EP. 53: THE POWER OF FRIENDS: ROBIN DUNBAR ON OUR MOST IMPORTANT NUMBER

“Pain shared, my brother, is pain not doubled but halved.”― Neil Gaiman

My guest on this episode is Professor Robin Dunbar, the well-known anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist famous for his "Dunbar Number." 

Robin is an Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology and head of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is also the author of 22 books including his most recent Friends — Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships.

For the few of you who have never heard of Dunbar's number, it is the discovery that there exists a cognitive limit on human groups of about 150. Generally, we can only maintain stable social relationships within a limited number in which each individual knows who the other is and how that person relates to each other. 

On the show, Robin breaks down that upper number into concentric circles of much smaller groups that make up our close friends and best friends, explaining how they got there - and how we can maintain and grow them. 

We discuss these topics…

• The importance of friends and the huge effect they have on our health
• A summary of his famous number - and its implications for friendships  
• How friendships change across a lifespan 
• How best friends are created 
• How and why friendships end 
• The pandemics impact on friendships, a bit about proximity 
• The effect of the internet, Zoom, and Social Media 
• Differences in friendship between the online and real-world
• The impact of individual differences in introversion and extraversion
• Friendships between men and women, the "When Harry Met Sally" question

For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com