Chaos in Opinion-Driven Disease Dynamics

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became evident that the effectiveness of applying intervention measures is significantly influenced by societal acceptance, which, in turn, is affected by the processes of opinion formation. This article explores one among the many possibilities of coupled opinion–epidemic systems. The findings reveal either intricate periodic patterns or chaotic dynamics, leading to substantial fluctuations in opinion distribution and, consequently, significant variations in the total number of infections over time. Interestingly, the model exhibits a protective pattern.

Keywords

• epidemiology
• sociophysics
• disease dynamics
• opinion dynamics
• SIS-model
• <i>q</i>-voter model