Phase transition in the Sznajd model with independence

Abstract

We propose a model of opinion dynamics which describes two major types of social influence -- conformity and independence. Conformity in our model is described by the so called outflow dynamics (known as Sznajd model). According to sociologists' suggestions, we introduce also a second type of social influence, known in social psychology as independence. Various social experiments have shown that the level of conformity depends on the society. We introduce this level as a parameter of the model and show that there is a continuous phase transition between conformity and independence.