Why we dispute “Dunbar’s number”
New research calls into question the validity of “Dunbar's number”, the claim that humans can only maintain 150 friendships.
The article is published in The Conversation on 23 June and written by Johan Lind, Associate Professor in Ethology at the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, and Patrik Lindenfors, Researcher at the Department of Zoology, Stockholm University.
They write:
“Many of us are aware of the claim that humans can maintain no more than 150 friendships. That figure is called ’Dunbar’s number’ after the evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, who first introduced the idea three decades ago. Dunbar claimed that the number of neurons in the neurocortex would limit an organism’s capacity to process social information. This would in turn limit the number of relationships that an individual can maintain.
But while the number has achieved widespread fame, and is often referenced in the plans of business managers and software developers, it hasn’t achieved widespread acceptance in scientific circles.
In collaboration with our colleague Andreas Wartel, a researcher in evolutionary biology, we investigated the empirical underpinnings of Dunbar’s number, and found that it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny when larger datasets and more modern statistical methods are used.
Dunbar has since challenged our findings, questioning our methodology. We therefore want to clarify our approach and comment on his critique.”
Read the article published in The Conversation:
https://theconversation.com/why-we-dispute-dunbars-number-the-claim-humans-can-only-maintain-150-friendships-161944
Read more about the collaboration between Stockholm University and The Conversation and how to pitch an article idea: https://www.su.se/staff/services/information-communication/pitch-an-article-idea-for-the-conversation-1.462268
More articles in The Conversation by researchers at Stockholm University: https://theconversation.com/institutions/stockholm-university-1019
Last updated: June 28, 2021
Source: Communications Office