Do You Need Friends? (Dunbar's Number)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- 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: skl.sh/vsauce2
** LINKS **
Written, Produced, Edited and Hosted by Kevin Lieber
Instagram: / kevlieber
Twitter: / kevinlieber
Website: kevinlieber.com
VFX by Eric Langlay
/ ericlanglay
Contributing Researcher & Editor Matthew Tabor, Koala Fight Media
koala.fm/
Sound Design by Jay Pellizzi
jaypellizzi.com/
Select Music by Jake Chudnow
/ jakechudnow
Special Thanks Paula Lieber
/ pixichuu
Vsauce2 Links
Twitter: / vsaucetwo
Facebook: / vsaucetwo
Website: www.Vsauce.com
Curiosity Box: www.curiosityb...
*** SOURCES ***
BOOKS
How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number And Other Evolutionary Quirks by Robin Dunbar
www.amazon.com...
Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz
www.amazon.com...
ASSETS
Robin Dunbar, Networks In A Virtual World - Aalto SCI
goo.gl/FqB8Rv
Riken Brain Science Institute
goo.gl/enRRvg
RESEARCH PAPERS
Do Online Social Media Cut Through The Constraints That Limit The Size Of Offline Social Networks?
goo.gl/ZgHhBL
Lethal Intergroup Aggression Leads To Territorial Expansion In Wild Chimpanzees
goo.gl/49cqPY
Marital Satisfaction And Break-Ups Differ Across Online And Offline Meeting Venues
goo.gl/sUjM6Q
Bonobos Share With Strangers Before Acquaintances
today.duke.edu...
journals.plos.o...
Neocortex Size, Group Size, and the Evolution of Language
goo.gl/jhH9C9
Social Network Size In Humans by Hill and Dunbar
goo.gl/oEYZ5X
The Social Brain Hypothesis
goo.gl/h4eMft
New And Revised Data On Volume Of Brain Structures In Insectivores And Primates
goo.gl/ExsoGc
Primate Social Systems by Robin Dunbar
goo.gl/RyRrLN
Coevolution Of Neocortical Size, Group Size And Language In Humans by Robin Dunbar
goo.gl/ERJcFM
Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis
goo.gl/GUKE6v
Modeling Users’ Activity On Twitter Networks
goo.gl/Tudb1K
ARTICLES
How Many People Can You Remember
goo.gl/2skZ8z
How Many Friends Can You Really Have
goo.gl/P9QfYS
The Average American Knows How Many People?
goo.gl/b5ajfG
The Limits Of Friendship
goo.gl/Fpue3v
How Many People Do You Trust?
goo.gl/Djy1hM
Robin Dunbar TEDx - Can The Internet Buy You More Friends?
goo.gl/fD7H4o
Your Brain Limits You To Just Five BFFs
goo.gl/H69BAA
The Dunbar Number As A Limit To Group Sizes
goo.gl/7jENeg
What’s Your Dunbar Number?
goo.gl/3gVUqJ
Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?
goo.gl/qpnUhz
Are Humans Hard Wired For A Limited Social Circle?
goo.gl/GzGPZ8
Twitter And The Dunbar Number
goo.gl/m7YVkB
Is Friendship Limited? An Inquiry into Dunbar’s Number by Larry Dossey, M.D.
goo.gl/QgC1b4
Number Of Wedding Attendees
goo.gl/tY9Vne
goo.gl/hWq4Q1
The Social Brain Hypothesis
goo.gl/aeMfAa
Stephanie Coontz: On Marriage
goo.gl/LSS2Pf
goo.gl/b3FgM9
First Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing The Nature Of Society
goo.gl/MUAr4F
SPECIAL THANKS
Robin Dunbar
www.psy.ox.ac....
Dr. Steve Stewart-Williams
www.stevestewar...
/ stevestuwill
Cameron Marlow
cameronmarlow.com/
Phil DeFranco
/ sxephil
The only man in the world who can be taken seriously sitting in a ball pit.
Steelhunter777 lmfao
I'm pretty sure you wouldn't just stop listening to someone like Elon Musk if he sat in a ball pit.
Broken Beakers i’d laugh, hard.
i’ll pass out
What about Chuck Norris
what about zucc
Those four people must be really tired of receiving 80 % of all phone calls...
By logic, those 4 people make up 20% of ones friend
yes except the people calling them are likely in THEIR own main 4 people as well so it mostly works out
@@SirKaji then it fulfills the 80/20 rule or whatever, cool
Ashton Minden you mean zipf's law?
Hey, look how many likes.
*imagines having 150 friends*
too... much..... social........ interaction...........
I don't think they mean friend in the same way most of us think of as friends. They say '50 meaningful relationships' which would be my estimation of a real friend. And, to me, that seams reasonable; 10-15 family (maybe a lot more), 10 coworkers you actually know, 10 people that are into the same hobbies as you, that's already 30+.
The other 100 people are more like the other coworkers you know see in their cubicle each day, or that uncle that never comes to thanksgiving. Your old friends from high school or your last job. And then you have all of their extended families, some of which you may know better than others.
kindlin still too much
still too, tooooo *much*
ikr
can't even image having one...
So... Do you want to expand your social interaction? Hahahaha
ahahahahah 150
lol I have like 2 on a good day
Incendere Nope, 150 people also includes your Parents, immediate family members like siblings,extended relatives such as your cousins, acquintances, classmates as well as acquintances you have not seen in a long time.
It doesn't have to though. Personally I don't include extended family and acquaintances as friends because I have no real interest in most of them.
Penguin 101 Wrong, do you hangout with more than 1000 people annually. Stop lying, humans are only able to expreince relationship with 150-250 people. Good luck with your lies
2 ? teach me senpai!!!!!
Its the max not the min. :D
My grandma and college friends have a lot in common, they all rely heavily on drugs.
MrBusrunner that's one thing
Different kinds but potato potato
@@bradhuff5131 potato potato
Tmi
I did not click this video to listen to YOU. i clicked it to learn about dunbars number. Although i do enjoy vsauce i wasnt aware this video was vsauce till you said vsauce.
151 original Pokémon , just saying
152 Missingno #foreveralone
Maxim Kruglov but thats not an official pokemon
Nerdy Gamer it exists as a Pokemon in official games, therefore it is an official pokemon
There are myriads of glitch Pokemon. You can't count all of them as actual Pokemon.
Project Legend is it in the pokedex? no? then its not official, its just a glitch
Do people really maintain friendships with three digit numbers of people? I hardly manage to routinely care about 6 family members and 4 or 5 friends
Edit: eyyyyy I graduated highschool and went down to 3 friends
No, he was just saying that Dunbar's number is the maximum. It would be difficult to maintain any more than 150 meaningful relationships.
ujowcooq o OE plqjclxjbd
The Doctor. simply The Doctor.
I thought about all the people I talk to at least once a week outside of work and school and it's only 2 people. : (
God Bear I think I'm south of 10 if you DO count school :/
Meaningful relationships, with meaningful purpose, not just people you hangout with for fun. Think - all your relatives and classmates and club members and coworkers and church members and teammates and neighbors…
i can hardly maintain one friend :/
Aladdin Wanna be friends? :)
This is wild. The biggest realization I had about social media's effect on social circles this wasn't just about making friends, but ending friendships, or being unable to.
When I was in high school, I was in a group of friends who had a huge hangout session every week. It was basically a given. Toward the end of high school, some of us, including me, just started opting out. And then eventually, I stopped seeing them altogether. There we no hard feelings about it - we were the right friends at the right time, then our needs changed. We stopped seeing each other, we stopped thinking about each other.
Facebook has made that gradual fadeout basically impossible. People who I don't really need to be friends with anymore, people who keep me stuck on an old phase of my life, emotionally, are still present. We keep feigning interest in each other's activities, we keep saying "we should hang out", and it never happens, but since now we can stay in touch potentially forever, the expectation is always there. An endless drain with no gain on either side.
Touché or that might be the wrong word but it’s still better left to be understood.
The most fascinating consequence to me is what happens when a company grows beyond 150. Until that point everyone really can know everyone else. After that point they simply can not. A lot of subtle things change at that point and it's always difficult. Many or even most companies do not survive it.
150..haha..yeah....
more like the minimum number of people you'd get friendzoned by
I've not even spoken to 150 people in my life.
Florian Klein IBM 5100
Emīls Goško You definitely did.
I like your response.
Kevin, we're not friends but I appreciate your work and would shed tears if anything bad to you or Micheal or Jake. The knowledge you three give to us for free is priceless. Oh and, as always, thanks for the video!
*trying not to cry* Yes, yes Kevin, I'd really like a banana
I really should stop watching these so late, I just get way to emotional everytime ^^
_"_ knowledge you three give to us *FOR FREE* _"_
Is Vsauce a joke to you?
Can I get girls if I routinely groom them for ticks?
No, I tried it already...
Worked for me
No, but if they let you groom them for ticks you can probably get with them.
yes
Rodrigo Teresa may not be the kind of girl you would want to spend time with
I was going to suggest Hutterites, (having grown up in a hutterite colony) but you actually did your research and listed them! I am impressed.
What do you miss and what do you not miss?
Egg
150 Friends ?! Wish I had just one ;(
What is your profile pic from?
Let's be friends (=
Wanna be my buddy ?
Same here
We have 5 people here. Let's all be best buds. It's a start, lol.
1:43 that’s why the only thing Google+ has over any other social media is the Circles system.
doesn't facebook have the friends listing option?
Yes, but they’re all just Friends. By default, Google+ comes with Friends, Family, Following, Acquaintances, and Other, and you can add more.
Wyatt f
Michael in V1 has changed to some weird math like Napkins and octagon Hexagon. This is good stuff
*insert unoriginal joke about how I don’t have any friends here*
But what if... it's not a joke.
Catch 22 because the “insert joke” joke itself is unoriginal
Goopsta precisely
If you did have any real friends, one of them would have told you this joke wasn't a good idea.
Read "This Book Is Full of Spiders" by David Wong. A lot of Dunbar's number there
Aleatorio A fantastic book!
EWWW NO! I'm not gunna read something that as soon as I flip open, a bunch of creepy crawlies come out! They're so spooky!
Aleatorio oh cracked right?
In Soviet Union everyone friend
Be union friend or it be your end
True utopia
Lie
Abrahim Stalin every one commerade
In Russia, friends make you.
Slightly disappointed that you didn't get into how within Dunbar's number, you actually eliminate the need for policing, government, and external authority in general. It's a social structure that doesn't require governance, especially if those 150 people ae all interdependently connected.
It also seems like it would drastically diminish innovativeness and quality of life (at least from a purely superficial standpoint)
I cried watching this because i have no friends
Here have a like and a comment. May we meet in another comment sections, whether we'll remind each other or not.
give a banana to a stranger and make a friend
Want a banana?
Carson Simmons you got me budy.
first share things with someone and then thoughts that you both find interest in. And then you will be able to make connection that is known as friendship.
I think a lot of people already know this stuff, deep down. The more 'friends' you have, the less time in the day, week, or your life you have available to divide between spending time with them. Small friend circles are best because you can devote time to people and still have free time to yourself. Large friend circles get more shallow the more people there are, and you lose any sense of closeness and cannot fully give of yourself to any person you know. Whatever this amount is changes from person to person....for me 40 people is around the maximum number of faces & personalities I can memorise and if the number rises harder than that I start not being able to recall things about them, or put names/facts to faces unless they are exceptionally distinctive/characterful personalities. I try to keep my close friends below 5. My numbers are lower as an introvert, but I imagine super social people can manage higher numbers before they forget who people are, or develop behavioural rules for shallow engagements without remembering people.
Jokes on you, I have no friends.
or do you?
@@yinyang1217 I don't think this is necessary since this is the comments thread in a v sauce video but-
V-sauce music plays
@@yinyang1217 go on....
100-230 is the range that has been seen while 150 is the average. Some might have 10-50, while others can have 200-300. It peaks at 150 while the maximum bell falls at 100-230.
lol i dont even know 150 people
just do what i do and make them up using *Imagination*
you likely do
I love a good cup of Existential Crisis in the morning, so delicious and full of life disappointments.
Life is great, thats why its dissapointing. If you believed it was suffering, you'd only feel the joy of pleasant surprise
Potato is a TV
The Travel Guy the future is here: Potatoes
no more smart tvs; the patato is all the smarts u need!
Our brain is just....thinkable tofu.
strontiumXnitrate , Ai em sowee !
congrats on the rewind :D
Dude! I'd totally pick you up from the airport!
I've got a more serious question, why do all my friends look like those little wooden people from IKEA?!? 1:30
mannequin
and here i am with 2 friends, one of which is co worker i sit next to
wow, my neocortex must be super small.
Brennan The Nerd Or occupied with a lot of things, some of which you only know.
I must not have one :,)
After I left the Mormon church I lost most of my friends, so now I have about 3 that I talk to regularly out of about 15 that I had.
Camden McCombs :/
Hasa diga eebowai
hey, put a 0 to 15' end to make it 150
I love how all the top comments are made by fellow introverts! Uh hi. 👋
Banana?
That's me
hey
Yeah, figure this video is good for introverts.
Correct
I have 3 friends and that's enough. I don't see them for years at a time but when I do it's as if not 2 days had passed. Then there are other people I hang out with everyday and they have never ceased to be acquaintances.
Bonding becomes more difficult with age. It's not whether you got a banana from someone or not. I know damn well who I can count on in prosperity and adversity alike.
Excellent presentation. Loved every minute of it. you are in danger of becoming my favourite VSauce guy.
dunbar's number: you can have up to 150 friends
me being unable to have more than 4 friends at a time:
I forgot where I heard this, but I've heard that 50 was the maximum number of people early humans could take for group hunting before it became hard to command. this number is the same exact number of League of Legends players that can group together on average before it becomes uncontrolled
Over time you have become my favorite Vsauce channel Kevin, thanks for all your inspiring videos!
I don't have any friends.
welcome to the club, pal.
I wish I had friends but I don't like any humans. We are made of contradictions...
Same
Anyone want a banana?
same
150 active friendships?! I have a hard time keeping one friend. Jeez
Time really is a huge factor. Getting older, ihave lost touch with friends and I avoid making new ones.
"80% of phone calls are to the same four people"
Those four people: Jesus Christ why are so many people calling us!
🤣😂🤣
Sharing your banana with a stranger, huh.
no it works, trust me. I shared an actual banana with a stranger and we became friends. I ate the banana myself in the end :( (he didn't want to eat it)
well, I dont thinks its the best Idea to ask people if they want your banana ^^
3:45 Nice. I was just thinking of the size of an Infantry company and the common saying (adjusted for our training) that, "You can know a person by the company they keep".
This just made me realize I haven't interacted much with my best friend - who I've known for over 17 years now - for at least 6+ months. Ever since he moved away and stopped
really visiting, it's been minimal interaction over Steam. Damn.
It seems like less is better because it allows for more time to care about another person, but maybe more is better as the emotional distress can be more easily dealt with as friendships come and go.
At University of Michigan I’m literally learning about this and Selection Theory. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to know for the past 21 years of my life as an INTP. It’s wonderful.
I don't even have more than 10 People in my "Friendzone" if you don't include family.
And not a single person I'd considder a close friend
Alkatron it’s gonna be okay my dude. Quality over quantity.
what did I just say. Not even a single close friend. There is no quality
Alkatron dude, they mean that they’re just ‘placeholders’ as soon as you find a real friend you’ll most likely forget they exist
Even if you include my family I only have one.
And that's including myself in the list.
And here I am with just a very small handful of real friends...
It's not a matter of if someone will betray you, but a matter of WHEN someone IS GOING to betray you.
Friendship is Magic
mY LiTtLe POOOOONNYYYYY
Water is dry.
k thanks
subbed
BanditRants hello daddy
Potassium is K for shor
Whater is cold???
myspace had the ability to divide your friends into groups.
I can only handle about one friend group at a time, and that's pushing it.
Love is a finite resource. Spend it on those close to you. Defend them from invasion. Hate those who wish to harm them.
Quality over quantity bruh.
2:20 Five closest friends huh? Well, there’s my Mom, Dad, brother, dog, and cat. *Two seconds later* oh, hmm, this is a hard one... well, I get five for free from the previous group, uhhh, my pet rabbit might notice if I died. Maybe my teachers? Except Mrs- you know what, I give up.
INTROVERTS UNITE WITH OUR WHOPPING 1-20 ACTIVE FRIENDSHIPS!
Emma Rey
Reppin’ that one friend minimum 👌
if i have no friends, does that mean i have a small brain?
I am so lonely that I came here with a hope that this video would assure me that I don't need friends. But it just made me wanna try even harder to make friends even though I know my attempts are to be in vain like it always have been.
Don't have 100 bucks, have 100 buds. Each gives 2 bucks, you have 200.
My maximum friends is 0
This is inspiring, and almost tear jerking towards the end :) beautiful
I understand what you mean... that's why parents tell their child to make as many friends as they can whilst their at school, I tell my daughters to make strong friends who you can depend on...
Whats a real friend nowadays ? Sure aint on social media
Another great video. I remember socialization is one 1 of Maslow's higher needs. However, I, like others, am a reclusive introvert & have apparently self-isolated from 99% of my family and friends. Perhaps my socializing is my online teaching? With modern tech, could someone remain mentally/psychologically healthy with only online connections?
11:39 wow that just took a dark and personal turn, damn
All these examples are just confirmation bias though right?
i like tacos.
Ma man
Me too let's be friends
I like and cook chili.
I can maintain 3 active friendship. I can't have more. I tried, but I can't
Are you kidding?
150?
That's a number i might just reach counting everyone i see as ... acquaintances
What are these so called “friends” you speak of?
I have uh, 2 friends....I guess my brain must be really full.
12-15 people would be devistated if I died? Haha, I wish.
'Want a banana?'
Hmm. I could've sworn that was a euphemism for something...
Vsauce Kevin Here
Where are your fingers?
Spelled sauce wrong
He came and spoke at my school the other day, lovely old chap ngl
i will single handedly bring that number down to 2
another incredible video, and hits me a bit close to home at the moment. i don't know if this is a common thing, but i find it difficult to limit access to me and my person according to which circle people fit into around me. friends are friends are friends right? well..not exactly. so letting people who really are more good acquaintances than friends too close and having them hurt me is too easy. trying to navigate those boundaries with social media and real life is tricky.
You seriously overestimate the amount of friends I have.
I think my number is about 10
mine is 1
that 1 is me
Dunbars numbar
“To share your banana with a stranger.” AYO WHAT THIS MAN SUGGESTING!?
4:14 That's to assume everyone you associate yourself with all correlate inside the factory, in other words you will not share a personal relationship with EVERY person at your work-space unless you dedicated everything you had to your work; which again I doubt, for a factory job.
Yeah, have no friends, lots of space left
150 friends? Man, that's a whole lot of peoples! I'd be happy with even just one to begin with! Ha! Such is the life of a loner!
7:29 describes me, perfectly about Vsauce.
I gotta admit, I just realized - especially with the "want a banana" at the end - how often I think to myself: "Hey, that person seems cool. I'd like to go drink a coffee with them."
And I'm pretty introverted, myself. I believe a few online friends can count into my closer sympathetic group, but overall I really just have like 5-7 "good friends", excluding my mother who I probably have the best relationship out of my family with.
There's an urge for me to increase that number, but usually the required sympathy and the drive to actually go out of my comfort zone only really happens with people that I will most likely never get to drink a coffee with.
I love how Vsauce2 says random stuff like "removing ticks" then immediately relates it to the main topic
who would've thought I learned less about social activity from school and more about social activity from a guy in a kids ball-pit.
Can I be one of your 150, will you pick me up from the airport at 3 am
no, you can be one of my 69, and yes i will pick you up at 3am
I swear to god a couple of days ago this video was called "The Real Friend Zone"
I DONT EVEN GOT FRIENDS HAHA JOKES ON YOU 🙄
I thought he was gonna talk about women friend zoning you lol
lol who didn't
Odd how the smartest people tend _not_ to be sociable..
That may not be a matter of sociability. It can take years of work just to put together a dissertation for a Ph.D., assuming the people you speak of are part of academia in someway. Maintaining a status/employment can also require pretty frequent publication in journals. That could just be a matter of not having enough time
I've been through academia, as student and teacher. On average, I'd say roughly 15% of the students on any course have the intellect (really, attitude) to benefit from it. I've proof read a lot of PhDs, and half were obviously plagarised or written by other people. Some of my smartest colleagues had no (or fake) qualifications, and some of my most qualified colleagues didn't know the basics of their own field. So no, I'm not equating academic achievement with smarts, and everything you say is true.
I'm just saying that if you want to go beyond the ordinary, you can't be worried about offending _lovers_ of the ordinary.
The number of Ph.D.'s having been plagiarized or outsourced for writing makes the pursuit sound intimidating. But, that point aside apologies for the misinterpretation.
That is a philosophical statement, I may have to adopt that as a mantra going forward. By that, would you consider how sociable someone being a factor of how ordinary one is? In that someone being extremely unsociable could place them in the tails of a normal curve.
_"would you consider how sociable someone being a factor of how ordinary one is?"_
Being indifferent to the opinions of others doesn't automatically make one unusual, but it removes a lot of the barriers to developing in unusual directions.
Just to be sure I'm understanding, could that be somewhat like maintaining a clean palette? The way I'm reading that is similar to one being moderate, in the context of political ideology. Not allowing any particular side pull them too far.
I basically only know 3 people as friends. And that's even a bit too much for me.
I like to keep my friends rich
and my enemies rich
and wait to see which is which
I've always had between 120-190 friends on Facebook purposely so this makes sense
I wonder how many friends an elephant would have? Their brain is much larger than ours.
Your "need to collect" video was the most interesting video I'd ever watched... Until now. You've outdone yourself again, Kevin.
Seriously, bra-fuckin-vo. Standing ovation.
And if the research into this video is true then it's made me realise that I'm probably autistic. Oh well. Happy days.
I knew about Dunbar's number but I like how he explained it in the Vsauce way.Liked the video.