Dunbar-Number

The invisible algorithms running human interaction. Short reads on how people actually work. The Benjamin Franklin Effect Want someone to like you? Don’t do them a favor. Ask them to do YOU a favor. Counterintuitive. Proven. The story: Benjamin Franklin had a rival in the Pennsylvania legislature who disliked him. Franklin didn’t try to win him over with kindness. Instead, he asked to borrow a rare book from the man’s library. ...

In the early 1990s, British anthropologist Robin Dunbar made a curious observation while studying primates. He found a correlation between the size of a primate’s neocortex (the brain region handling social relationships) and the size of its social group. Chimps, with smaller neocortices, lived in groups of ~50. Gorillas: ~30. Humans, with the largest neocortices, should be able to maintain stable social relationships with about… 150 people. That’s it. Not 500. Not 1,000. 150. ...