When ego-involved and non ego-involved agents lead to polarization despite a large consensus

Huet & Deffuant showed polarisation on minor issues can be reproduced by a dynamics inspired from laboratory experiments considering a population of self-involved agents on a main issue. This paper studies the impact of a mixed population of self-involved and not self-involved agents. The dynamics of self-involved agents is based on Huet & Deffuant meaning agents are attracted on every issues if they are close on to the main issue but reject their peer's opinion if they are only close onto secondary issue. The dynamics of non self-involved agents is a simple 2D bounded confidence model. In this paper, we focus on the level of polarisation of agents when they are majorly gathered into one cluster. We observe the emergence of various types of "extreme minor clusters". They can lead the population to a polarisation on minor issues, but also on fundamental ones. A very long transitory state of in group polarisation on secondary issues has been also exhibited. Some of these states are specific to mixed populations.