{"paper":{"title":"When minor issues matter: symmetries, pluralism, and polarization in similarity-based opinion dynamics","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["q-bio.PE"],"primary_cat":"physics.soc-ph","authors_text":"Brian Mintz, Daniel Simonson, Dominik Wodarz, Feng Fu, Natalia L. Komarova","submitted_at":"2026-03-05T08:38:58Z","abstract_excerpt":"Understanding how opinions evolve through social interactions is crucial for mitigating polarization. Existing opinion-dynamics models incorporate both attractive and repulsive interactions but typically assume that all issues are equally important. We develop and analyze a stochastic agent-based model where issues carry heterogeneous weights that influence both social affinity and the likelihood of opinion change. Surprisingly, introducing even a single issue with arbitrarily small weight can destabilize otherwise stable states, increasing convergence times by orders of magnitude. To explain "},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2603.04939","kind":"arxiv","version":2},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2603.04939/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}