When Contact Backfires, and When It Does Not: A Computational Model of the Opinion Dynamics of Intergroup Attitudes 1.0.0
This model represents individuals from two different groups interacting and sharing attitudes toward both groups. Through these interactions, individuals adjust their attitudes, which can lead to different outcomes in opinion dynamics. The model can study both intra-group and inter-group opinion dynamics. Under certain conditions, agents with initially moderate attitudes might enter a negative spiral, leading to increasingly extreme intergroup attitudes. Alternatively, these moderate attitudes can foster consensus between groups, resulting in agreement on intergroup attitudes. This model serves as a tool for exploring opinion polarization, particularly in contexts where attitudes evolve through interaction rather than remaining static.
By adjusting different parameters, one can examine the effects of variations in attitude distributions; group size and relative group size; contributions of xenophobia, opinion distance, and individual attitudes towards the outgroup; as well as ratio between xenophobia and attitudinal bias to the overall intergroup bias.
The model accompanies the paper When contact backfires, and when it does not: A computational model of the opinion dynamics of intergroup attitudes.
Release Notes
Published version