O'Connor, Cailin and Weatherall, James Owen (2017) Scientific Polarization. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Contemporary societies are often "polarized", in the sense that sub-groups within these societies hold stably opposing beliefs, even when there is a fact of the matter. Extant models of polarization do not capture the idea that some beliefs are true and others false. Here we present a model, based on the network epistemology framework of Bala and Goyal ["Learning from neighbors", \textit{Rev. Econ. Stud.} \textbf{65}(3), 784-811 (1998)], in which polarization emerges even though agents gather evidence about their beliefs, and true belief yields a pay-off advantage. The key mechanism that generates polarization involves treating evidence generated by other agents as uncertain when their beliefs are relatively different from one's own.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID O'Connor, Cailin cailino@uci.edu Weatherall, James Owen weatherj@uci.edu 0000-0003-1461-7821
Keywords:	Polarization, social networks, epistemic networks, trust
Subjects:	General Issues > Decision Theory General Issues > Science and Society
Depositing User:	James Owen Weatherall
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2018 03:02
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2018 03:02
Item ID:	15479
Subjects:	General Issues > Decision Theory General Issues > Science and Society
Date:	2017
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15479

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• Scientific Polarization. (deposited 14 Dec 2017 03:34)
  • Scientific Polarization. (deposited 20 Dec 2018 03:02) [Currently Displayed]

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