject to controls and adversarial disturbances. The model arises in two distinct application domains: i) coalitional games with transferable utilities (TU) and ii) opinion propagation. We study conditions under which the average allocations achieve robust consensus to some predefined target set.

Learning has been studied extensively in the context of isolated individuals. However, many organisms are social and consequently make decisions both individually and as part of a collective. Reaching consensus necessarily means that a single option is chosen by the group, even when there are dissenting opinions. This decision-making process decouples the otherwise direct relationship between a...

When opinions, behaviors or ideas diffuse within a population, some are invariably stickier than others. The stickier the opinion, behavior or idea, the greater is an individual’s inertia to replace it with an alternative. Here we study the effect of stickiness of opinions in a two-opinion model, where individuals change their opinion only after a certain number of consecutive encounters with t...

This paper describes two complementary research thrusts: (1) it investigates how software robustness can be achieved pragmatically through the use of large-scale multiagent systems, and (2) it investigates how a broader spectrum of people can contribute to the production and customization of software, also through the use of multiagent systems. The paper first hypothesizes that robust software ...

Public confidence in policing is receiving increasing attention from UK social scientists and policy-makers. The criminal justice system relies on legitimacy and consent to an extent unlike other public services: public support is vital if the police and other criminal justice agencies are to function both effectively and in accordance with democratic norms. Yet we know little about the forms o...

In this paper, we describe a new technique for identifying cultural consensus called Cultural Mixture Modeling (CMM). This technique adopts finite mixture modeling, and introduces a new probabilistic formulation of agreement, which we call the strong consensus model. We use this technique to examine the cultural belief data from Weller (1983; 1984) and social network data from Krackhardt (1987)...

Although role theory has long described how expectations shape role behavior, little empirical research has examined differences among work role requirements and how features of the discrete occupational context may influence the extent to which role expectations are shared among role holders. The authors examined consensus in work role requirements from a sample of over 20,000 incumbents acros...

Social support and social network concepts are resources applicable to Family Nursing, as they are aimed at improving families' quality of life, and also at promoting, strengthening and maintaining their well-being. This study aimed to reflect on the main social network and social support concepts, relating them with Family Nursing, with a view to their application in nursing research and pract...