Faculty of Physics
University of Vienna
Prof. Helmuth Hüffel

 

 

and

COST MP0801 WORKSHOP

November 26 - 28, 2010

 

COMPLEX STOCHASTIC DYNAMICS

 

 

Frank Schweitzer (Zurich):

 

Modeling collective emotions: a stochastic approach based on Brownian agents

 


Abstract:

(We develop a agent-based framework to model the emergence of collective emotions, which is applied to online communities. Agents individual emotions are described by their valence and arousal. Using the concept of Brownian agents, these variables change according to a stochastic dynamics, which also considers the feedback from online communication. Agents generate emotional information, which is stored and distributed in a field modeling the online medium. This field affects the emotional states of agents in a non-linear manner. We derive conditions for the emergence of collective emotions, observable in a bimodal valence distribution. Dependent on a saturated or a superlinear feedback between the information field and the agent's arousal, we further identify scenarios where collective emotions only appear once or in a repeated manner. The analytical results are illustrated by agent-based computer simulations. Our framework provides testable hypotheses about the emergence of collective emotions, which can be verified by data from online communities)

 

download document (pdf, 4,86 MB)

 

 

 

 

 


http://www.univie.ac.at/vienna.seminar /  2010,  E-mail: vienna.theor-physik@univie.ac.at