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Exploring Information Acquisition in Social Learning

Yiqing Lin, Zhanjiang Chen, Huisheng Wang, H. Vicky Zhao

TL;DR

The rational inattention theory is used to model how agents acquire information to form initial beliefs and assess its influence on their adjustments in beliefs and the dynamic evolution of belief distribution among agents is analyzed.

Abstract

Social learning, a fundamental process through which individuals shape their beliefs and perspectives via observation and interaction with others, is critical for the development of our society and the functioning of social governance. Prior works on social learning usually assume that the initial beliefs are given and focus on the update rule. With the recent proliferation of online social networks, there is an avalanche amount of information, which may significantly influence users' initial beliefs. In this paper, we use the rational inattention theory to model how agents acquire information to form initial beliefs and assess its influence on their adjustments in beliefs. Furthermore, we analyze the dynamic evolution of belief distribution among agents. Simulations and social experiments are conducted to validate our proposed model and analyze the impact of model parameters on belief dynamics.

Exploring Information Acquisition in Social Learning

TL;DR

The rational inattention theory is used to model how agents acquire information to form initial beliefs and assess its influence on their adjustments in beliefs and the dynamic evolution of belief distribution among agents is analyzed.

Abstract

Social learning, a fundamental process through which individuals shape their beliefs and perspectives via observation and interaction with others, is critical for the development of our society and the functioning of social governance. Prior works on social learning usually assume that the initial beliefs are given and focus on the update rule. With the recent proliferation of online social networks, there is an avalanche amount of information, which may significantly influence users' initial beliefs. In this paper, we use the rational inattention theory to model how agents acquire information to form initial beliefs and assess its influence on their adjustments in beliefs. Furthermore, we analyze the dynamic evolution of belief distribution among agents. Simulations and social experiments are conducted to validate our proposed model and analyze the impact of model parameters on belief dynamics.
Paper Structure (9 sections, 3 theorems, 7 equations, 3 figures)

This paper contains 9 sections, 3 theorems, 7 equations, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Problem Formulation
  3. Theoretical Analysis
  4. The Information Acquisition Stage
  5. The Belief Update Stage
  6. Experiments
  7. Social Experiments
  8. Simulation Experiments
  9. Conclusion

Key Result

Theorem 1

The updated belief obeys $\mathcal{B}_{i,t+1} \sim \mathcal{N}(\pi_{i,{t+1}},{{\sigma^2_{i,{t+1}}}})$ where

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: The proposed framework.
  • Figure 2: Social experiments results. (a) Fitting results of the cost function, and (b) $\sigma^2$ with different reward amounts.
  • Figure 3: Theoretical and simulation results for 3 agents with different initial beliefs. (a) Histograms of $s_{i,t}$ of the 3 agents, and (b) boxplots of $s_{i,t}$ of the three agents.

Theorems & Definitions (3)

  • Theorem 1: Belief Update Rule
  • Theorem 2
  • Theorem 3