Phase transition in the Sznajd model with independence

A model of opinion dynamics which describes two major types of social influence —conformity and independence is proposed and it is shown that there is a continuous phase transition between conformity and independence.

Abstract

We propose a model of opinion dynamics which describes two major types of\nsocial influence -- conformity and independence. Conformity in our model is\ndescribed by the so called outflow dynamics (known as Sznajd model). According\nto sociologists' suggestions, we introduce also a second type of social\ninfluence, known in social psychology as independence. Various social\nexperiments have shown that the level of conformity depends on the society. We\nintroduce this level as a parameter of the model and show that there is a\ncontinuous phase transition between conformity and independence.\n