The dunbar number how many friends we can have

Most people could say their friends with a single hand fingers. And, indeed, they are not so far from reality. And you, are you one of those who prefer good friends but more intimate or quite the opposite?

Content

• Who was Robin Dunbar and why his theory is so famous?
• The evolution of Homo sapiens and social relations
• The number of dunbar in modern times and social networks
  • References

Who was Robin Dunbar and why his theory is so famous?

Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist at the University of Oxford developed in the 90s its Social brain theory. In it, certain limits are established regarding the number of friends that each person can have.

These friends are classified and distributed according to Certain categories of the highest to higher relationship. According to Dunbar, you cannot have more than 150 friends, but at different levels of relationship and commitment, so to speak.

In this way, an average person has only one or two best friends. The classification continues with about 5 close friends, 15 good friends, 50 close friends and about 100 friends without more, touching the line of what we understand by acquaintances.

How is each relationship obvious entails wear. Thus, the time we dedicate as well as the effort with which we try to cultivate a certain relationship will not be the same with our best friends than with the rest of friends or acquaintances.

The closer and closest the relationship, it will have the higher quality and we will develop ties with the greatest intensity. It is no longer simply that we do not have time to maintain so many social relations, it is that We must focus on each other Not to saturate our brain.

The evolution of Homo sapiens and social relations

In the end, this explanation goes back to the evolutionary process of our species, due to the increase in size of our brain. Since, the bigger the neocortex, the greater the number of individuals within a social community.

And not only increases the number of social relations, but the sophistication and complexity of each of them. The result are more varied and complex interactions, such as laughing or sharing various hobbies.

If we compare the size of the skull of the Primates, We will see that it is significantly smaller than that of the human species today. And, in addition to having much narrower and more limited social circles, the social activities they carry out are not so elaborate.

While primates interact with other members of their community or even other species such as ours, their social activities focus on simpler acts such as touching or grooming.

Anthropologists and biologists coincide in one aspect: to survive change and the environment it is essential to be able to relate properly and be part of a community. It is not enough to feed and cover the basic physiological needs.

Establish contact, accessions and alliances With individuals of the same species, as well as establishing social relationships in which we feel part of a group and supported by the rest of the members, it is not their own only Homo sapiens sapiens, but of our ancestors and other species.

And the truth is that in one way or another and depending on the environment or the context in which we are, human beings will establish links provided that they can and the intensity of these will be determined by the total number of friendship relationships that they have in total.

The number of dunbar in modern times and social networks

If you have tried luck and have gone to live abroad or to another place unknown to you, either because you have achieved a scholarship of studies, to look for work or for personal reasons, you will know what it means trying to establish relationships outside your comfort zone.

Although you invade some feeling of fear and anxiety about change and for the lack of friendships with which to count at that time, in the end you try to make the effort to meet people. After all, human beings are social and one of our needs is to socialize.

Going to look for friends in person is not an easy task. But even so, we know that we will report great benefits and that is why we try. Now, look for sayings friends on-line And through social networks it is very different.

Starting from the fact that the term "friends" used by some social network is nothing more than a distortion of what a real friendship implies. Social networks will help you meet old friends or acquaintances or to maintain contact.

But they will hardly help you to cultivate close and quality relationships, because after all, the necessary and intense enough contact as to cultivate these relationships and make them strengthen over time.

So you know, try to keep your real friends, that closer circle than first by affinity and then for dedication you have kept in time. We do not tell you, anthropology and science also tell you.

References

• Barrett, Dunbar & Lycett. 2002. Human Evolutionary Psychology. London: Palgrave ISBN 0-691-09621-X
• Dunbar. 2010. How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks. Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674057166