Robin Dunbar

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox scientist Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar (born 28 June 1947)<ref name=britac>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=humanism>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a British biological anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist, and specialist in primate behaviour.<ref name="pmid21098277">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Dunbar is professor emeritus of evolutionary psychology of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is best known for formulating Dunbar's number,<ref name="dunbarsno"/> a measurement of the "cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Education

Dunbar, the son of an engineer, was educated at Magdalen College School, Brackley.<ref name="c423">Template:Cite news</ref> He went on to study at Magdalen College, Oxford,<ref name="whoswho"/> where his teachers included Niko Tinbergen; he completed his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Philosophy in 1969.<ref name="whoswho" /> Dunbar then went on to the Department of Psychology of the University of Bristol and completed his PhD in 1974 on the social organisation of the gelada, Theropithecus gelada, a monkey that is a close relative to baboons.<ref name="dunbarphd">Template:Cite thesis</ref>

He spent two years as a freelance science writer.<ref name=humanism/> Dunbar told BBC Radio interviewer Jim Al-Khalili in The Life Scientific in 2019 that he "got his first real job" only at the age of 40.<ref>"The Life Scientific" interview, BBC Radio Four, 23 July 2019.</ref>

Academic career

Dunbar's academic and research career includes the University of Bristol,<ref name="dominance">Template:Cite journal</ref> University of Cambridge from 1977 until 1982, and University College London from 1987 until 1994. In 1994, Dunbar became Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Liverpool, but left Liverpool in 2007, to take up the post of Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford.<ref name=britac/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2012, Dunbar migrated over to the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, after receiving a competitive research grant from the European Research Council.

Dunbar was formerly co-director of the British Academy Centenary Research Project (BACRP) "From Lucy to Language: The Archaeology of the Social Brain" and was involved in the BACRP "Identifying the Universal Religious Repertoire".

Digital versions of selected published articles authored or co-authored by him are available from the University of Liverpool Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioural Ecology Research Group.

In 2015, Dunbar was awarded the Huxley Memorial Medal—established in 1900 in memory of Thomas Henry Huxley—for services to anthropology by the council of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the highest honour at the disposal of the RAI. Dunbar is also a Humanists UK Distinguished Supporter of Humanism.

Awards and honours

• 2015, Huxley Memorial Medal, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
• 1998, Elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA)<ref name=humanism/>
• 1994, ad hominem Chair, Psychology, University of Liverpool<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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In popular culture

Dunbar's work is mentioned in The Big Bang Theory, Season 4, Episode 20 ("The Herb Garden Germination"), when Amy Farrah Fowler is talking with Sheldon Cooper while listening to a lecture by Brian Greene (2011).

Dunbar is a featured character in the adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind into graphic novel (2020).

Dunbar's work is described in the epilogue of Blake Crouch's novel Upgrade (2022).

Published books

• Dunbar. 1984. Reproductive Decisions: An Economic Analysis of Gelada Baboon Social Strategies. Princeton University Press Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 1987. Demography and Reproduction. In Primate Societies. Smuts, B.B., Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., Wrangham, R.W., Struhsaker, T.T. (eds). Chicago & London:University of Chicago Press. pp. 240–249 Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 1988. Primate Social Systems. Chapman Hall and Yale University Press Template:ISBN
• Foley, Robert & Dunbar, Robin (14 October 1989). "Beyond the bones of contention". New Scientist Vol.124 (No.1686) pp. 21–25.
• Dunbar. 1996. The Trouble with Science. Harvard University Press. Template:ISBN
• Dunbar (ed.). 1995. Human Reproductive Decisions. Macmillan Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 1997. Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language. Harvard University Press. Template:ISBN
• Runciman, Maynard Smith, & Dunbar (eds.). 1997. Evolution of Culture and Language in Primates and Humans. Oxford University Press.
• Dunbar, Knight, & Power (eds.). 1999. The Evolution of Culture. Edinburgh University Press Template:ISBN
• Dunbar & Barrett. 2000. Cousins. BBC Worldwide: London Template:ISBN
• Cowlishaw & Dunbar. 2000. Primate Conservation Biology. University of Chicago Press Template:ISBN
• Barrett, Dunbar & Lycett. 2002. Human Evolutionary Psychology. London: Palgrave Template:ISBN
• Dunbar, Barrett & Lycett. 2005. Evolutionary Psychology, a Beginner's Guide. Oxford: One World Books Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 2004. The Human Story. London: Faber and Faber Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 2010. How Many Friends Does One Person Need?: Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks. London: Faber & Faber Template:ISBN (paper)
• Dunbar. 2014. Human Evolution. Pelican Books Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 2016. Human Evolution: Our Brains and Behavior (Illustrated) Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 2021. Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships. Little, Brown and Company Template:ISBN
• Dunbar. 2022. How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures. Pelican Books Template:ISBN
• Camilleri, Rockey & Dunbar. 2023. The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups London: Penguin Template:ISBN

External links

• The Human Behaviour and Evolution Society
• What Makes us Human Pulse Project Podcast: What Makes us Human? (22 October 2008, Oxford)
• University of Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology profile