Editing Robin Dunbar

{{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=13328–13332| 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 = 469–493| 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 = 53–72 | 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 = 805–810 | 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 = 253–265 | 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 = 21582–21586 
| 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 = 748–751 
| 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 = 22–23 
| 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 = 555–7
| 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 = 1160–1161 
| 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 = 1344–1347 
| 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 = Dávid-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 = 14013–14014|volume = 111|issue = 39|doi = 10.1073/pnas.1416382111|language = en|first = Robin I. M.|last = Dunbar|bibcode = 2014PNAS..11114013D|doi-access = free}}</ref>

==Education==

Dunbar, the son of an engineer, was educated at [[Magdalen College School, Brackley]].<ref name="c423">{{cite news | last=Brown | first=Andrew | title=Science to watch people by | work=The Guardian | date=15 May 2003 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/may/15/scienceinterviews.academicexperts | access-date=17 April 2025}}</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 organization|social organisation]] of the [[gelada]], ''Theropithecus gelada'', a monkey that is a close relative to baboons.<ref name="dunbarphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Robin Ian MacDonald|last=Dunbar |title=The social organisation of the gelada monkey (Theropithecus gelada) |publisher=University of Bristol |date=1974 |url=http://www.theses.com|author-link=Robin Dunbar |url-access=subscription }}</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>"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0006zt6 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">{{Cite journal | last1 = Dunbar | first1 = R. I. M. | last2 = Dunbar | first2 = E. P. | doi = 10.1038/266351a0 | title = Dominance and reproductive success among female gelada baboons | journal = Nature | volume = 266 | issue = 5600 | pages = 351–352 | year = 1977 | pmid =  404565| bibcode = 1977Natur.266..351D | s2cid = 4159540 }}</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>{{cite web
|url=http://www.liv.ac.uk/evolpsyc/dunbar.html |title=Prof. Robin Dunbar FBA |publisher=liv.ac.uk |access-date=2007-12-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071104143754/http://www.liv.ac.uk/evolpsyc/dunbar.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-11-04}}</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>{{cite web |url=http://www.liv.ac.uk/commsec/pdfs/emeritus_professors,_chairs_and_honorary_graduates.pdf |title=Faculty of Science |publisher=liv.ac.uk |access-date=2007-12-02 }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==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 (novel)|Upgrade]]'' (2022).

==Published books==
* Dunbar. 1984. ''Reproductive Decisions: An Economic Analysis of Gelada Baboon Social Strategies''. Princeton University Press {{ISBN|0-691-08360-6}}
* Dunbar. 1987. ''Demography and Reproduction''. In ''Primate Societies''. [[Barbara Smuts|Smuts, B.B.]], Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., [[Richard Wrangham|Wrangham, R.W.]], Struhsaker, T.T. (eds). Chicago & London:University of Chicago Press. pp.&nbsp;240–249 {{ISBN|0-226-76715-9}}
* Dunbar. 1988. ''Primate Social Systems''. Chapman Hall and Yale University Press {{ISBN|0-8014-2087-3}}
* [[Robert Foley (academic)|Foley, Robert]] & Dunbar, Robin (14 October 1989). "Beyond the bones of contention". ''[[New Scientist]]'' '''Vol.124''' (No.1686) pp.&nbsp;21–25.
* Dunbar. 1996. [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674910195 ''The Trouble with Science'']. [[Harvard University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-674-91019-2}}
* Dunbar (ed.). 1995. ''Human Reproductive Decisions''. Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-62051-8}}
* Dunbar. 1997. ''[[Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language]]''. [[Harvard University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-674-36334-5}}
* 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 {{ISBN|0-8135-2730-9}}
* Dunbar & Barrett. 2000. ''Cousins''. BBC Worldwide: London {{ISBN|0-7894-7155-8}}
* Cowlishaw & Dunbar. 2000. ''Primate Conservation Biology''. University of Chicago Press {{ISBN|0-226-11636-0}}
* Barrett, Dunbar & Lycett. 2002. ''Human Evolutionary Psychology''. London: Palgrave {{ISBN|0-691-09621-X}}
* Dunbar, Barrett & Lycett. 2005. ''Evolutionary Psychology, a Beginner's Guide''. Oxford: One World Books {{ISBN|1-85168-356-9}}
* Dunbar. 2004. ''The Human Story''. London: Faber and Faber {{ISBN|0-571-19133-9}}
* Dunbar. 2010. ''How Many Friends Does One Person Need?: Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks''. London: Faber & Faber {{ISBN|978-0571253432}} (paper)
* Dunbar. 2014. ''Human Evolution''. [[Pelican Books]] {{ISBN|978-0141975313}}
* Dunbar. 2016.  ''Human Evolution: Our Brains and Behavior'' (Illustrated) {{ISBN|0-1906-1678-4|}}
* Dunbar. 2021. ''Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships''. [[Little, Brown and Company]] {{ISBN|978-1408711736}}
* Dunbar. 2022. ''How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures''. Pelican Books {{ISBN|978-0241431788}}
* Camilleri, Rockey & Dunbar. 2023. ''The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups'' London: Penguin {{ISBN|978-1847943620}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Scholia}}
* [http://www.hbes.com/ The Human Behaviour and Evolution Society]
* [http://www.pulse-project.org/node/40 What Makes us Human] Pulse Project Podcast: What Makes us Human? (22 October 2008, Oxford)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150704125032/http://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/principal-investigators/robin-dunbar/ University of Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology profile]

{{Evolutionary psychologists}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Robin}}
[[Category:British evolutionary biologists]]
[[Category:Evolutionary psychologists]]
[[Category:Primatologists]]
[[Category:Human evolution theorists]]
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Linguists from the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British anthropologists]]
[[Category:Anthropology writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Academics of University College London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford]]