Modeling attitude diffusion and agenda setting: the MAMA model

Attitude diffusion is where “attitudes” (general, relatively enduring evaluative responses to a topic) spread through a population. Attitudes play an incredibly important role in human decision-making (for instance, in health care decisions) and are a critical part of social psychology. However, existing models of diffusion do not account for key differentiating aspects of attitudes. In this work, we develop the “Multi-Agent, Multi-Attitude” (MAMA) model which incorporates several key factors of attitude diffusion: (1) multiple, interacting attitudes; (2) social influence between individuals; and (3) media influence. All three components have strong support from the social science community. Using the MAMA model, we re-visit the problem of influence maximization in a attitude diffusion setting where media influence is possible—we show that strategic manipulation of the media can lead to statistically significant decreases in diffusion of attitudes. Finally, to better understand the dynamics of the model, we use an absorbing Markov chain to characterize state transitions in the model.