The Bayesian Echo Chamber: Modeling Social Influence via Linguistic Accommodation

Fangjian Guo, Charles Blundell, Hanna Wallach, Katherine Heller
Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, PMLR 38:315-323, 2015.

Abstract

We present the Bayesian Echo Chamber, a new Bayesian generative model for social interaction data. By modeling the evolution of people’s language usage over time, this model discovers latent influence relationships between them. Unlike previous work on inferring influence, which has primarily focused on simple temporal dynamics evidenced via turn-taking behavior, our model captures more nuanced influence relationships, evidenced via linguistic accommodation patterns in interaction content. The model, which is based on a discrete analog of the multivariate Hawkes process, permits a fully Bayesian inference algorithm. We validate our model’s ability to discover latent influence patterns using transcripts of arguments heard by the US Supreme Court and the movie "12 Angry Men." We showcase our model’s capabilities by using it to infer latent influence patterns from Federal Open Market Committee meeting transcripts, demonstrating state-of-the-art performance at uncovering social dynamics in group discussions.

Cite this Paper

BibTeX
@InProceedings{pmlr-v38-guo15, title = {{The Bayesian Echo Chamber: Modeling Social Influence via Linguistic Accommodation}}, author = {Guo, Fangjian and Blundell, Charles and Wallach, Hanna and Heller, Katherine}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics}, pages = {315--323}, year = {2015}, editor = {Lebanon, Guy and Vishwanathan, S. V. N.}, volume = {38}, series = {Proceedings of Machine Learning Research}, address = {San Diego, California, USA}, month = {09--12 May}, publisher = {PMLR}, pdf = {http://proceedings.mlr.press/v38/guo15.pdf}, url = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v38/guo15.html}, abstract = {We present the Bayesian Echo Chamber, a new Bayesian generative model for social interaction data. By modeling the evolution of people’s language usage over time, this model discovers latent influence relationships between them. Unlike previous work on inferring influence, which has primarily focused on simple temporal dynamics evidenced via turn-taking behavior, our model captures more nuanced influence relationships, evidenced via linguistic accommodation patterns in interaction content. The model, which is based on a discrete analog of the multivariate Hawkes process, permits a fully Bayesian inference algorithm. We validate our model’s ability to discover latent influence patterns using transcripts of arguments heard by the US Supreme Court and the movie "12 Angry Men." We showcase our model’s capabilities by using it to infer latent influence patterns from Federal Open Market Committee meeting transcripts, demonstrating state-of-the-art performance at uncovering social dynamics in group discussions.} }
Endnote
%0 Conference Paper %T The Bayesian Echo Chamber: Modeling Social Influence via Linguistic Accommodation %A Fangjian Guo %A Charles Blundell %A Hanna Wallach %A Katherine Heller %B Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics %C Proceedings of Machine Learning Research %D 2015 %E Guy Lebanon %E S. V. N. Vishwanathan %F pmlr-v38-guo15 %I PMLR %P 315--323 %U https://proceedings.mlr.press/v38/guo15.html %V 38 %X We present the Bayesian Echo Chamber, a new Bayesian generative model for social interaction data. By modeling the evolution of people’s language usage over time, this model discovers latent influence relationships between them. Unlike previous work on inferring influence, which has primarily focused on simple temporal dynamics evidenced via turn-taking behavior, our model captures more nuanced influence relationships, evidenced via linguistic accommodation patterns in interaction content. The model, which is based on a discrete analog of the multivariate Hawkes process, permits a fully Bayesian inference algorithm. We validate our model’s ability to discover latent influence patterns using transcripts of arguments heard by the US Supreme Court and the movie "12 Angry Men." We showcase our model’s capabilities by using it to infer latent influence patterns from Federal Open Market Committee meeting transcripts, demonstrating state-of-the-art performance at uncovering social dynamics in group discussions.
RIS
TY - CPAPER TI - The Bayesian Echo Chamber: Modeling Social Influence via Linguistic Accommodation AU - Fangjian Guo AU - Charles Blundell AU - Hanna Wallach AU - Katherine Heller BT - Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics DA - 2015/02/21 ED - Guy Lebanon ED - S. V. N. Vishwanathan ID - pmlr-v38-guo15 PB - PMLR DP - Proceedings of Machine Learning Research VL - 38 SP - 315 EP - 323 L1 - http://proceedings.mlr.press/v38/guo15.pdf UR - https://proceedings.mlr.press/v38/guo15.html AB - We present the Bayesian Echo Chamber, a new Bayesian generative model for social interaction data. By modeling the evolution of people’s language usage over time, this model discovers latent influence relationships between them. Unlike previous work on inferring influence, which has primarily focused on simple temporal dynamics evidenced via turn-taking behavior, our model captures more nuanced influence relationships, evidenced via linguistic accommodation patterns in interaction content. The model, which is based on a discrete analog of the multivariate Hawkes process, permits a fully Bayesian inference algorithm. We validate our model’s ability to discover latent influence patterns using transcripts of arguments heard by the US Supreme Court and the movie "12 Angry Men." We showcase our model’s capabilities by using it to infer latent influence patterns from Federal Open Market Committee meeting transcripts, demonstrating state-of-the-art performance at uncovering social dynamics in group discussions. ER -
APA
Guo, F., Blundell, C., Wallach, H. & Heller, K.. (2015). The Bayesian Echo Chamber: Modeling Social Influence via Linguistic Accommodation. Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 38:315-323 Available from https://proceedings.mlr.press/v38/guo15.html.

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