Abstract:
Against the backdrop of frequent public emergencies, the rapid generation and diffusion of extreme emotions in social networks have become a significant latent risk affecting social stability and emergency governance. To systematically reveal their propagation mechanisms and governance pathways, this study constructed a theoretical and modeling framework for extreme emotion dissemination in social networks under multi-mechanism coupling from a complex systems perspective. At the theoretical level, the study elaborated on the multidimensional driving mechanisms of networked extreme emotion propagation, explaining the system’s evolutionary logic of “external stimulation–internal regulation–collective amplification–institutional convergence” from four aspects: risk event shocks, individual cognition-regulation, social system reinforcement, and public governance intervention. At the methodological level, a dynamic dual-layer coupling model integrating epidemic-emotion transmission was developed, taking into account external disturbances, heterogeneous psychological thresholds, social reinforcement effects, and governance feedback mechanisms. Simulation results indicate that risk event shocks determine the onset and peak magnitude of emotion spread; individual regulatory ability affects early diffusion speed; social reinforcement accelerates group resonance and polarization; while public governance and intervention achieve emotional convergence in the later stages through information guidance and negative feedback regulation. The coupling between epidemic and emotion transmission further reveals a dual amplification effect of “physiological risk–psychological risk.” Based on these findings, this paper proposes a comprehensive governance framework covering risk identification, psychological regulation, social structure optimization, and collaborative governance. It emphasizes data-driven early detection, enhancement of individual resilience, network structural intervention, and time-varying governance response as the core pathways to build a closed-loop system of “identification–regulation–guidance–governance–coordination,”realizing precise identification and systemic convergence of extreme emotions in social networks. The study provides theoretical support for systematic modeling of emotional contagion and governance during emergencies and offers important reference for improving the national emergency management system and enhancing social psychological resilience.