The Invention of Friends (Dunbar's Number)

2017-11-10

[public] 1.07M views, 45.7K likes, 484 dislikes audio only

4K

How many friends can you actually have? No, really... how many friends can your brain handle?

Kevin details the work of anthropologist Robin Dunbar, who suggests that human beings are cognitively-equipped to handle around 150 friendships. While studying primates, Dunbar found a correlation between the size of the neocortex and the size of the average social group and applied that to humans… but why 150?

The Social Intelligence Hypothesis suggests that we evolved to understand and manage relationships, and it turns out that sharing is a concept few animals seem to possess. Developing and maintaining real, meaningful friendships may be a lot harder than we realize.

Skillshare: http://skl.sh/vsauce2

*** LINKS ***

Written, Produced, Edited and Hosted by Kevin Lieber

Instagram: http://instagram.com/kevlieber

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinlieber

Website: http://kevinlieber.com

VFX by Eric Langlay

https://www.youtube.com/c/ericlanglay

Contributing Researcher & Editor Matthew Tabor, Koala Fight Media

http://koala.fm/

Sound Design by Jay Pellizzi

http://jaypellizzi.com/

Select Music by Jake Chudnow

https://www.youtube.com/user/jakechudnow

Special Thanks Paula Lieber

https://twitter.com/pixichuu

Vsauce2 Links

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VsauceTwo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VsauceTwo

Website: http://www.Vsauce.com

Curiosity Box: https://www.curiositybox.com/

**** SOURCES ****

BOOKS

How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number And Other Evolutionary Quirks by Robin Dunbar

https://www.amazon.com/Friends-Person-Dunbars-Number-Evolutionary/dp/0571253431/

Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014303667X/

ASSETS

Robin Dunbar, Networks In A Virtual World - Aalto SCI

https://goo.gl/FqB8Rv

Riken Brain Science Institute

https://goo.gl/enRRvg

RESEARCH PAPERS

Do Online Social Media Cut Through The Constraints That Limit The Size Of Offline Social Networks?

https://goo.gl/ZgHhBL

Lethal Intergroup Aggression Leads To Territorial Expansion In Wild Chimpanzees

https://goo.gl/49cqPY

Marital Satisfaction And Break-Ups Differ Across Online And Offline Meeting Venues

https://goo.gl/sUjM6Q

Bonobos Share With Strangers Before Acquaintances

https://today.duke.edu/2013/01/sharinghare

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051922

Neocortex Size, Group Size, and the Evolution of Language

https://goo.gl/jhH9C9

Social Network Size In Humans by Hill and Dunbar

https://goo.gl/oEYZ5X

The Social Brain Hypothesis

https://goo.gl/h4eMft

New And Revised Data On Volume Of Brain Structures In Insectivores And Primates

https://goo.gl/ExsoGc

Primate Social Systems by Robin Dunbar

https://goo.gl/RyRrLN

Coevolution Of Neocortical Size, Group Size And Language In Humans by Robin Dunbar

https://goo.gl/ERJcFM

Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis

https://goo.gl/GUKE6v

Modeling Users’ Activity On Twitter Networks

https://goo.gl/Tudb1K

ARTICLES

How Many People Can You Remember

https://goo.gl/2skZ8z

How Many Friends Can You Really Have

https://goo.gl/P9QfYS

The Average American Knows How Many People?

https://goo.gl/b5ajfG

The Limits Of Friendship

https://goo.gl/Fpue3v

How Many People Do You Trust?

https://goo.gl/Djy1hM

Robin Dunbar TEDx - Can The Internet Buy You More Friends?

https://goo.gl/fD7H4o

Your Brain Limits You To Just Five BFFs

https://goo.gl/H69BAA

The Dunbar Number As A Limit To Group Sizes

https://goo.gl/7jENeg

What’s Your Dunbar Number?

https://goo.gl/3gVUqJ

Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?

https://goo.gl/qpnUhz

Are Humans Hard Wired For A Limited Social Circle?

https://goo.gl/GzGPZ8

Twitter And The Dunbar Number

https://goo.gl/m7YVkB

Is Friendship Limited? An Inquiry into Dunbar’s Number by Larry Dossey, M.D.

https://goo.gl/QgC1b4

Number Of Wedding Attendees

https://goo.gl/tY9Vne

https://goo.gl/hWq4Q1

The Social Brain Hypothesis

https://goo.gl/aeMfAa

Stephanie Coontz: On Marriage

https://goo.gl/LSS2Pf

https://goo.gl/b3FgM9

First Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing The Nature Of Society

https://goo.gl/MUAr4F

SPECIAL THANKS

Robin Dunbar

https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/robin-dunbar

Dr. Steve Stewart-Williams

http://www.stevestewartwilliams.com/

https://twitter.com/SteveStuWill

Cameron Marlow

http://cameronmarlow.com/

Phil DeFranco

https://www.youtube.com/user/sxephil