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Robin Dunbar
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{{Short description|British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100|FBA|FRAI}} | image = Robin Dunbar (6293027302).jpg | caption = Dunbar at [[Festival della Scienza]] <br />in [[Italy]], 2011 | birth_name = Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1947|06|28}}<ref name="whoswho">{{cite web |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U14279 |title=DUNBAR, Prof. Robin Ian MacDonald |work=Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press |url-access=subscription }}</ref> | birth_place = [[Liverpool]], [[Lancashire]], England | death_date = | death_place = | fields = [[Anthropology]]<br>[[Evolutionary Psychology]]<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Opie | first1 = C. | last2 = Atkinson | first2 = Q. D. | last3 = Dunbar | first3 = R. I. M. | last4 = Shultz | first4 = S. | title = Male infanticide leads to social monogamy in primates | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1307903110 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | year = 2013 | pmid = 23898180| pmc = 3746880| volume=110 | issue = 33 | pages=13328β13332| bibcode = 2013PNAS..11013328O | doi-access = free }}</ref> | workplaces = [[University of Bristol]] <br> [[Stockholm University]] <br> [[University of Cambridge]] <br> [[University of Oxford]] <br> [[University College London]] <br> [[University of Liverpool]] | thesis_title = The social organisation of the gelada baboon (Theropithecus gelada) | thesis_year = 1974 | thesis_url = http://www.theses.com | alma_mater = {{ubl|[[Magdalen College, Oxford]] (BA, MA)|[[University of Bristol]] (PhD)}} | known_for = [[Dunbar's number]]<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | author-link1 = Robin Dunbar| title = Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates | doi = 10.1016/0047-2484(92)90081-J | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 22 | issue = 6 | pages = 469β493| year = 1992 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Hill | first1 = R. A. | last2 = Dunbar | first2 = R. I. M. | doi = 10.1007/s12110-003-1016-y | title = Social network size in humans | journal = Human Nature | volume = 14 | issue = 1 | pages = 53β72 | year = 2003 | pmid = 26189988| citeseerx = 10.1.1.585.3484 | s2cid = 11036621 }}</ref><ref name="dunbarsno">{{cite book |author=Dunbar, Robin I. M. |title=How many friends does one person need?: Dunbar's number and other evolutionary quirks |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-571-25342-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/howmanyfriendsdo0000dunb }}</ref><br> [[evolution of human intelligence|social brain hypothesis]] [[origin of language|gossip hypothesis]] [[Gelada|Baboon]] research<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Barrett | first1 = L. | last2 = Dunbar | first2 = R. I. M. | author-link2 = Robin Dunbar| last3 = Dunbar | first3 = P. | doi = 10.1016/0003-3472(95)80211-8 | title = Mother-infant contact as contingent behaviour in gelada baboons | journal = Animal Behaviour | volume = 49 | issue = 3 | pages = 805β810 | year = 1995 | s2cid = 53152282 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | author-link1 = Robin Dunbar| title = Determinants and evolutionary consequences of dominance among female gelada baboons | doi = 10.1007/BF00300665 | journal = Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology | volume = 7 | issue = 4 | pages = 253β265 | year = 1980 | s2cid = 28369135 }}</ref><ref name="dominance"/> | awards = [[Finnish Academy of Science and Letters|Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters]] (2021) <br> [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|Huxley Memorial Medal]] (2015) <br> [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (FRAI)]] (2015) <br> [[British Academy|Fellow of the British Academy (FBA)]] (1998) | footnotes = | website = {{URL|https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/robin-dunbar}} | spouse = {{marriage|Eva Patricia Melvin|1971}}<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name="dominance"/> }} '''Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar''' (born 28 June 1947)<ref name=britac>{{cite web |url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/directory/archive.asp?fellowsID=1242 |title=British Academy Fellows Archive |publisher=[[British Academy]] |access-date=2007-12-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202132717/http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/directory/archive.asp?fellowsID=1242 |archive-date=2 February 2008 }}</ref><ref name=humanism>{{cite web |url=http://www.humanism.org.uk/about/people/distinguished-supporters/Professor-Robin-Dunbar-FBA |title=Professor Robin Dunbar FBA |publisher=[[British Humanist Association]] |access-date=2007-12-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717063057/http://www.humanism.org.uk/about/people/distinguished-supporters/Professor-Robin-Dunbar-FBA |archive-date=17 July 2012 }}</ref> is a British [[anthropology|biological anthropologist]], [[evolutionary psychologist]], and specialist in [[primatology|primate]] behaviour.<ref name="pmid21098277">{{Cite journal | last1 = Shultz | first1 = S. | last2 = Dunbar | first2 = R. | author-link2 = Robin Dunbar | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1005246107 | title = Encephalization is not a universal macroevolutionary phenomenon in mammals but is associated with sociality | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 107 | issue = 50 | pages = 21582β21586 | year = 2010 | pmid = 21098277 | pmc =3003036 | bibcode = 2010PNAS..10721582S | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Hill | first1 = R. A. | last2 = Bentley | first2 = R. A. | last3 = Dunbar | first3 = R. I. M. | author-link3 = Robin Dunbar | doi = 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0393 | title = Network scaling reveals consistent fractal pattern in hierarchical mammalian societies | journal = Biology Letters | volume = 4 | issue = 6 | pages = 748β751 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18765349 | pmc =2614163 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | author-link1 = Robin Dunbar | doi = 10.1186/1741-7007-5-21 | title = Male and female brain evolution is subject to contrasting selection pressures in primates | journal = BMC Biology | volume = 5 | page = 21 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17493267 | pmc =1876205 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | title = The price of being at the top | doi = 10.1038/373022a0 | journal = Nature | volume = 373 | issue = 6509 | pages = 22β23 | year = 1995 | pmid = 7800033 | bibcode = 1995Natur.373...22D | s2cid = 4310682 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. | title = The monkeys' defence alliance | doi = 10.1038/386555a0 | journal = Nature | volume = 386 | issue = 6625 | pages = 555β7 | year = 1997 | pmid = 9121575 | bibcode = 1997Natur.386..555D | s2cid = 2064690 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | last2 = Pawlowski | first2 = B. | last3 = Lipowicz | first3 = A. | title = Tall men have more reproductive success | journal = Nature | volume = 403 | issue = 6766 | page = 156 | year = 2000 | doi = 10.1038/35003107 | pmid = 10646589 | bibcode = 2000Natur.403..156P | s2cid = 7722496 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | title = Evolutionary biology: What's in a baboon's behind? | doi = 10.1038/35065773 | journal = Nature | volume = 410 | issue = 6825 | page = 158 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11258375 | s2cid = 31256568 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. | title = PSYCHOLOGY: Evolution of the Social Brain | doi = 10.1126/science.1092116 | journal = Science | volume = 302 | issue = 5648 | pages = 1160β1161 | year = 2003 | pmid = 14615522 | s2cid = 144329128 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | last2 = Shultz | first2 = S. | doi = 10.1126/science.1145463 | title = Evolution in the Social Brain | journal = Science | volume = 317 | issue = 5843 | pages = 1344β1347 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17823343 | bibcode = 2007Sci...317.1344D | s2cid = 1516792 }}</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>{{Cite journal|title = Processing power limits social group size: computational evidence for the cognitive costs of sociality|journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences|date = 2013-08-22|issn = 0962-8452|pmc = 3712454|pmid = 23804623|page = 20131151|volume = 280|issue = 1765|doi = 10.1098/rspb.2013.1151|language = en|first1 = T.|last1 = DΓ‘vid-Barrett|first2 = R. I. M.|last2 = Dunbar}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title = How conversations around campfires came to be|journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|date = 2014-09-30|issn = 0027-8424|pmc = 4191795|pmid = 25246572|pages = 14013β14014|volume = 111|issue = 39|doi = 10.1073/pnas.1416382111|language = en|first = Robin I. M.|last = Dunbar|bibcode = 2014PNAS..11114013D|doi-access = free}}</ref>
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