HUMAN CONNECTION
Interview with evolutionary psychologist Professor Robin Dunbar.
Evolutionary psychology was pretty much the only part of my psychology degree that really interested me and I remain convinced that much, or even most, of our decision-making is driven by primal needs and desires that were shaped by millions of years of evolution. Most of the time, of course, we are oblivious, so a little more understanding is enormously valuable.
Amongst other things, Robin Dunbar came up with ‘Dunbar’s number’ of 150, which is, he argues persuasively, the natural group size of a human tribe, and therefore the maximum number of people with whom we can have a meaningful relationship. This is not as random, or as limiting, as it might sound when stated baldly like this, and it has a lot of relevance to organisations.
In this interview he talks about friendship, loneliness and human contact, and the implications for everyone, both in and outside work.