32 found
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  1.  83
    Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1993 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4):681-694.
    Group size is a function of relative neocortical volume in nonhuman primates. Extrapolation from this regression equation yields a predicted group size for modern humans very similar to that of certain hunter-gatherer and traditional horticulturalist societies. Groups of similar size are also found in other large-scale forms of contemporary and historical society. Among primates, the cohesion of groups is maintained by social grooming; the time devoted to social grooming is linearly related to group size among the Old World monkeys and (...)
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  2.  32
    The modern mind: Its missing parts?R. I. M. Dunbar - 1993 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4):758-759.
  3. Social network size in humans.R. A. Hill & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2003 - Human Nature 14 (1):53-72.
    This paper examines social network size in contemporary Western society based on the exchange of Christmas cards. Maximum network size averaged 153.5 individuals, with a mean network size of 124.9 for those individuals explicitly contacted; these values are remarkably close to the group size of 150 predicted for humans on the basis of the size of their neocortex. Age, household type, and the relationship to the individual influence network structure, although the proportion of kin remained relatively constant at around 21%. (...)
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  4. Mind the gap: or why humans aren't just great apes.R. I. M. Dunbar - 2008 - In Dunbar R. I. M. (ed.), Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 154, 2007 Lectures. pp. 403-423.
  5.  40
    Social networks, support cliques, and kinship.R. I. M. Dunbar & M. Spoors - 1995 - Human Nature 6 (3):273-290.
    Data on the number of adults that an individual contacts at least once a month in a set of British populations yield estimates of network sizes that correspond closely to those of the typical “sympathy group” size in humans. Men and women do not differ in their total network size, but women have more females and more kin in their networks than men do. Kin account for a significantly higher proportion of network members than would be expected by chance. The (...)
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  6.  22
    Resource competition and reproduction.Eckart Voland & R. I. M. Dunbar - 1995 - Human Nature 6 (1):33-49.
    A family reconstitution study of the Krummhörn population (Ostfriesland, Germany, 1720–1874) reveals that infant mortality and children’s probabilities of marrying or emigrating unmarried are affected by the number of living same-sexed sibs in farmers’ families but not in the families of landless laborers. We interpret these results in terms of a “local resource competition” model in which resource-holding families are obliged to manipulate the reproductive future of their offspring. In contrast, families that lack resources have no need to manipulate their (...)
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  7.  32
    The Complexity of Jokes Is Limited by Cognitive Constraints on Mentalizing.R. I. M. Dunbar, Jacques Launay & Oliver Curry - 2016 - Human Nature 27 (2):130-140.
  8.  31
    The social brain hypothesis : an evolutionary perspective on the neurobiology of social behaviour.Susanne Shultz & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2012 - In Sarah Richmond, Geraint Rees & Sarah J. L. Edwards (eds.), I know what you're thinking: brain imaging and mental privacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  9.  44
    Who dares, wins.Susan Kelly & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2001 - Human Nature 12 (2):89-105.
    Heroism is apparently nonadaptive in Darwinian terms, so why does it exist at all? Risk-taking and heroic behavior are predominantly male tendencies, and literature and legend reflect this. This study explores the possibility that heroism persists in many human cultures owing to a female preference for risk-prone rather than risk-averse males as sexual partners, and it suggests that such a preference may be exploited as a male mating strategy. It also attempts to quantify the relative influences of altruism and bravery (...)
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  10.  34
    Clique Size and Network Characteristics in Hyperlink Cinema.Jaimie Arona Krems & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2013 - Human Nature 24 (4):414-429.
    Hyperlink cinema is an emergent film genre that seeks to push the boundaries of the medium in order to mirror contemporary life in the globalized community. Films in the genre thus create an interacting network across space and time in such a way as to suggest that people’s lives can intersect on scales that would not have been possible without modern technologies of travel and communication. This allows us to test the hypothesis that new kinds of media might permit us (...)
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  11.  25
    Selfishness reexamined.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1989 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 12 (4):700-702.
  12.  23
    What Shall We Talk about in Farsi?Mahdi Dahmardeh & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2017 - Human Nature 28 (4):423-433.
    Previous empirical studies have suggested that language is primarily used to exchange social information, but our evidence on this derives mainly from English speakers. We present data from a study of natural conversations among Farsi speakers in Iran and show that not only are conversation groups the same size as those observed in Europe and North America, but people also talk predominantly about social topics. We argue that these results reinforce the suggestion that language most likely evolved for the transmission (...)
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  13.  46
    Managing Relationship Decay.Sam B. G. Roberts & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2015 - Human Nature 26 (4):426-450.
    Relationships are central to human life strategies and have crucial fitness consequences. Yet, at the same time, they incur significant maintenance costs that are rarely considered in either social psychological or evolutionary studies. Although many social psychological studies have explored their dynamics, these studies have typically focused on a small number of emotionally intense ties, whereas social networks in fact consist of a large number of ties that serve a variety of different functions. In this study, we examined how entire (...)
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  14.  16
    On the origins of language: A history of constraints and windows of opportunity.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1993 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4):721-735.
  15.  25
    Dunbar’s Number goes to Church: The Social Brain Hypothesis as a third strand in the study of church growth.R. Bretherton & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2020 - Archive for the Psychology of Religion 42 (1):63-76.
    The study of church growth has historically been divided into two strands of research: the Church Growth Movement and the Social Science approach. This article argues that Dunbar’s Social Brain Hypothesis represents a legitimate and fruitful third strand in the study of church growth, sharing features of both previous strands but identical with neither. We argue that five predictions derived from the Social Brain Hypothesis are accurately borne out in the empirical and practical church growth literature: that larger congregations lead (...)
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  16.  50
    Is priesthood an adaptive strategy?Denis K. Deady, Miriam J. Law Smith, J. P. Kent & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2006 - Human Nature 17 (4):393-404.
    This study examines the socioeconomic and familial background of Irish Catholic priests born between 1867 and 1911. Previous research has hypothesized that lack of marriage opportunities may influence adoption of celibacy as part of a religious institution. The present study traced data from Irish seminary registries for 46 Catholic priests born in County Limerick, Ireland, using 1901 Irish Census returns and Land Valuation records. Priests were more likely to originate from landholding backgrounds, and with landholdings greater in size and wealth (...)
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  17.  13
    Grice, HP 105,114 Gross, J. 82 Guillaume, P. 36, 49 Gussenhoven, C. 139, 151 H.G. A. de Laguna, F. B. M. deWaal, G. Dell, E. Deloria, J. L. Dessalles, G. Deutscher, E. A. DiPaolo, R. Dixon, R. I. M. Dunbar & G. Duyk - 2010 - In M. Arbib D. Bickerton (ed.), The Emergence of Protolanguage: Holophrasis Vs Compositionality. John Benjamins. pp. 175.
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  18.  41
    Confounding explanations. . .R. I. M. Dunbar - 2001 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (2):283-283.
    I argue that, while Finlay et al, are correct to suggest that there are developmental regularities (or constraints) acting on brain component evolution, they are incorrect to infer from this that a developmental explanation necessarily implies that structural changes preceded functional use. Developmental and functional (adaptationist) explanations are complementary, not alternatives.
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  19.  20
    Deception as cause or consequence of language?R. I. M. Dunbar - 1996 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 19 (3):548.
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  20.  24
    Genetic similarity theory needs more development.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1989 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 12 (3):520-521.
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  21.  13
    How to break moulds.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1988 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 11 (2):254-255.
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  22.  19
    Marriage rules in perspective.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1991 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14 (2):268-269.
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  23.  24
    Neocortical size and language.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1995 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 18 (2):388-389.
    In my target article, I argued (1) that the relationship between neocortical size and group size in primates implies that there is a cognitive limit on the size of human groups, and (2) that time constraints forced the evolution of language as a more efficient means of bonding the large groups that humans evolved. The doubts about these claims raised by these additional commentaries largely reflect misinterpretation of my original claims.
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  24.  17
    On the evolution of alternative reproductive strategies.R. I. M. Dunbar - 1993 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (2):291-291.
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  25.  42
    Putting humans in their proper place.R. I. M. Dunbar - 2006 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29 (1):15-16.
    Striedter's account of human brain evolution fails on two key counts. First, he confuses developmental constraints with selection explanations in the initial jump in hominid brain size around two MYA. Second, he misunderstands the Machiavellian Intelligence explanation.
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  26.  30
    So how do they do it?R. I. M. Dunbar - 2001 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (2):332-333.
    While the evidence that cetaceans exhibit behaviours that are every bit as cultural as those recognised in chimpanzees is unequivocal, I argue that it is unlikely that either taxon has the social cognitive mechanisms required to underpin the more advanced forms of culture characteristic of humans (namely those that depend on shared meaning).
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  27.  22
    Mobile phones as lekking devices among human males.J. E. Lycett & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2000 - Human Nature 11 (1):93-104.
    This study investigated the use of mobile telephones by males and females in a public bar frequented by professional people. We found that, unlike women, men who possess mobile telephones more often publicly display them, and that these displays were related to the number of men in a social group, but not the number of women. This result was not due simply to a greater number of males who have telephones: we found an increase with male social group size in (...)
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  28.  37
    Waist-to-hip ratio versus body mass index as predictors of fitness in women.B. Pawłowski & R. I. M. Dunbar - 2005 - Human Nature 16 (2):164-177.
  29. Evolution of Social Behaviour Patterns in Primates and Man.W. G. Runciman, John Smith & R. I. M. Dunbar (eds.) - 1996 - British Academy.
    Introduction, W G Runciman Social Evolution in Primates: The Role of Ecological Factors and Male Behaviour, Carel P van Schaik Determinants of Group Size in Primates: A General Model, R I M Dunbar Function and Intention in the Calls of Non-Human Primates, Dorothy L Cheney & Robert M Seyfarth Why Culture is Common, but Cultural Evolution is Rare, Robert Boyd & Peter J Richerson An Evolutionary and Chronological Framework for Human Social Behaviour, Robert A Foley Friendship and the Banker?s Paradox: (...)
     
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  30.  37
    The impact of social status and migration on female age at marriage in an historical population in north-west Germany.Eckart Voland & R. I. M. Dunbar - 1997 - Journal of Biosocial Science 29 (3):355-360.
  31.  21
    Darwinism Applied: Evolutionary Paths to Social Goals. By John H. Beckstrom. Pp. 173. (Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 1993.) £40.50. [REVIEW]R. I. M. Dunbar - 1994 - Journal of Biosocial Science 26 (4):565-567.
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  32.  20
    Richard Wrangham, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. [REVIEW]R. I. M. Dunbar - 2009 - Human Nature 20 (4):447-449.
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