Robin Dunbar is the world-renowned psychologist and author who famously discovered Dunbar’s number: how our capacity for friendship is limited to around 150 people. On March 11 he comes to Intelligence Squared to explain why friends matter to us – more than we think. The single most surprising fact to emerge out of the medical literature over the last decade or so has been that the number and quality of the friendships we have has a bigger influence on our happiness, health and even mortality risk than anything else except giving up smoking.
Exploring the themes of his new book Friends, Dunbar will explain the way different types of friendship and family relationships intersect, the complex of psychological and behavioural mechanisms that underpin friendships and make them possible – and just how complicated the business of making and keeping friends actually is.
Mixing insights from scientific research with first person experiences and culture, he will share his insights from disciplines ranging from psychology and anthropology to neuroscience and genetics. Join us as we peer into the incredible complexity of the social world in which we are all so deeply embedded.
Book bundles include one ticket for the online debate, plus a copy of Robin Dunbar’s book Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships with free UK P&P. Books will be posted within 1-2 weeks of the event finishing. Click here to purchase a book bundle.
Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships by Robin Dunbar is available to buy from Primrose Hill Books, for £16 including free UK P&P. Intelligence Squared+ subscribers pay £15 for this book, and receive further discounts on other books. Click here for more information and to subscribe.
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Speakers are subject to change.