6533b839fe1ef96bd12a649b
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Opinion Dynamics and Collective Decisions
Martin NeumannJan LorenzJan Lorenzsubject
Social psychology (sociology)Physics - Physics and Societymedia_common.quotation_subjectCollective intelligenceFOS: Physical sciencesPhysics and Society (physics.soc-ph)Deliberation01 natural sciencesDemocracy010305 fluids & plasmasControl and Systems EngineeringVoting0103 physical sciencesReferendumSociologyPositive economics010306 general physicsGame theorySocial choice theorymedia_commondescription
We expect that democracy enables us to utilize collective intelligence such that our collective decisions build and enhance social welfare, and such that we accept their distributive and normative consequences. Collective decisions are produced by voting procedures which aggregate individual preferences and judgments. Before and after, individual preferences and judgments change as their underlying attitudes, values, and opinions change through discussion and deliberation. In large groups, these dynamics naturally go beyond the scope of the individual and consequently might show unexpected self-driven macroscopic systems dynamics following socio-physical laws. On the other hand, aggregated information and preferences as communicated through media, polls, political parties, or interest groups, also play a large role in the individual opinion formation process. Further on, actors are also capable of strategic opinion formation in the light of a pending referendum, election or other collective decision. Opinion dynamics and collective decision should thus not only be tackled by social choice, game theory, political and social psychology, but also from a systems dynamics and sociophysics perspective.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-05 |