The Voter Model with Confidence Levels

Authors

Stephen Hartke, Rutgers University, Open Search Candidate

Document Type

Presentation Abstract

Presentation Date

2-19-2004

Abstract

The voter model on a finite connected graph G is a stochastic process where each vertex has an opinion, 0 or 1. As time progresses, each voter's opinion is influenced by its neighbors. The voter model has been used to model the spread of opinions, as well as the spread of cultural ideas, geographic species dominance, consensus in computer networks, and spin states of atoms. We introduce a modification of the voter model that changes how quickly a voter will change its opinion based on its confidence in its opinion. We show that the voter model with confidence levels always results in a uniform opinion, and we determine the probability of each outcome (uniform 1 or 0) based on the initial opinions and the structure of the graph.

Additional Details

Thursday, 19 February 2004
4:10 p.m. in Math 109

Recommended Citation

Hartke, Stephen, "The Voter Model with Confidence Levels" (2004). Colloquia of the Department of Mathematical Sciences. 158.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/mathcolloquia/158