a persistent effect of an individual’s initial opinion. The uncertainty reduction dy- namics represented by Equation 4 is novel in opinion network modeling. The model of Deffuant et al. (2002) includes a dyadic uncertainty interaction that results in un- certainty change only when dyad members have different uncertainties; this requires that uncertainty levels be visible to other group members, an assumption not present in Equation 4, and does not allow equally uncertain individuals to mutually reinforce their opinions. 

A crucial consequence of the uncertainty reduction dynamics in the ASC model is the ability for interim majorities to more effectively maintain their position in the face of minority influence. Figure 4a illustrates this effect for a complete-network triad in which the intermediate member’s position is taken to be halfway between the others. However, for sufficiently low initial disagreement, an interim majority will not form and the group equilibrium will be close to its initial mean (Figure 4b). 

The emergence and persistence of proximate majorities is not possible in the DeGroot and Friedkin-Johnsen models as the mean opinion will always be constant when members interact via symmetric network weights since dyad members exert equal and opposite forces on each other. Because of this constant mean property, the statistically significant deviation from the mean observed in Friedkin (1999) (but not systematically polarized) was attributed to asymmetries in network weights in the Friedkin-Johnsen model rather than the alternative explanation of the influence of a proximate majority as concluded in other experiments (Davis 1996; Davis et al. 1997; Ohtsubo et al. 2002). This property also forces extremist-tilting upon social influence network theory in order to explain group polarization but does so at the cost of always predicting polarization whenever a group is on the same policy side. The persistence of majority positions on a continuous opinion axis is also found in the agent-based model of Moussaid et al. (2013), which involves a confidence variable 

