Seminar in PSA 102

ABSTRACT

Title: Rumors on Complex Attractors

 By:     Ariel Cintron-Arias, Center for Applied Mathematics, Cornell University

Social psychologists have developed the theory of psychology of rumor, where the traditional focus has been given at individual level factors that facilitate the spread of rumors. There exist qualitative studies of rumor dissemination as a collective process; which include epidemic-based models. We propose an extension to the Daley-Kendall rumor model (1965; J. Inst. Math. Appl.,1,42-55). This is, we consider rumor "invasion" into populations with strong fluctuations in density. Prior to the rumor arrival, the dynamics of the target population is assumed to be at a demographic "steady-state". In fact, it is modeled by a preselected attractor. We assume that while the rumor circulates it divides the target population into two classes; spreaders, and non-spreaders. The transitions between classes are functions of the contact rates and the proportion of spreaders. Will the spreader population survive? and if it does; Will it settle on a different attractor?; How does the dynamics of the rumor compare to the dynamics of its analogue epidemic process? Rumor dispersal between two patches is briefly addressed.