Professor Robin Dunbar Public Lecture - The Anatomy of Friendship
HITS Public Lecture Series 2026
This event has already taken place.The anatomy of friendship
Abstract
Friendships are a primate speciality, and have evolved to buffer us against the stresses of living in large social groups. They have a bigger effect on our psychological health and wellbeing, as well as our physical health and wellbeing, than anything else. Friendships are, however, extremely expensive to create and to maintain, both in terms of their time cost and in terms of their underpinning neurobiology. In this lecture, I’ll explore the behavioural, cognitive and neurobiological bases of friendships, and show how we use these as a basis for forming mega-communities.
Agenda
16.45: Tea and coffee on arrival
17.00: Talk by Professor Robin Dunbar
17.45: Q & A session
18.00: Drinks reception
About Professor Robin Dunbar
Robin Dunbar MA PhD DSc(Hon) FRAI FBA is Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Magdalen College, and an elected Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Finnish Academy of Science & Letters and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His principal research interests focus on the evolution of sociality (with particular reference to primates and humans). He is best known for the social brain hypothesis, the gossip theory of language evolution and Dunbar’s Number (the limit on the number of manageable relationships we can have). His publications include 34 authored and edited books and more than 600 journal articles and book chapters. His popular science books include The Trouble With Science; Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language; The Science of Love and Betrayal; Human Evolution; Evolution: What Everyone Needs To Know; Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships; How Religion Evolved; and The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups.
