Structural balance is a classic property of signed graphs satisfying Heider's seminal axioms. Mathematical sociologists have studied balance theory since its inception in the 1940s. Recent research has focused on the development of dynamic models explaining the emergence of structural balance. In this paper, we introduce a novel class of parsimonious dynamic models for structural balance based on an interpersonal influence process. Our proposed models are gradient flows of an energy function, called the dissonance function, which captures the cognitive dissonance arising from violations of Heider's axioms. Thus, we build a new connection with the literature on energy landscape minimization. This gradient flow characterization allows us to study the transient and asymptotic behaviors of our model. We provide mathematical and numerical results describing the critical points of the dissonance function.

Structural Balance via Gradient Flows over Signed Graphs / Cisneros-Velarde, P.; Friedkin, N. E.; Proskurnikov, A. V.; Bullo, F.. - In: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATIC CONTROL. - ISSN 0018-9286. - 66:7(2021), pp. 3169-3183. [10.1109/TAC.2020.3018435]

Structural Balance via Gradient Flows over Signed Graphs

Proskurnikov A. V.;
2021

Abstract

Structural balance is a classic property of signed graphs satisfying Heider's seminal axioms. Mathematical sociologists have studied balance theory since its inception in the 1940s. Recent research has focused on the development of dynamic models explaining the emergence of structural balance. In this paper, we introduce a novel class of parsimonious dynamic models for structural balance based on an interpersonal influence process. Our proposed models are gradient flows of an energy function, called the dissonance function, which captures the cognitive dissonance arising from violations of Heider's axioms. Thus, we build a new connection with the literature on energy landscape minimization. This gradient flow characterization allows us to study the transient and asymptotic behaviors of our model. We provide mathematical and numerical results describing the critical points of the dissonance function.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2909894