Critical Formation of Opinion

Critical formation of opinion is that which takes clearly into account the configuration of the social network in which individuals are rooted. This is the case that arises in situations as varied as the acceptance of new technologies and political views.

The theory forecasts the development of a set of judgments through a social network and establishes the existence of a property that is expected to be the weighted part of the people that holds a given view is invariable in time.

Critical formation of opinion is about countless topics, from politics and entertainment to health, new products and the lives of others. These opinions can be either the consequence of serious indication or, as is frequently the case when information is difficult to process or obtain, formed through communications with others that hold views on given issues.

The allocation of the part stabilizes only after a long time that diverges with the system extent. This coexistence of opinions within a community is in harmony with the repeatedly observed locality effect, in which critical formation of opinion is restricted to given groups without infecting the whole society.

These predictions can be confirmed, as well as those concerning the weakness of opinions and the significance of highly linked individuals in opinion development, by performing computer trials on a number of social networks.

This dependence on others to outline opinions lies at the heart of publicity through social signals, efforts to make people aware of communal and health related issues, trends that brush social groups and organizations, and attempts at conquering the votes and minds of people in election years.

Because of our reliance on others to form our views of the world, an understanding of opinion configuration requires an assessment of the relationship between the structure of the social network in which individuals are implanted and the communications that take place within it.