An extended SISa model for sentiment contagion

Abstract

One of the main differences between sentiment and infectious diseases is that the former one has two opposite infectious states: positive (optimistic) and negative (pessimistic), while the latter one has not. In this paper, based on the SISa model, we consider this issue and propose a new model of sentiment contagion called the SOSa-SPSa model. The results of both numerical and agent-based simulations show that our model could explain the process of sentiment contagion better than that of Hill et al. (2010). Further analysis shows that both the numbers of optimistic and pessimistic individuals will increase with the probability of spontaneity or contagion and decrease with the probability of recovery. Potential applications of this model in financial market have also been discussed.